Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta remains confident his team can still reach the Carabao Cup final, but he insists his players must first get to grips with the “tricky” ball used in the competition.
The Gunners suffered a 2-0 defeat to Newcastle in Tuesday’s semi-final first leg, with goals from Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon sealing the win for the Magpies.
Despite having 23 shots on goal, Arsenal managed only three on target, with Gabriel Martinelli hitting the post and Kai Havertz heading wide from a straightforward opportunity.
When asked about the missed chances in his post-match press conference, Arteta refused to blame his players’ finishing, instead highlighting the influence of the ball on their performance.
“We kicked a lot of balls over the bar, and it’s tricky that these balls fly a lot so there’s details that we can do better,” he said.
“But at the end that’s gone – there’s no way back, it’s about the next game and that’s our world, the reality is our world.
“It’s just half-time. When I see the team play, and how we deal with a lot of situations and play against a very good team, I must say I have full belief that we can go out there and do it.”
Before their loss to Newcastle, the Gunners had netted 11 goals across three EFL Cup matches this season.
The EFL Cup ball is produced by Puma, whereas the Premier League ball is made by Nike.
“It’s just different,” said Arteta when asked to go into more detail about the ball.
“It’s very different to a Premier League ball, and you have to adapt to that because it flies different.
“When you touch it the grip is very different as well, so you adapt to that.”
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