Mikel Arteta responds after falling foul of rule changes in Community Shield win

07 August 2023 , 08:06

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Mikel Arteta was booked after falling foul of new rules in the Community Shield game (Image: Getty Images)

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has admitted it will be difficult to "change my behaviour in three days" after he was booked during the Community Shield.

Several new rules have been implemented this season, with officials looking to crack down on time-wasting and dissent. And Arteta was shown a yellow card after sprinting over to fourth official John Brooks and gesturing that Manchester City star Rodri should be booked for a challenge on Kai Havertz.

However, it was Arteta who was booked by referee Stuart Atwell as he fell foul of the new rules, with officials now able to take strong action against anyone demanding bookings or screaming in the face of the referee.

When asked about the incident following the game, which Arsenal won on penalties, Arteta said: "I cannot change my behaviour in three days. It's a very difficult thing to do, and next time we cannot ask him to say, okay, tomorrow we play with no offsides' and the linesman says 'what is he doing?'.

"We try our best, I try my best. I understand the rules, I understand where they're coming from. But we can get frustrated there because sometimes we don't know what part of the technical area we are. But it's fine, we will adapt."

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New rules also mean that referees will play more added time this season as they look to combat time-wasting and that also came into play in the Community Shield as Leandro Trossard scored a very late equaliser in the 11th minute of stoppage time.

Arteta branded that rule change "really good", stating that "teams are going to have to think twice" now about wasting time. "At the end, it's about effective time," he said. "I think it's really good to do that, because it was going too far I think and now teams are going to have to think twice.

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"Now we have to be prepared to play 100 minutes because it's going to happen every single week." City boss Pep Guardiola, meanwhile, was not happy with the changes and fumed after the match: "We have to get used to it.

"I had a feeling - not because we were winning 1-0 - but I had a feeling that there wasn’t much that happened to extend the time added on to eight minutes. But it's a good question for the international board [IFAB] and all the people because they don't consult with the board, they don't consult with the managers, they don't consult with the players for their opinion.

"So now we are going to see 100 minutes. So in a game that's 4-3 that’s 45 seconds for the celebrations for each goal. For a game that has seven goals I'll still be [in a press conference] at 9am the following morning!"

Matthew Cooper