The exchange on the touchline lasted a few seconds. The public explanation for it has lasted barely longer. Pressed afterwards on what he told Max Dowman as the teenager trudged off at Highbury Stadium, Mikel Arteta would only say the words were “something that we discussed already before the match” and declined to elaborate.

Arsenal had just been dumped out of the Carabao Cup by League Two Fleetwood Town. The tie finished 1-1 after extra time, with Fleetwood winning 5-3 on penalties, one of the most dramatic shocks the competition has produced in years. Aaron Loupalo-Bi had put the hosts ahead in the first half, Viktor Gyökeres levelled early in the second, and Fleetwood goalkeeper Jay Lynch then saved Bruno Guimarães’s spot-kick in the shootout before Conor Haughey tucked away the decisive penalty.

Dowman had been sent off in the 90th minute, shown a straight red for violent conduct after lashing out at Fleetwood player Harrison Neal. The response from his own manager, more than the dismissal itself, is what the following morning has argued about.

Merson: ‘I’d have put my arm around him’

Paul Merson, the former Arsenal midfielder working as a studio pundit, said Arteta had picked the wrong moment and the wrong teenager. He pointed to Gyökeres as the kind of senior international whom a manager might publicly rebuke, and argued Arteta would never have treated an experienced player the same way.

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“If it was me, I’d have put my arm around him,” Merson said of Dowman.

The reasoning behind that line was practical as well as pastoral. Arsenal were still level when Dowman walked off, with time left to try to win it, and in Merson’s reading the manager’s priority at that moment was keeping a 16-year-old upright rather than lecturing him on the way to the dressing room.

A second red card inside a month

The context Arteta did not spell out himself is on record. Dowman was sent off earlier in October while on England Under-19 duty, picking up a straight red card in a behind-closed-doors fixture against the United States, reportedly for a kick on an opponent. The pre-match conversation Arteta kept referring back to appears to have been a warning not to repeat exactly that.

A straight red for violent conduct carries an automatic three-match ban, and the suspension will carry over into the Premier League, meaning the 16-year-old will miss Arsenal’s next three top-flight fixtures.

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Arteta said he had not yet seen a replay of the Neal incident and wanted to review the footage before saying more. He refused to use the sending-off as a stick to beat his senior players, insisting the attitude of the squad was not the problem on a night when Arsenal had the ball, the shots and nothing to show for either.

Dowman’s ban begins with Arsenal’s Premier League meeting with Liverpool on Sunday 1 November.

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