Bayer Leverkusen manager reveals what he told Nicolas Jover as Mikel Arteta rages at Arsenal players

Bayer Leverkusen head coach Kasper Hjulmand revealed what he told Arsenal set-piece coach Nicolas Jover after their 1-1 draw in the Champions League on Wednesday night.

Mikel Arteta’s side went behind in Germany as Robert Andrich put Leverkusen in front in the 46th minute from a corner after Eberechi Eze was blocked when the ball was played in.

Arsenal salvaged a 1-1 draw after substitute Noni Madueke was brought down by Malik Tillman. Kai Havertz stepped up to score the penalty against his former club in the 89th minute.

In his pre-match press conference, Hjulmand raised questions over Arsenal’s blocking tactics at set-pieces and the former Denmark head coach says that was the subject of his conversation with Jover.

When asked about his interaction with Jover on the touchline, Hjulmand told CBS Sports: ‘No, he’s not a friend of mine, he used to work for Brentford and when we went with the national team I was discussing with Brentford if we could take him for some games but it never happened.

‘I’ve only met him a few times, so he’s not a friend of mine but he just said, ‘yeah, you’re doing it also’, I said, ‘yeah, of course’.

‘What I said in the press conference was not for Arsenal it was in general – we do it, everyone does it.

‘I’m not blaming at all what Arsenal are doing, but I’m just questioning it. Is it in the rules that you can actually make these offensive blocks and just body check people without the ball in the area? That was just my question.

‘He [Jover] said, ‘yeah, you’re doing it too’, yeah, I never said we didn’t.’

Meanwhile, Arteta was furious with his Arsenal players for not following Leverkusen’s routines which were pointed out in their pre-match briefing.

‘We wanted to start very strong in the second half and we’ve done completely the opposite,’ Arteta said.

‘We started not paying enough attention on the kick-off which we already discussed before the match. So then they have a clear header and after that they score the goal. And then it’s obviously game on and the tide changes completely.

‘So after that we had to stay emotionally very composed. We improved in certain areas. With the changes I think we improved as well. We had more presence, more threat on the wings. And at the end we found a way to draw the match.

‘We knew that they had certain routines because they’ve done it a few days ago in the Bundesliga three times in a row, and we showed those images.

‘But then actually you have to see it and do it. And we haven’t done it and we paid the price for it.’

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