Arsenal face nightmare scenario as Mikel Arteta body language vs Atletico Madrid speaks volumes

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Arsenal face nightmare scenario as Mikel Arteta body language vs Atletico Madrid speaks volumes

Mikel Arteta lost his cool after Arsenal's draw with Atletico Madrid in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday night, slamming the state of the officiating.

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Mikel Arteta has been accused of being too emotional following Arsenal's clash against Atletico Madrid in the UEFA Champions League. The Gunners boss felt aggrieved when his side were held to a 1-1 draw by the Spanish giants in the first leg of the semi-final on Wednesday night.

During the second half, Arsenal were controversially denied the chance to take the lead at the Metropolitano. The on-field referee initially pointed the spot when David Hancko was adjudged to have fouled Eberechi Eze inside the box.

But, following a lengthy review of the incident on the pitchside monitor, the original call was overturned. Arteta lost his cool after the game, describing the turn of events as 'completely unacceptable' during an interview with TNT Sports.

Singing from the same hymn sheet, Viktor Gyokeres and Declan Rice also questioned the officiating. Although the Gunners remain in the tie, with everything still to play for at the Emirates Stadium next week, a body language expert believes the Arsenal boss could be doing more harm than good in the dressing room.

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Speaking to OLBG, Darren Stanton attributed the north Londoners' dip in form to the 'volatility' on the sidelines. The body language expert said: "Mikel Arteta looks fed up again after another result that didn’t go his way.

"He flashed a lot of frustration and anger in what was really the most extreme I've seen from him over that penalty decision. We even saw the vein in his neck pop out as if his blood pressure was through the roof. He said himself that he was fuming over the call.

"However, it must be incredibly difficult for the players under Arteta because he is very up and down. He has these mood swings depending on the result. It’s as if he’s always on the precipice of doom and gloom.

"We are used to seeing successful managers provide a sense of consistency, even calm, to help their players maintain their own composure and express themselves. I think Arteta’s volatility may help to explain what we’ve seen from Arsenal of late.

"It must be so difficult for the Arsenal players to maintain their own composure because clearly they're doing their best, and they're being guided and coached and managed by a leader whose emotional inconsistency could be quite destabilising."

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Stanton suggested that Arteta could be putting far too much pressure onto the Arsenal squad. He said: "Arteta often seems to become fixated on things to the point of increasing his own stress levels.

"We return to that vein we see popping out. That’s perhaps an understandable reaction for a fan to have, but for a manager, it’s not a good sign to see this state of flux and disgust and scorn.

"These big emotional peaks and troughs will have effects on someone's physiology, and that has an effect upon the players too. Arteta is at the helm, he sets the example, and the example he is setting over ramps up the pressure rather than easing it in these crunch moments.

"The Arsenal players are all professional people. They're highly competitive. They want to do their best. I think having someone like Arteta leading them in this way could become incredibly frustrating for them, and it might not have much more longevity either."

Stanton also claimed Arteta could be too intense. The body language expert said: "A person can want something so much, too much, that they end up squeezing the life out of the very thing they’re after.

"There is a balance that you have to strike between passion and composure otherwise you can stifle your team when you take things to extremes. Sometimes, no matter how much you want to win, you have to let things breathe.

"Unfortunately, I can imagine Arteta’s approach can have the opposite effect and come across quite suffocating, which when you consider the criticism of his team struggling to adapt outside the system he’s built or stand up to pressure, makes sense.

"We see Arteta smiling when his team wins but he does seem to exhibit lots of negative emotions. He’s consistent in his inconsistency, and his baseline behaviour is consistently at a heightened state of emotion."

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