London [UK], February 22 (ANI): Arsenal’s Pablo Mari is disappointed after the team’s loss to Manchester City, but said he is “really proud” of the players for displaying a stunning performance after conceding a goal.
Manchester City secured a 1-0 win over Arsenal in the Premier League. In the second minute, Raheem Sterling leapt high to nod in Riyad Mahrez’s right-wing cross and it proved to be decisive as Manchester City earned three points from the game.
“I’m really proud of them. We played well. I think we equalised the possession to 50:50, more or less. We were there, we competed against them in the middle, they didn’t have the ball that they wanted. In that case, we played really well but at the end we cannot be happy because we lost the game. We have to learn, we have to improve, we have to be ready from the beginning of the game and we weren’t. At the end, we lost the game,” the club’s official website quoted Mari as saying when asked how pleased he was with the way the team pulled together to defend as a unit after conceding.
With this victory, Manchester City made it 18 straight wins in all competitions and equalled the club record 11 consecutive away victories. Also, it was their 13th consecutive Premier League victory.
Manchester City now has 59 points from 25 games while the second-placed Manchester United has 49 points from as many games. Arsenal, on the other hand, hold the 10th spot with 34 points.
Reflecting on how frustrating it was to concede a goal after just two minutes, Mari said: “It was hard for us because we planned for the game really well. Everybody knew what we had to do and I think we did well but at the end, we conceded a goal at the beginning of the game, and when you concede those kinds of details against these types of teams, you lose the game.”
“We have to be hard, we have to be focused 100 per cent in the beginning of the game until 96 or 97 minutes. I think 99 per cent of the game we played really good, but at the end, we lost because we conceded that detail in the game,” he added. (ANI)
