4 Bizarre Mikel Arteta Excuses After Complaining of Carabao Cup Match Ball vs Newcastle

• Newcastle United beat Arsenal 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium in the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg last night
• The home loss put Arsenal at a massive disadvantage ahead of the second leg at St. James Park next week
• Manager Mikel Arteta came up with a bizarre excuse of the match ball as to why his team were dominated

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Mikel Arteta shocked the world last night after coming up with a bizarre excuse after his Arsenal side were beaten 2-0 in the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg at the Emirates Stadium.

Newcastle United put themselves in the driving seat ahead of the second leg at St. James Park with two goals from in-form forwards Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon.

Speaking at the post-match conference after the match, Arteta claimed the match ball cost his team the game and made them shoot poorly during the loss.

“We also 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.

“It’s very different to a Premier League ball, and you have to adapt to that because it flies differently, when you touch it the grip is very different as well so you adapt to that.”

The excuse drew a reaction from the Carabao Cup X admin, who dropped a funny meme of 50 Cent to counter the Arsenal manager.

Legit.ng looks at other weird excuses from Arteta as Arsenal manager as first called by Planet Football.

4 weird Mikel Arteta excuses

Long grass at Turf Moor

Arsenal played a goalless draw against Burnley in February 2020, and Arteta blamed the long and dry grass at Turf Moor. He claimed it made playing difficult even though he expected it and didn't water the grass at London Conley a day before the match to adapt.

Wind at Villa Park

Arsenal suffered a costly defeat against Aston Villa manager by former boss Unai Emery in December 2023. The loss had an effect on the title race that season. Mikel blamed the wind at Villa Park for the loss, claiming it led to a lot of misplaced passes.

Hard training before Hibernian clash

The Gunners lost 2-1 to Scottish Premier League side Hibernian during their pre-season tour of 2021, and the former Manchester City assistant manager blamed their hard training for the result; only if he was the one who oversaw the training.

Bizarre stats-based rant

Arteta had a slow start at Arsenal, and had it not been for the patience of the club’s board, he would have been sacked in 2021. He attended a pre-match conference in 2020, defending his team’s results with expected goals and percentage chance of winning stats.

Mikel Obi advises Arteta

Legit.ng reported that Mikel Obi advised Arteta to resign if Arsenal fails to win the Premier League title at the end of the 2025/26 season, as they will not win it with him again.

The Chelsea legend claimed this season’s title is Liverpool's to lose, slamming Arsenal for not taking advantage despite their usual nemesis Manchester City having a poor year.