Mikel Arteta was under the magnifying glass following Arsenal’s defeat to Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
A body language expert reckons that Mikel Arteta fears for his future following Arsenal’s defeat to Manchester City. Erling Haaland fired Pep Guardiola’s side to victory at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday afternoon, narrowing the Gunners’ lead at the top of the Premier League.
Manchester City are just three points behind Arsenal in the title race, and they could climb into first place when they play their game in hand against Burnley at Turf Moor on Wednesday night. Speaking to reporters after the game, Arteta admitted that he, his staff and the players were ‘very upset with the result’.
However, the Spaniard quickly turned his attention to the end-of-season run-in, claiming his squad are ‘more convinced’ than ever that they can crown themselves champions of England. So much so that Arteta revealed the players have described the final five games as a ‘new league’.
Following the press conference, OLBG spoke to a body language expert, who analysed the Arsenal boss’ behaviour. Darren Stanton began by claiming that Arteta wanted to relieve himself of any responsibility for the defeat.
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“Mikel Arteta looked anxious and full of stress before the game,” said the body language expert. “His smiles weren’t genuine. He looked tense. Seeing him now in his post-match press conference, there’s now anger in the mix too.
“Arteta looks angry that he’s been put in this position again, like we saw after the Bournemouth loss, and unfortunately for the Arsenal players I don’t think their manager is wanting to take responsibility for what has happened.
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“He wants to shift the responsibility onto his team for how things have gone rather than accepting accountability himself. We see him going back to what we call lip suppression which is where he is physically holding back what he feels internally so he doesn’t speak out of turn.
“He’s not saying what he really thinks when he’s asked about the morale of the team or other questions,” added Stanton, who then suggested that Arteta isn’t fit to lead the Arsenal squad to glory. “There’s something in psychology called internal and external representation.
“What that means is certain people in life have to have feedback and they’ll know they have done well because of the result or success recognised by others. Other people are what we call internally referenced which means they trust their own instincts and measurements for what success means.
“If you mix internal and external people, it’s not always a good thing, so it makes you wonder whether those players need to hear that they’ve done well or not so well, whereas Arteta appears to be a manager who assumes that they should already know.
“It’s an interesting dynamic actually,” added the body language expert. “This happens a lot in business.”
Stanton also claimed that Arteta senses he may not still be the Arsenal head coach next season. The Spaniard only has a year or so left on his contract with the Gunners.
“For whatever the reasons are, Arteta has looked super stressed,” concluded the body language expert. “Unless he can pull the hat out of the rabbit out of the hat in the last few games, he knows they won’t win anything, and it looks like he thinks he’s going to be goner too in his own job.
“I think the pressure’s mounting even more now. I think how Arsenal respond to this latest setback in the next couple of games, and whether they can perform in the Champions League too, will tell us a lot but I think Arteta believes trophies will be the deciding factor.
“If he fails to win even one this season, he looks like a man who already thinks he will be sent packing. The next few weeks are going to make all the difference to his career as a manager and whether he stays at Arsenal or not.
“We see distinct signs of pressure, stress and anger. He’s searching his feelings for answers that he is struggling to find.”
