Mikel Arteta has said his Arsenal players failed to adapt to the different flight of the League Cup ball as they missed a series of clear goalscoring chances in their 2-0 home defeat by Newcastle United.

Arsenal mustered 23 shots in the semi-final first leg but could not convert any of them, with Jurrien Timber, Gabriel Martinelli and Kai Havertz all producing dreadful misses.

Arteta said Newcastle were “super efficient” in front of goal, as they struck through Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon, and that his players were not.

Asked what he can do to help his players convert their chances, Arteta added: “Just try and show them, give them kicks or tips of what they can do better. We also kicked a lot of balls over the bar, and it’s tricky that these balls fly a lot so there’s details that we can do better.”

Pressed by reporters about the issues with the ball, which is manufactured by Puma – which his squad appeared to train with at London Colney on Monday (see below) – as opposed to the Nike Premier League ball, Arteta said: “It’s just different. Very different to a Premier League ball, and you have to adapt to that because it flies differently, when you touch it the grip is very different as well so you adapt to that.”

Puma ball that annoyed Arteta is coming to the Premier League – why it is so different

The ball in question that Mikel Arteta blames for Arsenal’s defeat by Newcastle is manufactured by Puma – it has a smoother surface to the ridged outgoing Nike ball currently in use in England’s top tier. After his side mustered 23 shots in the semi-final first leg, with many off target, Arteta said his teams were kicking “a lot of balls over the bar, and it’s tricky that these balls fly a lot”.

The ball is certain to become a major talking point for players and coaches over the coming months.

What is changing?

After a 25-year partnership, Nike’s Flight ball this season is all-but-certain to be the final offering from the US sporting manufacturer as Puma is in line to be confirmed as official supplier from the start of 2025/26. Puma and the league have yet to confirm any details of a likely deal but an agreement was reached in the summer and the brand is most likely to announce a new twist on the Orbita 1 Sky Bet EFL Football ball, which has also been in use in the League Cup.

What is the difference?

Arteta says of the ball: “It’s just different. Very different to a Premier League ball, and you have to adapt to that because it flies differently, when you touch it the grip is very different as well so you adapt to that.”

But managers criticising variations between manufacturers is not new. The League Cup was still using a Mitre ball in 2017 when Pep Guardiola, after Manchester City’s 4-1 last-16 penalty shoot-out win over Wolverhampton Wanderers, attacked differences with Nike. “It is not acceptable, the ball was unacceptable for a high-level competition,” Guardiola said. “It is too light, it moves all over the place, it is not a good ball. It is impossible to score with a ball like that and I can say that because we won, I’m not making excuses.”

However, even pub football hackers at the lowest level of the Sunday league pyramid notice a difference in feel between the Nike and Puma. The Nike, essentially, has a grooved surface which improves control, while the Puma is smoother and takes flight more easily.

Nike says of its current Premier League version: “Featuring four fused panels, it helps create a larger sweet spot for more powerful strikes. It also has moulded grooves to help reduce drag and a grippy texture for better control in any weather.”

The Puma version in the League Cup, meanwhile, boasts of a “unique eight-panel configuration: reduced amount of seams creates larger panels for better connection with the ball”, “improved durability and aerodynamics” and “newly developed POE foam: provides a firm touch, improved consistency of rebound and explosive power”.

Have other leagues used the Puma ball and how has it fared?

Puma currently supplies Orbita match balls for Serie A, La Liga and the English Football League and is fast becoming the most dominant manufacturer in the sector. There had been a bumpy start to life in La Liga, however, as the Spanish top tier announced that an official pink ball, replacing the traditional yellow ball, would only feature in “adverse weather condition” matches after complaints of visibility issues.

A La Liga statement read: “La Liga and Puma want to clarify that the new pink colour La Liga ball unveiled last week was used in all the La Liga Santander and La Liga SmartBank matches from the last round, because it was the first since being presented. From now on it will be used solely in those games played under adverse weather conditions, as was first intended.”

What do Puma and the Premier League say?

Neither the Premier League nor Puma have gone on the record to confirm the new deal as yet. Nike and the Premier League’s partnership began in 2000 with the Nike Geo Merlin ball, but it appears the manufacturer has failed to trigger an option to extend on a November 2018-to-2025 deal. Richard Scudamore, former executive chairman of the Premier League, had previously described Nike as an “excellent partner for the Premier League and, through its track-record of innovation, has done a great job providing high-quality match balls for the competition for nearly 20 years”.

Do the numbers back up Arteta’s complaints?

Prior to wayward finishing against Newcastle, the previous three ties for Arsenal did not show much variation from the team’s Premier League form. Before Tuesday’s semi-final first leg, 27 of Arsenal’s 51 shots in the EFL Cup this season were on target –that average of 53 per cent compares to 52 per cent in the Premier League, where 102 of Arsenal’s 197 shots have been on target. In the Champions League, the stat is 58 per cent, with 33 of Arsenal’s 57 shots on target.