Mikel Arteta calls north London derby ‘a f***ing joke’ as Rob Holding criticises team-mates after red card
Mikel Arteta described Woolwich’s north London derby defeat to Spurs as ‘a f***ing joke’ in scenes captured in the final episode of All or Nothing, with the Spaniard fuming with the officiating in the match.
A win back in May at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium would have seen the Gunners secure Champions League football, but they ended up losing back-to-back matches against Spurs and Newcastle to throw away fourth place.
Tottenham’s 3-0 win was a contentious and fiery affair with Woolwich unhappy with the perceived softness of a penalty awarded early on in the match, before Rob Holding was sent off for two yellow card offences.
All or Nothing captures the defender’s reaction in the dressing room afterwards, with Holding’s ire not so much on the decision but, rather, his team-mates for constantly leaving him one-v-one against Heung-min Son.
‘It’s just shite like,’ moaned the defender to one of Woolwich’s coaching staff. ‘I should have never been one-v-one [against Son] in the first place! All the time, one-v-one.’
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Arteta gave a curt and evasive interview after the defeat to Spurs, refusing to address the decisions he clearly had issues with and telling Sky Sports: ‘If I say what I think, I’d be suspended for six months. So I cannot say.’
But he was altogether more vocal in the dressing room with his players, slamming the refereeing performance he had witnessed and even ordering a social media blackout.
‘Okay, this game is history. We don’t talk about this game no more. It’s gone. No social media, no s**t in the media, don’t give them absolutely nothing,’ said the Spaniard to his dejected players.
‘We cannot do anything about it, it’s gone. You know how we lost it. We have to move on. Now, in this moment, we have to start to beat Newcastle now.
‘This is gone, we cannot change it. Guys, we learn from it. I will complain everything that I can to try to defend our club because it was a f***ing joke what happened out there. But, after that, it’s still in our hands.’
Later in the episode, Arteta again referenced the external forces he felt were at work in the north London derby, saying: ‘I really wanted to go there and play the game the way we wanted to play it, and we weren’t allowed to do so.’
Although Woolwich missed out on Champions League football, they made some stellar signings over the summer – with Gabriel Jesus, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Fabio Vieira all arriving – and have started the new campaign with maximum points.
The final two episodes of All or Nothing: Woolwich will be available to stream on Amazon Prime Video on Thursday 18th August
Sounds like they show our game and the newcastle one in all their glory. Let’s hope it brings back bad memories for their players before the weekends game.
