Phil Jagielka reacts to Arsenal’s ‘over-celebrating’, Gabriel’s ‘pantomime’ antics & lifts lid on relationship with Arteta
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Phil Jagielka reacts to Arsenal’s ‘over-celebrating’, Gabriel’s ‘pantomime’ antics & lifts lid on relationship with Arteta
- “He’s definitely someone I’d want to meet up with for a coffee to pick his brains if I was to go down that managerial route.”
- “I think the worst person you could’ve asked about those scenes was probably Jamie Carragher because of his obvious links to Liverpool. As a supporter, would you rather see that, or would you rather see your team just walk straight down the tunnel with their heads down and no emotion? For me, you can’t really win.”
- “Gabriel’s celebration in the face of Darwin Nunez is just an example of how the game has evolved. That’s just the way the game goes at the moment; it’s very pantomime at times.”
- “Mikel [Arteta] is someone I obviously know well from my Everton days. As for our relationship now, it’s not like we’d go for a beer any time soon, but if I was to step into management, I’d like to think he’d definitely be someone I could pick up the phone to.”
- “As a person, Mikel was always so clever, and always wanting to know more about his own body. We both had cruciate ligament injuries at the same time and he went down a different rehabilitation path; he was so detailed in his own little world. I’ll use the word selfish… in terms of preparing himself, he was always going to do what he needed to do.”
- “Those moments we’ve seen from time to time, in press conferences and immediately after games… that’s entirely him, and it’s the Mikel I’m familiar with. He’s a really nice guy, but if he feels wrong and you catch him in the heat of the moment, he sees the red mist.”
Over-celebrating? You can’t really win…
Look, fair play, you’ve won a game. And I think that if that game would’ve been played with four or five left to go in the season, no one would’ve questioned the over-celebrating, if you want to call it that. But, saying that, it obviously meant a lot to Arsenal and their title chances. And, at the end of the day, we play football to win games. We play football to excite people, and we play football to make people happy.
It takes me back to when Jose Mourinho ran down the touchline at Old Trafford in the Champions League, when he was manager of Porto. But that was a cup game which got Porto into the quarter-final.
I think the worst person you could’ve asked about those scenes was probably Jamie Carragher because of his obvious links to Liverpool. It was borderline too far, but look, is that not just where we are with football now? As a supporter, would you rather see that, or would you rather see your team just walk straight down the tunnel with their heads down and no emotion? For me, you can’t really win.
Will it spur Liverpool on for the rest of the season, watching Arsenal celebrating like that? I don’t think so. This Liverpool team is built to win the Premier League; they’ve been up there for the last few years and I’ve no doubt they’ll stay up there for years to come. It’s different to when Arsenal beat Leicester the year they won the Premier League, because it did act as motivation for that team, as they were very much the underdogs that season. With the characters Leicester had, they would’ve seen it as a kick up the backside, whereas with Jurgen [Klopp], we’re talking about a guy who has won everything there is to win. He’ll use those scenes in his own way, I’m sure. But I don’t think it’ll be a case of showing them to his players to add fuel to their fire.
Klopp is fully aware that, while being eight points clear of Arsenal would’ve been nice, there’s still a long, long way to go.
Gabriel v Nunez is an example of the pantomime of modern day football at times
I don’t think Gabriel will ever score an own goal like that again in his life, because he had absolutely no idea where the ball was going. But, that mistake aside – from William Saliba – Arsenal’s defensive displays go a long way towards explaining why they’ve been right up there at the top of the table for the last two seasons.
Mikel [Arteta] has always had at least three of his first-choice back four available for selection. The two centre-halves, he’s been able to keep together as much as he can. Ben White has been consistent at right-back, and Oleksandr Zinchenko has started the majority of their league games. Title-winning teams don’t rotate, or have to change things, in defence.
The way football is in the Premier League right now, a lot of the defending is 1v1; there are never really 2v1s now, and Mikel has definitely got two centre-halves there – in Gabriel and Saliba – that relish those battles and challenges. There were a couple of moments off the ball where we saw them really enjoying their jobs… Gabriel obviously got booked for almost a half-push in the face in the second-half. But I’m sure that’s exactly what Mikel wants from the pair of them.
Gabriel’s celebration in the face of Darwin Nunez is just an example of how the game has evolved. You see goalkeepers celebrating big saves nowadays, too, whereas – without sounding old – in my day, it was just like ‘that’s your job’. They’d get a pat on the back from their teammates, but now they’re giving themselves the pats on the back, and hyping themselves up.
Gabriel, in that moment, was celebrating the fact he’d done his job for the team; he’s got a guy in great form, running at him, late on in the game, and he forces him to slice it over the bar. The aftermath is thought out from Gabriel, because he knows the kind of player he’s up against in Nunez, and he knows it’s probably going to wind him up. That’s just the way the game goes at the moment; it’s very pantomime at times.
An insight into Mikel Arteta the teammate…
Mikel [Arteta] is someone I obviously know well from my Everton days. As for our relationship now, it’s not like we’d go for a beer any time soon, but if I was to step into management, I’d like to think he’d definitely be someone I could pick up the phone to.
I saw him out in Dubai just after the World Cup, so just over a year ago now. Arsenal were having a break, and we’d been out there with Stoke, so I bumped into him in the airport and we had a little cuddle and a little chat.
I think, before that, the last time I saw him, he’d have been an assistant at Man City and, yeah, while he’s not exactly on my speed dial, he’s definitely someone I’d want to meet up with for a coffee to pick his brains if I was to go down that managerial route.
As a person, Mikel was always so clever, and always wanting to know more about his own body. We both had cruciate ligament injuries at the same time and he went down a different rehabilitation path; he was so detailed in his own little world. I’ll use the word selfish – but not when it came to playing for the team. In terms of preparing himself, he was always going to do what he needed to do.
Obviously, when he signed for us, he was probably our best player and he slotted straight into that squad. When I see him as a manager now, I can purely see how he’s planning and doing things, exactly how he wants. And he’ll want to evolve with that, as well; he’s not someone who stands still and get told ‘well done for having a good season’. He’ll always want to win something because that’s just the type of person he is.
Those moments we’ve seen from time to time, in press conferences and immediately after games… that’s entirely him, and it’s the Mikel I’m familiar with. He’s a really nice guy, but if he feels wrong and you catch him in the heat of the moment, he sees the red mist.
It’s a really difficult one nowadays for players and managers in this access all areas kind of world, because the microphone and cameras are getting thrown in your face pretty quickly after a game. And when you’re challenging for honours, and the heat is on, sometimes you’re going to say things which aren’t going to go down well. But, again, just like the whole debate right now around over-celebrating; your two options as a manager are: you give your opinion, you maybe call a couple of things out and face the fine, or you don’t give anything away, people switch their TVs off and you’re labelled boring! It’s lose-lose, really.
