Mikel Arteta on identifying Arsenal's slow start to the season
22/11/2024
embargoed section
Sobha Realty Training Centre, London, UK
22/11/2024
embargoed section
Sobha Realty Training Centre, London, UK
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00:00Do you get a sense of how they feel about how the start of the season has gone?
00:08Yeah, not only that, as we're looking back, we make a lot of decisions and understand
00:13okay, evaluate how those decisions were made, what was the process behind it, have they
00:17worked yes or no, and for some of them it's still too early because in football there
00:22is this smile that time can fluke to it and change relation to what happens in the context.
00:28But it's just living there or being there, you see the reception, how they talk to you,
00:34how they look at you, the questions that they ask, the interaction that you have, and it
00:39cannot be any more positive.
00:40Again, I'm not talking from my side, but it's a joy to have the owners that we have.
00:45Do you get a sense that they're quite calm with you and trusting you fully that you can
00:50turn it around?
00:51Yeah, but it's not in me in particular.
00:53I always felt it, probably as well because I am very open and critical with myself and
01:01try to put the things on the table straight away, but as well with the rest of the team
01:05and the fact how involved they are, with the coaches, with all the staff, with Cale, with
01:11everybody that is happening, and I'm really comfortable with that.
01:15How impressed have you been because I think there's a fine balance in that between being
01:20quite hands-on and then also just letting and trusting people to do their job.
01:24How impressed have you been in that respect?
01:26How can you see it from a distance but still feel connected?
01:30I think it's got its moments and I think it's very important that we all feel comfortable
01:37and uncomfortable.
01:39In this sport, the lead and the demands that we have is sometimes put the temperature up
01:44a little bit, sometimes bring it down, and everybody needs it.
01:48I'm the first that needs that, and not only from him, from the coaches, from the players,
01:52media, it's great to have that.
01:54So you are always seeking to be the best and evaluate and judge yourself in the right way.
02:00What's the temperature like now?
02:02Very good.
02:04Like Mallorca in June.
02:09With Liverpool at the middle, obviously nine points at the top of the table, we asked you
02:14a lot about Man City.
02:15In some ways, is the start Liverpool have had so far kind of shows that it's not just
02:20about Man City, it's a wider game out there and these teams can fluctuate up and down?
02:25I think we discussed that after two or three games already.
02:29There is so much quality in a lot of teams.
02:33It's true that teams have had very different schedules and that's a very important thing.
02:39Teams have various contexts and difficulties and others.
02:43So after 18, 20, 25 games, we'll see where everybody is and hopefully we're going to be there.
02:52Do you feel sometimes the context is missed when it comes to looking at the table?
02:58I don't know.
03:00It's that rush, that willingness to be...
03:02I mean, it's all about expectations.
03:05When you are in the hype or you are frustrated, it's because you expect something.
03:08If you expect that Arsenal are going to be in the top six and we are third, we are great
03:13after three and you are looking all the time at the table.
03:15When it's just...
03:16Now it's about winning.
03:18Anything that is not, that just creates a different emotion.
03:20You cannot get dragged into that.
03:22And especially so early in the season, especially when it will happen.
03:26So that's for us, to control that and just to be analytical and be very thorough on the
03:31things that we need to perform at the highest level.
03:33To end the ride, to win.
03:34Winning, after, is something else.
03:35With the points gap and obviously the changes at the club that will happen in the next couple
03:36of months and weeks, what's it been like to experience all that?
03:37And in some ways, does that show the strength of the internal environment at Arsenal, that
03:38you're able to basically ride and just get on with the task at hand?
03:51Yeah, we all want to win, win, win, win, win, but it's so good sometimes when something
03:56happens and it doesn't quite get there and then you look and say, let's see how people
04:01react to that.
04:02Really interesting.
04:03Honestly, it's a great exercise from the outside to take a lot of notes, look around, put your
04:09ears open and see how people start to talk and behave and in which direction they go.
04:15It's a great one.
04:16In that environment, superb.
04:22Do you feel like tomorrow is the season that starts now?
04:33No, but I know what you mean.
04:35Tomorrow and after every break and especially we're going to get into the Christmas period,
04:39we know that there is something special in that period and you have to generate that
04:44momentum and we feel that it is the right moment now for us to start building that momentum.
04:49We weren't able to do it in terms of results a little bit earlier, which we wanted, but
04:54let's do it now.
04:55Can I just ask you as well, David Cook, the referee, and the comments that you made on
04:56that video.
04:57What were your thoughts when you saw it?
04:58No comments.
04:59Sorry.
05:00What is the mindset, is it almost like they're angry with what's happened, they're just waiting
05:23to correct it?
05:28I think it's a good way to sum it up.
05:30So last year we were losing 2-0, we scored 2-2 and just watch the footage of how we celebrate
05:37the goal.
05:38And now this season you're up there and you score 1-0 and how we celebrate the goal.
05:42It's a bad race, expectations are higher and you're not satisfied.
05:47This team wants more and more and even if we win and win and win, they're going to be
05:51willing to do more and I love that.
05:52I thought the way you spoke after the Chelsea game in terms of the equaliser, I think you
05:53said it was unacceptable the way it happened.
05:54Most people outside the game will probably think that was just a very good goal that
05:55Chelsea scored.
05:56Is that a sign of the standards that you want from them and the perfection it's going to
05:57take from now?
05:58I can repeat myself because I said it inside there.
05:59In our standards, unacceptable.
06:00How do you manage the expectations of the fans?
06:28The only thing that we've done is promote expectations.
06:31Manage them?
06:32I cannot.
06:33I can't promote them.
06:34So when people expected something about this club and where they were and it's gone up
06:38there, great.
06:39This is my job.
06:41Now it's about delivering with that expectation time and time and time again, which is only
06:46one way to fulfil that expectation, winning big trophies.
06:50That's it.
06:51Anything else is going to be...
06:53You don't feel any difference from last season in terms of expectations?
06:56Yeah, because last season probably they didn't expect that we could do it again.
07:00Especially with the level of other teams and where we were.
07:03But we did it.
07:05Maybe now the expectations are different, I don't know.
07:09When you go to America, it's about looking forward to the next year and how much of that
07:15is about looking backwards?
07:17Because you look at the next two windows, that's what you would do next summer.
07:22Yeah.
07:23Well, there are other kind of things across the club, obviously, that they need more vision
07:32in terms of, OK, what's going to happen in 24 months, 36 months.
07:36But what we especially spend time on is, OK, what's going to happen in the next 12 months.
07:41Yeah.
07:42And what happened in the previous six or 12 months.
07:45How much say would you have in the new sporting director?
07:51Is that important to you?
07:54In some clubs, having that little bit of friction between the manager and the sporting director
07:59is actually quite helpful and beneficial.
08:02Well, I can talk about what we are doing right now and I'm going to be very much involved
08:07in that process because we want to find the right person, first of all.
08:11And the right person has to be someone who is able to cooperate and make each other better
08:16and take us to a different level.
08:18That's the objective of it.
08:19So, yeah.
08:22Mika, just a quick one on Zinchenko.
08:24He had a good game for Ukraine in the midweek.
08:26He's obviously an important player for you.
08:28Do you think he can kick-start his season on the back foot?
08:31Yes, and hopefully that will be a trigger to start to see the best version of Alex because
08:38we really need him.
08:40And I agree that he had a really good game and emotionally you could tell how good that
08:45was and how important it was, especially playing for his country.
08:48So we need now to lift his level and bring him back to what he can deliver.