Having reached the semi-finals of this season’s Carabao Cup, Mikel Arteta admits he is ruing the missed opportunity to reach a Wembley showpiece.
A 2-0 loss at St James’ Park mirrored the same scoreline Newcastle United registered in north London to send them through instead and with cup finals being such a huge occasion for clubs and their supporters, the boss is saddened that we couldn’t quite get into our first in the competition for seven years.
Having trailed by two heading into the Tyneside tie, the boss was left thinking about what could have been had Martin Odegaard’s early chance not hit the post, leaving the Magpies to pounce and score themselves 52 seconds later.
“I was very disappointed that we didn't make Wembley and in the manner as well,” Mikel said post-match. “we had a lot of hope and belief that we could generate momentum in the game to be in the tie.
“In the first half we had two moments where if we would have scored a goal probably things would have been different, but the ball comes the other way and they score the goal and then it gets much harder. We needed a goal in that moment, we didn't get another chance.
“We never got that goal to give us some belief, and generate certain expectations and momentum in the team, and then slowly the game started to get away from us and when we conceded the second goal, it was really, really tough.”
The first leg at Emirates Stadium was one that really got away as we peppered the Newcastle goal at times but couldn’t find a way past Martin Dubravka, while Eddie Howe’s team scored with two of their three big chances.
That left us with a mountain to climb in the second leg and while we gave it a good go, it wasn’t to be. Now with a warm-weather trip to Dubai on the horizon, the boss feels he'll analyse this game before refocusing for future challenges in two more competitions, as we aim to end the season with silverware.
Reflecting on the tie as a whole, he added: “They've been much better than us in our boxes. They've been much more efficient in the game at home as well. I think we generated 24 shots, and had a lot of chances but we didn’t manage to score a goal in two legs, so, that tells you the story.
“We are really hurting at the moment, we really wanted to take the team, the club to Wembley again and we put so much into it and unfortunately we could not deliver that.
“I think we need to first digest this one because it's a painful one and tomorrow we'll start to recharge.”
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