Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta talks about developing his players and their training techniques
04/10/2024
Sobha Realty Training Ground, London, UK
04/10/2024
Sobha Realty Training Ground, London, UK
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00:00How much do you enjoy the fact that your players are now calm enough to talk about the title?
00:12They are free to express their feelings and if they believe that's the case, it's great
00:17because belief is the first thing you need to achieve any dream or whatever you want
00:22to achieve in life and what I can say is that obviously we just played six games and we
00:29are very far from it.
00:30I think there's a strange thing in England where you don't like to talk about the title
00:31too early because you may curse it or you may do something.
00:32Do you talk about the title to your team openly?
00:41We talk about it again, the training sessions, what we demand to ourselves, evaluate what
00:46we do every single day and how we can continue to improve and be the team that we want to
00:51be daily in a consistent way and that's it and the rest we'll take care of.
00:57If we are good enough to do that at the end of the season, we'll have chances to achieve
01:00it.
01:01And just finally, Mikel Moreno spoke about how training is like nothing he's ever seen.
01:09About training?
01:10Yeah, training is like nothing he's ever seen.
01:11This is quite a common theme with new signings here, they say that the training is out of
01:12this world and they're learning things on day one.
01:13What are you doing in training that is wowing?
01:21I don't know what he's referring to.
01:24I don't know which way in a certain way that we believe is the best one to get the best
01:29out of players and to try to elevate players to different levels but I don't know what
01:34he's referring to in that case.
01:35With Kai we've obviously seen massive transformation, if you remember the start of last season,
01:36the chips were down, a lot of pressure was being put on him.
01:37Aside from confidence, what would you pop this turnaround down to?
01:38Is there anything specific?
01:39Love.
01:40He's a player that needs a lot of love.
01:41He needs to feel good.
01:42He needs to feel confident.
01:43He needs to feel good.
01:44He's one of the most likeable guys I've met in football and in my life.
02:02He gives so much to everybody so he needs that connection with the people.
02:09He got that from ourselves and the moment he started to go from our supporters I think
02:14that gave him a different dimension, different confidence, as you mentioned, and now we see
02:18the player that he is.
02:19We'd love to see Aaron Ramsdale in the colours of Southampton this weekend.
02:20In terms of set-pieces, obviously he's with you guys for a number of years and we've seen
02:21your practices and what you guys put into the box.
02:22Will you have to talk about that this weekend?
02:36Probably.
02:37We're not going to tell him that we're going to adapt something but do the same because
02:41he's going to be thinking that we're going to adapt it so there's going to be maybe some
02:44mind games.
02:45I'm sure that they have this because it's not the first time that we play against a
02:49player that was in our camp.
02:51He's not sure that it happened so we need to have the capacity to understand and continue
02:57to do our things.
02:58I don't know, obviously he decided that he wanted to take another step in his career.
03:22We were really happy with him, we wanted that competition and that level because we need
03:27a lot of competition in the position but that's it.
03:31We wish him all the best and he's already doing really well.
03:35Why do you think your record against Southampton in recent seasons has been so patchy, it's
03:40been a mixed bag, there's been drop points against them for one reason or another, they've
03:45been difficult to put away.
03:46Why do you think that is?
03:47We have conceded some very sloppy goals, that's first of all, and we haven't been consistent
03:51enough throughout the games to dominate the games like we should have.
03:56So I think we deserve some of those results, probably not all of them but certainly some
04:01of them.
04:02Do you think that in the last couple of seasons the points dropped against teams like Southampton,
04:06like Fulham and West Ham last season have made the difference because in the big games
04:11Tottenham and Man City...
04:13This is what my dad says.
04:14This one you have to win and this one because if not we win every game and then we'll be
04:20champions.
04:22We have an opposition and the level of this league is so high, we're going to try our
04:27best for sure tomorrow to perform and compete in the way that we want and try to end the
04:33right to win it.
04:34When you were a team-mate with Everton, did you ever get the sense that he could be someone
04:45who went into management?
04:50I had the sense, I didn't know about that probably, I wasn't thinking about it, I had
04:53the sense that if I want to be a part of a team I would like to have someone like Lee
04:58next to me.
04:59He was a joy as a person, as a professional, someone that makes your professional life
05:06enjoyable.
05:07What he's done already is unbelievable, he takes it with such leadership and in a really
05:15organic and natural way.
05:18Great guy.
05:19I don't know how much you saw of his England under-21s but last summer they won the European
05:24Championship, they conceded a goal and they played very fluid attacking football.
05:28Can you understand then why BFA hired him as the interim manager?
05:32Because he's able to create that energy and that togetherness around the team and that's
05:38the foundation and then he's a guy that has been preparing himself in the right way, really
05:43smart, really good at connecting with people and then these things happen.
05:47OK, Hamza.
05:49Hi.
05:50Against PSG, just touching on David Rye, I get this lovely pass in the second minute
05:54and I have to look at the goalkeeper in the back, straight to Martinelli, it's almost
05:58like he's a playmaker for you.
06:00Do you consider him as such and what are the qualities that he gives you with the ball
06:03that he's given you?
06:05Yes, certainly when your goalkeeper has the capacity to combine and look short and find
06:12free plays, has the capacity to threat the opponent's last line, obviously he gives much
06:18bigger worries and he generates much bigger spaces and that's a weapon that we have with
06:23David, whether the ball is on the floor, in his hands, in any circumstance and that's
06:28something very positive for the team.
06:30Do you treat goal kicks like set-pieces as well?
06:33I noticed this season from the first kick-out you're not as short as much anymore, is that
06:40a plan?
06:41Well, it depends on the behaviour of the opponent, what the space is, what intention they have
06:46and as well fit the qualities of our players.
06:51You spoke very passionately about Russell Martin and his philosophy style of play, what
06:56exactly has impressed you about him?
06:59A lot of their fans think it's too much of a passing, but you obviously have seen something
07:04that you really like.
07:06Because I think I understand what he wants to do, what he does, why he does it, it's
07:09very difficult to coach it and at the level that he's done it, to perform and dominate
07:15games and win the amount of games that he's done at that level, it's extremely difficult
07:18to do it.
07:20First of all because you need a lot of courage, because when he was winning a lot of games
07:24nobody was talking about that, it's all beauty and in YouTube, the moment you lose it, then
07:29it's too much.
07:31So you need a lot of courage to do that and I love that.
07:35Thanks very much.
07:39Thanks.