Speaking after his side’s defeat to Newcastle last night (7 January), Arteta said: “It’s very different to a Premier League ball, and you have to adapt to that because it flies different. When you touch it, the grip is very different as well, so you adapt to that.”
The ball in the competition is made by Puma, while the ball used in the Premier League is manufactured by Nike.
Commenting in response to the Arsenal boss’s comments, Director of the University’s Sports Technology Institute, Professor Andy Harland said: “If he was saying his players noted a difference between the Carabao Cup ball and the one that is used in the Premier League, then that doesn’t surprise me. Top level players are masters of their craft and will adapt their technique and style of play to a different ball just like a racing driver would adapt to their car or an artist would adapt to their paintbrush. I sensed Arteta was simply commenting on this difference in response to a question he was asked, but I don’t believe anyone suggesting the ball was unfair is justified. Plenty of players and managers complain about balls along with many other things, however, not many do so after they have won!
“More generally, all major manufacturers make balls that satisfy the IFAB laws and FIFA operate a quality programme that assesses key criteria of ball performance. Approved balls are branded with a quality pro logo, and this ensures that basic dimensional, rebound, and other criteria are within acceptable ranges.
“All manufacturers make their balls from different materials and using different manufacturing methods. Even different brands (who have the contracts for different competitions and tournaments) use different methods within their range of balls. This means there will be subtle differences that can certainly be measured in controlled environments.
“Taking this in mind, it is likely that players will indeed notice differences between balls during play - in the same way that temperature, environmental conditions, playing surface will also affect the way the ball performs. Players are adept at adjusting to accommodate this and they do it all the time. Some will adjust quicker than others as certain kicks, dribbles, shots might expose subtle differences more than others.
“You’ve also got to take into consideration that some players are exposed to different balls more frequently. I’d presume they spend time training and acclimatising to different balls, but they may not. The fact that balls are different doesn’t make one ball better than another – they all meet the standard.
“Finally, other sports, such as cricket and tennis, often have a more open conversation about accommodating different balls and conditions. A true world class player in those sports might be expected to excel using different balls but this is less overt in the analysis we have available of footballers.”
