CM Story - The Story of Josh McEwen

Arsenal (4-3-3): Raya, Kayode (Off 64), Saliba, Branthwaite, Lewis-Skelly, Zubimendi, Rice, Bouaddi (Off 45), Saka, Gyokeres, Martinelli (Of 64) 

Subs: Kepa, Pienczak, Laimer (On 64), Mosquera, Wijndal, Eze (On 64), Norgaard, Odegaard (On 45), Jesus 

Fulham (4-2-3-1): Rulli, Santos, Bassey, Andersen, Calafiori, Lukic, Berge, Duranville, Kevin, Smith Rowe (Off 81), Ayoze 

Subs: Leno, Dorgu, Bellegarde (On 81), Gueye, Tete, Bucha, Campbell, King, Cuenca 

Q: Josh first points dropped in the league this season. You started Bouaddi in midfield but he was subbed at half time do you regret the decision not to play Odegaard from the start and what did you say to both Bouaddi and the team at half time? 

Josh McEwen “Martin (Odegaard) couldn’t play ninety minutes so we have a choice he play for the start but has t come off or he comes off the bench we chose the latter. When you are 2-0 down you can’t keep Martin on the bench Ayyoub (Bouaddi) understands this of course it wasn’t his best performance but he knows how much we love and rate him and we appreciate him playing in a more advanced role which isn’t his position but obviously Hugo (Larsson) and Michael have both been injured and Eze had a knock from the game midweek so Ayyoub came in and ave his all. We love Ayyoub he has the most bright future ahead of him but there will be some hard times like today but we will help him bounce back he wasn’t the only player to struggle and it doesn’t make us doubt any of them.” 

Q: Marco devastating to concede an equaliser you must have thought it was won when Saka went through one on one in the 93rd minute and Rulli pulled off that remarkable save. How are you feeling? 

Marco Silva “Of course we are sad because we play one of the top teams in the division away from home and we go 2-0 up after playing so well and to concede from two corners it really hurts us because from open play we kept them relatively quiet. We tried our best to always mark Saka with two players we had to in midfield try to close Zubimendi fast which lead to our first goal taking the ball from him and then we wanted to be clinical in front of their goal and we were today but Arsenal have a lot of quality and we knew second half they would come out with a vengeance but unfortunately we concede at the start of the half and then obviously they score with the last moment of the game to take a point.” 

Manchester United (5-2-3): Lammens, Henrichs, Maguire, Yoro, de Ligt, Mendy, Mainoo, Ruiz, Mbuemo, Sesko, Rashford (Off 74) 

Subs: Bayinder, Carlos Augusto, Cunha, Zirkzee, Aljofree, Johnson, Hojlund, Madueke (On 74), Odogu 

Arsenal (4-3-3): Raya, Kayode, Mosquera, Pienczak, Lewis-Skelly, Zubimendi, Rice, Odegaard (Off 75), Saka, Gyokeres (Off 75), Nwaneri (Off 75) 

Subs: Kepa, Branthwaite (On 45), Laimer, Norgaard, Wijndal (On 45), Eze (On 75), Martinelli (On 75), Bouaddi, Jesus (On 75) 

Q: Goncalvo twice you took the lead and lost in almost immediately was it those moments straight after your goals that have cost you today? 

Goncalvo Alvares “In a game like this against an opponent like these you have to stay switched on, their first goal was a fantastic strike from distance but the second we should be more switched on and not allow a one on one so soon after we scored but they are a top opponent who punished us in those moments. I think the first half was really even we showed we can compete with them but the second half we weren’t good enough we knew they wouldn’t be as open but we should keep the ball better and work harder to find openings.” 

Q: Josh a fantastic win with some fantastic goals for both sides. At half time you took off Pienczak and Lewis-Skelly who really seemed to struggle what did you say to them about taking them off? 

Josh McEwen “They didn’t perform to their usual standard, Marek made a couple of mistakes he gave the ball away for their first goal and gave it away again at 3-2 which saw Sesko go one on one but luckily he shot wide. Lewis-Skelly gave away the freekick they scored from and was on a booking we couldn’t afford to go down to ten men if your having a poor game we have the quality to come on and make a difference it is the same for everyone at the club I have spoken to both players they know we don’t change that we believe in them but they are both young and sometimes it is better for them to come off and rest and then go again in the next game. Of course for young defenders they rely on William (Saliba) to help them but he was injured on international duty so missed the game but he will be back next week he will miss midweek as more of a precaution than the injury itself.” 

Arsenal (4-3-3): Raya, Laimer, Mosquera, Branthwaite, Lewis-Skelly, Bouaddi, Rice (Off 59), Eze, Saka (Off 59), Jesus, Martinelli 

Subs: Kepa, Pienczak, Kayode, Norgaard (On 59), Wijndal, Odegaard, Nwaneri (On 59), Zubimendi, Gyokeres 

Slavia Praha (3-4-2-1): Stanek, Zima, Ogbu, Vicek, Doudera, Zafeiris, Moses, Wallem, Provod, Nemec, Chttil 

Subs: Markovic, Chaloupek, Dorley, Chory, Jelen, Sadilek, Prekop, Kusej, Mbodji 

Q: Josh another win to maintain your perfect start to your Champions league campaign. How important is it for you that you finish in the top eight and avoid extra games? 

Josh McEwen “It is important because we already play a lot of games so if we can avoid extra games it would be nice as we get extra rest and extra time on the training ground. Today we made some changes to the team and I thought everyone really showed their quality. Ayyoub (Bouaddi) started a little nervy but once he settled the whole team seemed to settle with him and we managed to score some great goals Dec’s (Rice) free kick was amazing he is a machine the way he plays every game and keeps himself fit and ready for the next game him I think it is a testament to the work he puts in off the field.” 

Q: Jindrich a tough game for any side to get anything out of. What did you make of your sides performance? 

Jindrich Trpisovsky “Of course Arsenal are one of the best teams in Europe and we came here knowing it would be a really difficult game even with the changes they made. They have some of the best players in the world you look at how Bukayo Saka has started this season and also Declan Rice and you realise how much of a mammoth task we faced but we showed heart and we hit the post so we caused them problems but their quality was on show and we didn’t have those moments of luck. My boys can hold their heads high we still have a big chance to qualify for the next rounds with a long way to go.” 

Arsenal (4-3-3): Raya, Kayode (Off 68), Saliba, Pienczak, Wijndal (Off 68), Zubimendi, Rice, Odegaard (Off 68), Saka, Gyokeres (Off 70), Nwaneri (Off 68) 

Subs: Kepa, Branthwaite, Laimer (On 68), Mosquera, Lewis-Skelly (On 68), Eze (On 68), Martinelli (On 68), Bouaddi, Jesus (On 70) 

Burnley (4-2-1-3): Weib, Tuanzebe, Worrall, Beyer, Humphreys, Cullen, Ugochukwu (Off 71), Nebel, Edwards, Amdouni, Tresor (Off 68) 

Subs: Jedlicka, Dodgson, Larsen, Broja, Smolcic, Hannibal (On 71), Hountondji, Ramsey (On 68), Heaven 

Q: Josh a 3-0 win but not as comfortable as the scoreline might suggest. Marek Pienczak scored his first goal under your management, your team have found a knack of scoring late goals so far this season what do you attribute that to? 

Josh McEwen “The team just keep believing they can score, we started very poorly today in the first half we never really got going even the start of the second half we were poor but the main thing is we got another win and after we scored our first it really lifted the crowd which in turn lifted the team and we managed to get a couple more goals which really wrapped the game up.” 

Q: Alexander a 3-0 loss in the end but do you think the result flattered them especially considering the chances you created in the first half? 

Alexander Skovgaard “It was one of them games that we played superb for probably seventy minutes we had two chances in the first half the first where the ball falls to Mike (Tresor) and he should have probably scored with the goal open and then ten minutes later we’ve gone and hit the bar. I think you have seen quite a few teams create chances against Arsenal and they have punished everyone that hasn’t taken them and today we were the victims of that. Its a long season and this performance not the result but performance has given me confidence.” 

rystal Palace (4-5-1): Henderson, Lewis, Guehi, Mancini, van de Ven, Pino, Wharton, Kamada, Loftus-Cheek, Yilmaz (Off 66), Lookman 

Subs: Benitez, Richards, Greenwood (On 66), Nketiah, Sosa, Maeda, Roca, Lerma, Tchatchoua 

Arsenal (4-3-3): Raya, Laimer, Saliba, Pienczak, Lewis-Skelly, Zubimendi, Rice, Odegaard (Off 66), Saka, Gyokeres, Jesus (Off 66) 

Subs: Kepa, Branthwaite, Kayode, Mosquera, Wijndal, Bouaddi, Eze (On 66), Martinelli, Nwaneri (On 66) 

Q: Vitor a huge win for your side today taking Arsenals unbeaten record so far this season. How pleased are you with todays result? 

Vitor Pereira “I am so happy with the way we performed today, Arsenal are one of the best teams in Europe and obviously they have started the season so well so it was very important that we were at our best and I thought we were today. We made things difficult for them the five I midfield outnumbered them and although they had a lot of the ball we didn’t let them create the chances they normally create. We know our quality and after ten games I think we have shown how good we are especially with this result today.” 

Q: Josh a disappointing result for your side. What went wrong today? 

Josh McEwen “We just weren’t at it today, it was a poor performance from our lads. I have to take the blame we made some changes Gabriel (Jesus) deserved a chance to start but obviously we have Viktor (Gyokeres) up front so we started him on the wing where he wasn’t as effective for us. Look we are disappointed we know how good we can be on our day but the last few performances we haven’t hit them heights and our job now is to work hard in training to start righting them wrongs.”