Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe has responded to Mikel Arteta’s comments about the Magpies’ style of play after their 1-0 victory against Arsenal on Saturday. Alexander Isak’s header was enough to secure the three points at St James’ Park and help the Gunners lose further ground in the title race.
Arteta claimed that his players ‘got dragged into a game’ that the hosts were looking for and were unable to implement their style of play effectively enough. When pressed for his opinion on the opposition manager’s thoughts, Howe gave a blunt response to suggest that the comment was water off a duck’s back.
After the full-time whistle, Arteta shared his thoughts on his side’s performance and made reference to how his players got sucked into Newcastle’s tactics.
“We deserved to lose today,” Arteta said of the display, per Reuters. “I thought we started really well and were really dominant. We didn’t defend the box well enough. Credit to them. They scored a great goal with a good ball.
“Then the game changes and you start to play a different game. You have to adapt and we didn’t do that well enough. I am very frustrated. We got dragged into a game they are looking for constantly and we couldn’t play the game that we wanted.”
A reporter informed Howe of Arteta’s remarks, telling him that the Gunners boss stated that Newcastle are ‘very good at what they do and that they drag teams into the style of game they want to play.’ When asked for a response, the Englishman claimed he didn’t care about the comments:
“It’s irrelevant to me what anyone says really apart from my team and that’s how we’ve always looked at it. There’s always outside noise, wherever it comes from. So, we just try to do what we do to try and win games on a consistent basis.
Howe added: “We know it’s been inconsistent this season. We’ve had good bits, some not so good bits. I think generally the last few games our performance level has definitely increased and we’ve been consistent with it. Initially the results didn’t come, but the last two games we have been rewarded and now we’ve got to make sure it stays.” Watch Howe’s response below:
Victory for Newcastle allowed them to climb back into the top half of the Premier League table ahead of Sunday’s fixtures, though they remain three points away from the top four. As for Arsenal, the defeat leaves them occupying the final guaranteed Champions League spot, with Nottingham Forest leapfrogging them into third. The Gunners are already seven points behind league leaders Liverpool.
All statistics courtesy of Transfermarkt – accurate as of 03/11/2024.