CM Story - The Story of Josh McEwen

Southampton (4-3-3): Turati, Roerslev, Edwards, Harwood-Bellis, Manning, Jander, Charles, Downes (Off 73), Fellows, Downs, Edozie 

Subs: Bazunu, Alcantara, Azaz (On 73), Armstrong, Welington, Brereton Diaz, Robinson, Scienza 

Arsenal (4-3-3): Raya, Laimer, Saliba, Branthwaite, Wijndal, Zubimendi, Rice, Odegaard, Saka, Gyokeres, Nwaneri (Off 70) 

Subs: Kepa, Pienczak, Kayode, Mosquera, Martinelli, Eze (On 70), Norgaard, Bouaddi, Jesus 

Q: Lucas a superb fight back from your team. How pleased are you with that second half performance from your side? 

Lucas Small “I am delighted the lads showed the same fight that they showed last season when we were written off as relegated to go 2-0 down and come back shows what this team is made of especially doing so against a team with the quality Arsenal have. I thought the start was the worst we could have gotten off to but we reacted well and had a couple of chances to equalise then the second half has started and Saka has out in a wonderful ball and they’ve doubled their lead but the way we kept fighting and then to get a point I’m over the moon.” 

Q: Josh a very controversial penalty that proved to be the turning point in the game. What are your thoughts on the penalty decision? 

Josh McEwen “It was a disgrace of a decision, the worst decision I have seen since I have been a manager. I am still in shock that the referee has given a penalty but then VAR has decided not to interfere, it changed the game of course when they score we should immediately switch back on but my players are human they have emotions they were confused, disappointed and angry and they capitalised with another goal but I want an explanation not an apology forget an apology that decision come out and explain it to me it was a fair tackle in the box he doesn’t even touch the man the man runs into him it is a shocker.” 

Arsenal (4-3-3): Raya, Kayode, Saliba (Off 62), Pienczak, Lewis-Skelly, Zubimendi, Rice (Off 62), Eze (Off 62), Saka (Off 62), Jesus, Martinelli 

Subs: Kepa, Branthwaite, Laimer, Mosquera (On 62), Nwaneri (On 62), Norgaard (On 62), Wijndal, Bouaddi (On 62), Gyokeres 

FC Barcelona (4-2-3-1): Garcia, Hakimi, Araujo, Ibanez, Martinez, Pedri, de Jong, Lamine Yamal, Raphinha, Fermin (Off 90), Schick 

Subs: ter Stegan, Cubarsi, Gavi, Lewandowski, Bitshiabu, Torres, Szczesny, Olmo (On 90), Torrents 

Q: Josh a crazy game in crazy conditions with the heavy snow. Do you think it added to the spectacle? 

Josh McEwen “I thought the conditions were ridiculous and to be honest extremely dangerous for fans travelling to the game. The groundsmen did a tremendous job but even with their hard work it was a dangerous game of football and I wouldn’t say it was a spectacle it was very dangerous and both sides are lucky that we have avoided a serious injury games like this have to be rearranged you can’t play when there is that amount of snow on the pitch. Well done to my players they were brave but the conditions were not right for a game of football.” 

Q: Hansi a disappointing result however Josh McEwen has criticised the conditions out there saying the game shouldn’t have gone ahead do you echo that sentiment? 

Hansi Flick “Yes I think the conditions are not good for either side and were a little bit dangerous when a player makes a challenge they can’t help but follow through when the pitch is the way it was. We should have done better of course but in these conditions it isn’t right to play the game, the pitch was bad but around the stadium the conditions were worst and we just hope all the fans get back safely because it is dangerous for the fans aswell as the players in these moments.” 

Arsenal (4-3-3): Raya, Laimer (Off 78), Saliba, Branthwaite, Wijndal, Zubimendi, Rice, Odegaard, Saka, Gyokeres, Eze (Off 78) 

Subs: Kepa, Pienczak, Laimer (On 78), Mosquera, Nwaneri (On 78), Lewis-Skelly, Norgaard, Bouaddi, Jesus 

Liverpool (4-2-3-1): Mamardashvili, Gomez (Off 78), Militao, Marquinhos, Kerkez, Gravenberch, Andre, Salah (Off 86), Gakpo, Wirtz, Isak 

Subs: Jaros, Tsimikas (On 78), Szoboszlai, Ekitike, Beck, Elliott (On 86), Endrick, Jones, Ramsey 

Q: Josh a disappointing result that sees you drop to third. Next week your away to Chelsea who are top, how important is that game after this result? 

Josh McEwen “It is an important game we know that, we have a lot of tough games coming up but we are disappointed because we know recently we haven’t been as good as we were at the start. We have a full week now so we can have some rest because we are tired and then we will prepare for Chelsea in the best way possible. Today I don’t think we deserved to lose but we have to defend better when they are on the attack we will keep fighting but it is a blow because we didn’t play bad.” 

Q: Arne a massive win does this game see Liverpool re enter the title race? 

Arne Slot “I don’t think we were ever not in the race to be honest with you. We believe in ourselves we have some world class players and they showed their quality today, it is not easy to come to the Emirates and win and I thought we were good value for the win today. I thought Alex (Isak) was superb again, he is the best striker in the world right now and his goals will be crucial to us winning the league this season and we hope he will score many more.” 

Chelsea (4-2-1-3): Jorgensen, Chalobah, Gabriel, Colwill, Hato, Caicedo (Off 90), Santos, Palmer, Estevao, Joao Pedro (Off 80), Garnacho 

Subs: Sanchez, Adarabioyo, Fernandez (On 90), Delap (On 80), Fofana, Neto, Griezmann, Gittens, Sarr 

Arsenal (4-3-3): Raya, Laimer (Off 80), Saliba, Pienczak, Lewis-Skelly, Zubimendi, Rice (Off 80), Odegaard (Off 80), Saka, Gyokeres, Nwaneri 

Subs: Kepa, Branthwaite, Kayode (On 80), Wijndal, Mosquera, Eze (On 80), Norgaard, Bouaddi (On 80), Jesus 

Q: Patrick your team dominated the ball but failed to create any meaningful chances how disappointed are you with that performance? 

Patrick Vieira “One team came to win one team came to draw and the team that wanted to draw won and the team that wanted to win lost. They came they sat in and when they had a chance they countered and scored a goal other then the goal they just sat back we had all the ball and found it hard to break them down. When we break at the end Cole (Palmer) does brilliant we have four against three on a break and they foul us, we didn’t deserve to win because the final third we were poor but we didn’t deserve to lose. If you have 66% possession you must create more.” 

Q: Josh that was the lowest amount of possession you’ve had as a manager but you found a way to win in a huge game. How pleased are you tonight? 

Josh McEwen “We are delighted, it was a tough game we knew it would be but this week we have worked a lot on what we do off the ball and I think we reaped the benefits of the hard work the lads have put in this week. We know we need to add one or two next month and we are working to improve the team for the second half of the season we are talking to a few players and hopefully we can bring in the right players to push us and help us in the title race because there is a long way to go but we know we need to improve a little bit if we are to be the ones lifting the trophy come the end of the season.” 

Arsenal (4-3-3): Raya, Laimer, Saliba, Branthwaite, Lewis-Skelly, Zubimendi, Rice, Odegaard (Off 70), Saka, Gyokeres, Nwaneri (Off 79) 

Subs: Kepa, Pienczak, Kayode, Mosquera, Eze (On 70), Wijndal, Norgaard, Bouaddi, Jesus (On 79) 

Tottenham Hotspur (4-2-1-3): Vicario, Doue, Romero, Danso, De Cuyper, Gray, Bentancur (Off 70), Maddison (Off 60), Kudus, Tel, Odobert (Off 52) 

Subs: Kinsky, Brown, Kulusevski (On 52), Solanke, Spence, Bergvall (On 70), Richarlison, Sarr (On 60), Dragusin 

Q: Josh a huge win on Christmas day in the north London derby. How important was it to put in another strong performance after your recent slump? 

Josh McEwen “Yeah it important to win today to remind everyone what we are capable of. Tottenham obviously beat us earlier in the season and we wanted to avenge that loss and we did that today in a very important match, we know we still have work to do we have the game with Newcastle and then hopefully we can get some deals sorted ready for January I know the board are working hard on getting our business done in time for the window we don’t want any deals that are going to drag out.” 

Q: Mikel its never nice to lose a north London derby but this loss sees you falls seven points behind in the title race. Can Tottenham win the title this season? 

Mikel Arteta “We need to improve the team that is for sure but we believe we can win the league. Our next game is crucial but we know if we play like we can we can fight like last year, the aim is to go one step further but we are obviously further behind than we’d like to be but with January around the corner I think the right additions but us right in the race to win the league.” 

Newcastle United (4-3-1-2): Ortega, Trippier, Botman, Hincapie, Hall, Tonali, Guimaraes, Joelinton, Trincao (Off 68), Havertz, Woltemade 

Subs: Pope, Schar, Gordon (On 68), Wissa, Burn, Elanga, Osula, Ramsey, Thiaw 

Arsenal (4-3-3): Raya, Laimer, Saliba, Pienczak, Lewis-Skelly, Zubimendi (Off 76), Rice, Eze (Off 76), Saka, Gyokeres, Nwaneri (Off 76) 

Subs: Kepa, Branthwaite, Kayode, Mosquera, Odegaard (On 76), Wijndal, Larsson, Bouaddi (On 76), Jesus (On 76) 

Q: Xabi a disappointing result but this has been a race with five teams in it that seems it will have some more turns yet as we hit the half way mark. You shocked the world winning the title with Leverkusen do you feel this team can do the same still? 

Xabi Alonso “I think it will be difficult being six points behind but we still believe there are six teams battling for this title and I’m sure twists will happen and we have to try and win as many games as possible to put ourselves in a really strong position to try and like you say shock the world. We have some very talented players in this group and next month we will see if we can strengthen to try and close that gap at the top.” 

Q: Josh another massive win, your team seem to have really turned a corner since the Liverpool game. Are you still going to be looking to strengthen the team next month? 

Josh McEwen “This month we want to strengthen, we want to get our business done as early in the window as possible. Gabriel Martinelli has flown to Germany to talk with Leipzig so he will likely leave and then hopefully we replace him so that he can make that switch and then perhaps one more deal for the summer will be concluded and we can then focus solely on the league and getting ourselves in as strong a position as possible to win the title.”