Mikel Arteta made no attempt to cushion Max Dowman after the youngster\u2019s first red card in senior football during Arsenal\u2019s disappointing Carabao Cup exit to Fleetwood Town on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
It was a difficult night throughout for Arsenal. After falling behind 1-0 in the first half to a goal cheaply surrendered by fellow teenager Marli Salmon, the visitors spent the remainder of the match forcing the issue. They produced 26 shots in all, with seven ending up on target, but the pressure never translated into the result they needed.<\/p>\n
Dowman was central to some of the missed opportunities. He first scuffed a clear opening across goal before setting up Kai Havertz for a fine chance that the German failed to convert. Beyond the missed chances, the winger also spent much of the evening coping with a physical challenge from Fleetwood.<\/p>\n
Referee Michael Salisbury only awarded one foul against Dowman, and that came in the 85th minute with the score at 1-1. Harrison Neal then launched into a full-blooded challenge near the touchline, scissoring the teenager\u2019s standing leg. Dowman responded by kicking out at the midfielder in the middle of a large confrontation, and Salisbury soon produced a red card.<\/p>\n
As Dowman headed down the tunnel, Arteta was heard shouting, with the manager later saying: \u201cWe know when we prepare the context of the match, we\u2019re very clear on what to expect,\u201d he added. \u201cEmotionally, we have to dominate, but we\u2019re very clear.\u201d<\/p>\n
That reaction fitted a theme that has run through Arteta\u2019s work this season. Emotional control has become one of his repeated messages, alongside the idea that Arsenal must handle the moment rather than be carried away by it.<\/p>\n
\u201cEmotional dominance\u201d has been a regular phrase in recent weeks, and Arteta has been clear about what he wants from his side. \u201cWe have to be emotionally dominant regardless of what the context is. It\u2019s easy to say, very difficult actually to do,\u201d he said earlier this month.<\/p>\n
This was Dowman\u2019s first red card for Arsenal, but his second dismissal of the month. The England U-19 international had already been sent off in a behind-closed-doors friendly against the U.S.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Arteta\u2019s response to Dowman reflected his wider demand for emotional control under pressure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22100,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[192,1067],"tags":[1066,59],"class_list":["post-22101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal","category-carabao-cup","tag-carabao-cup","tag-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22101\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}