Sergio Conceicao, the manager of Porto, dismissed Mikel Arteta’s criticism of Arsenal after the Gunners lost 1-0 in the first leg of their Champions League round of sixteen match.
In the 94th minute, Galeno of Porto scored a screamer to win the game for Porto, as Arsenal could not muster a shot on goal the entire time.
Arteta ridiculed Porto’s strategies during the game by saying to the media after it was over, saying, “Especially in the first half we lacked certain things. We are very used to playing against these defensive blocks.”
In the next game, we’ll improve upon what we learned from it. Our group’s mentality was its strongest feature. We desired to play. Our aggressiveness was not lacking. We have to act this way because we have a team that doesn’t want to play and a low block.”
Conceicao responded bluntly to the leader of the Gunners after learning about Arteta’s remarks.
“It’s a viewpoint,” Conceicao declared. “They wanted to play, we wanted to win.”
Conceicao claimed he was content to give Arsenal lots of possession (they ended with 65% off the ball) because he was sure they wouldn’t do anything with it when he was asked more about his team’s strategy for the match.
Regarding Arteta’s remarks, he remarked, “It seems to me that [Arteta] meant it.” He comes from a school where having the ball is valued, much like the most successful coach, Pep Guardiola. They believe that giving possession priority is the greatest way to win.
“It relies on your strategy, personnel, and squad composition. Having 40–60% is not scandalous; I wouldn’t mind winning with 30–70%. What you do with the ball determines who has it.
“Scoring goals is the purpose of possession, not giving up goals. Our strikers were playing more directly and we had more interconnected possession. Today, our team posed the greatest threat.”
