Mikel Arteta’s clash with a reporter in his post-match interview following Manchester United 1-1 Arsenal could have erupted into something far more revealing had he not shut himself down according to body language expert Darren Stanton.
Speaking after the Gunners failed to beat their rivals at Old Trafford to try and close the gap to Liverpool at the top of the Premier League, Stanton told SpinGenie that the Spaniard was behaving in ways that we are not used to seeing, suggesting he is now in uncharted territory.
Arteta is now in one of the most emotionally challenging times in his football career, according to Stanton, who is also known as The Human Lie Detector, after seeing Arsenal fall away in yet another title challenge after previously going close to toppling Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.
Yet with City struggling this season, the Gunners have found themselves second best to Arne Slot’s Liverpool in a season where their fans may have expected the North London outfit to finally clinch the title with their usual adversaries no longer in contention.
Read the full interview below.
Mikel Arteta went from 0 to 60 — he didn’t want to speak to the press because he didn’t want to let slip what he really wanted to say
“This is a man who is not in the mood for talking. He has gone from zero to 60 and there is a lot of anger.
“You can see Arteta purse his lips, like when you’re humming a song, and that is a gesture as if to say ‘I am not talking to you’. It is almost like he wants to say what he really thinks but is holding himself back from doing so, preventing himself from speaking.
“His reaction was so fast and he then very quickly dips his head to the right and down, and that’s usually associated with a sense of shame.
“He is not interested in talking to any press at this moment and it’s more anger that is the prevailing emotion — disbelief, anger and shame.”
Arteta is deviating from his baseline gestures which points to the pressure he feels he is under as Arsenal boss
“If you look back at what we’ve seen from Arteta, he doesn’t make these sorts of gestures very often, so I think this is quite a significant moment in his career. This looks to be one of the most emotional times that he’s been through.
“That sort of humming gesture and the shame, he’s thinking about how this impacts on him, his persona, his reputation and whatever values and beliefs he holds. I think what’s happened is now going against all that.
“We’re looking at shame and anger that results like this one are making him look bad, not in a selfish way necessarily but because the buck stops with him. When you want the ground to open up and swallow you, that’s the impression Arteta was giving off in that moment.
“And it is significant because I don’t think he has experienced too many moments like this in his management career, and that’s why we look at baseline behaviours and any deviations from them, because he hasn’t made too many of these gestures in the past.”
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