‘Angry and ashamed’ Mikel Arteta’s motive for storming out of Arsenal interview laid naked
An ‘angry and ashamed’ Mikel Arteta stormed out of his post-match interview on Sunday afternoon as the Premier League title race got to the Gunners boss.
Arteta, 42, had just watched his Arsenal side drop more points in the title race to an under-firing Manchester United. Growing frustrated with the line of question by Sky Sports – Arteta stomped out of the interview.
According to body language expert Darren Stanton, the reason the Spanish coach stormed out of the interview was laid bare in the way he acted.
Arteta was behaving in ways that we are not used to seeing and is navigating uncharted territory, Stanton explained, with his side 15 points behind Arne Slot’s Reds.
“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,” Stanton told Spin Genie.
(Image: Sky Sports)
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“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.”
(Image: AP)
The body language expert added: “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.”
The Gunners have run Manchester City close in the previous two seasons – and with Pep Guardiola’s side flapping, Arsenal had been dreaming of a first Premier League title in over two decades.
(Image: Sky Sports)
However, they have fallen further and further behind Slot’s rampant Liverpool in recent months.
Stanton continued: “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.”
Arsenal are back in action on Wednesday when they clash with PSV in the second leg of their Champions League Round of 16 fixture, having thrashed the Dutch side 7-1 in the first leg in the Netherlands.
