The final episode of All or Nothing has revealed how Mikel Arteta ripped his Arsenal players to shreds after their woeful performance against Newcastle United last season which saw them blow their hopes of finishing in the top four.
The Gunners were beaten 3-0 in the north London derby back in May, with the result seeing Tottenham close the gap to just one point; a win for Spurs against Burnley a few days later meant Arsenal had to beat Newcastle on a dramatic night at St James’ Park.
But they were off the pace throughout the contest, with an own goal from Ben White shortly after the start of the second half and a late strike from Bruno Guimaraes securing a 2-0 victory for the Magpies.
Although Arsenal won their final match against Everton, Tottenham’s drubbing of Norwich meant it was the white half of north London who claimed Champions League football and bragging rights.
In his post-match interviews after the Newcastle defeat, Arteta looked dejected and said his side were second best throughout, though did not lay into his players too hard.
But it was a different story in the dressing room, with the Spaniard bringing out the hairdryer treatment and labelling their performance an embarrassment.
‘It doesn’t matter what I say, it doesn’t matter what you say now, it is too late. They were 10,000 times better than us today, in everything,’ Arteta yelled at his players, who were sat in complete silence until their manager entered the dressing room.
‘We didn’t earn the right to play, we didn’t win a f***ing duel, we didn’t win a second ball, we were horrible with the f***ing ball, we had no organisation, we had nothing guys. Nothing!
‘So now [zips mouth shut], shut your mouth and eat it. We could have conceded eight goals, and when you see the chances you will cry. You will cry the way we have competed. It’s not the way we have competed, it’s that we didn’t compete at all in the game.
‘It’s f***ing embarrassing to come here and work the way we’ve done it. Embarrassing guys. What happened today is f***ing unacceptable. And if you accept something like this, you are living in a different world guys, a different world.’
Arteta then took some time to compose himself, with the players still all sat in gloomy silence, before taking another pop at them as he left the changing room to tackle his media duties.
‘Don’t worry I will face the people. But today it is hard to defend you guys, hard. I will take all the s**t. Again. No worries,’ he said sarcastically.
Arteta had not given up hope that Spurs might slip up, though, adding: ‘But be prepared to start training tomorrow to beat Everton because we have our fans there. You never know what happens in football, they [Tottenham] might lose at Norwich. You don’t know.’
You could hear a pin drop in the dressing room after full-time, with the only outbursts coming from Bukayo Saka – who kicked some ankle tape on the floor and hurled a hanger – while Granit Xhaka slammed a bottle against the floor.
The Swiss midfielder had tried to gee up his team-mates at half-time, yelling: ‘Guys, we are dreaming for the f***ing Champions League, we are playing like a second division team! Everyone! Wake up now for 45 minutes guys. We have to play how they are playing. F*** me. Wake up guys! Wake up!’
The final two episodes of All or Nothing: Arsenal will be available to stream on Amazon Prime Video on Thursday 18th August
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MORE : All or Nothing review: Mikel Arteta’s quirks take centre stage in Arsenal’s season of mellowed drama
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