Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta, has justified his reaction to Max Dowman’s sending off against Fleetwood Town in the Carabao Cup earlier this week.
Dowman was shown a straight red card in the 85th minute of the match, for lashing out following a bad tackle.
The 16-year-old will now serve a three-game ban starting from this weekend’s Premier League trip to Liverpool.
Speaking to the media on Friday, Arteta warned that Dowman has to be able to deal with robust tackles at the top level.
He said: “You want to see the best and most beautiful reaction. You want to see the reaction of his teammates when they have to play with 10 men.
“What do you expect? That’s the level and that’s the reaction. Whether it’s right or wrong, that’s the reaction. And the reaction when I don’t win, I’m off, big time. This is the environment and the reality.
“We are not in Disneyland, we are in the Premier League. We look after him so much but we are also demanding as he needs to earn the right to play otherwise what are the rest of the boys going to tell me?”