FA Cup ball “too heavy” says Arteta after Arsenal third round exit
Mikel Arteta has blamed Arsenal’s FA Cup Third Round exit at the hands of Manchester United, on the match balls being too heavy.
The Spaniard blamed last week’s 2-0 defeat against Newcastle on the balls being too light and it seems an administrative mix up may have cost his side the chance of winning a domestic trophy this season.
The Gunners boss, who is coming under increased pressure from disillusioned fan groups, suffered the heartbreak of a penalty shoot-out defeat to the Red Devils on Sunday and after the game, he made it clear to astonished reporters in his post-match press-conference, just where he thought the blame squarely lay.
“It was the footballs, they were too heavy, simple as that” he explained, “We were sent the wrong match balls from the FA and we ended up training with the same lightweight ones that we used for our Carabao Cup semi-final against Newcastle.
“I told (match referee) Andy Madley during the warm-ups that there was something wrong, but he looked at me like I was crazy.
“We have asked the Football Association if it is possible to get the match replayed.”
Following another defeat in front of their home fans, Arteta immediately jumped to the defence of his mis-firing squad;
“Some of my players suffered bruising all over their feet, especially Kai (Havertz). By the time it came to take his penalty he told me it was like kicking a medicine ball.”
The German international saw his spot kick saved by United’s second choice goalkeeper Altay Bayindir, who also saved a penalty from Martin Odegaard in regular time.
A spokesperson for the Football Association told Paddy Power News this morning;
“We are so sorry to hear of the reported cock-ups that may have affected Mr Arteta and his side, our regular delivery company were not able to fulfil our orders so we had to use a different courier.
“We were assured that the same balls had been issued to all the clubs competing in the third-round.
“If there has been a mix-up at the distribution stage, then the FA can only apologise profusely and we will now conduct an internal investigation.
“We would like to place on record however, that it’s not our fault that Arsenal’s forwards couldn’t hit a cow’s backside with a banjo.”
We understand that football’s governing body, who may have been left with egg on their faces, are determined to get to the bottom of what went wrong.
We can also reveal however, that Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim and his Spurs counterpart Ange Postecoglou, have both distanced themselves from any alleged involvement.
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