Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta blames grass for his side’s struggling to create in a bore draw at Burnley. The manager bizarrely claimed the Turf Moor grass was too long.
Mikel Arteta claimed Turf Moor had not been watered as Burnley claimed a deserved point. The North Londoners have drawn 13 of their 25 Premier League matches this season.
Arteta said he had been expecting a pitched battle in East Lancashire. But that had not made it any easier.
The Arsenal chief added, “The conditions were difficult. The grass was this long (demonstrated). They didn’t put water on it and that made it difficult to play football.”
“I didn’t water the grass yesterday at the training ground so I was expecting it. But that doesn’t make it easier to play.”
“We adapted well in some moments and in some, it wasn’t the grass.”
Arsenal has beaten Burnley in their last 11 meetings. But Sean Dyche’s spirited Clarets ended the sequence.
Even so, Arteta said, “We need more consistency. We were fantastic in some moments but we were so sloppy and have to approve.”
“I learned a lot about the resilience we showed in defense and also that we need to improve the quality of our play, be calmer and improve the end product.”
Dyche was unhappy with the point although his team had better chances with Jay Rodriguez smacking a late effort against the bar.
But his team has taken seven points against Leicester, Manchester United and now Arsenal to surely banish any relegation worries.
He said, “Jay scored a cracker at Manchester United, he is beginning to get stronger. He had to wait for his chance but the front two were good.”
“You don’t want to get too greedy. It is a good run of performances and results. I thought we did enough to edge it. We had a couple of golden chances and kept them to meager ones.”