Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta previews their UEFA Champions League clash with Dinamo Zagreb
London Colney, London, UK
Courtesy of UEFA
London Colney, London, UK
Courtesy of UEFA
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00:00The live section, and then we'll go into a quick 10.30pm tonight at Barca.
00:05Before we go into the room, we'll kick off with Alex over here from the BBC.
00:09Hi, Miguel. We saw you train earlier and saw the positives,
00:14Riccardo Calafiori and Ethan Magneri back with the group.
00:17Yeah, very positive news.
00:19We missed them for a few weeks and they returned today for training,
00:24so they will be available for the game.
00:26And there's still no William Saliba.
00:28Are you able to give us an update on his condition
00:31and how long he potentially may be out for?
00:34No, I think he's evolving well.
00:36The last few days he was feeling much better already,
00:39but this comes a little bit too early for him.
00:42And we heard when you were taking the players through their warm-up,
00:45we heard you playing music and the players laughing and joking.
00:49Is that something you do regularly and what's the backing behind that?
00:51Yeah, it's something we've been doing for many years now,
00:54and it's part of training.
00:56We use music as another element of our training sessions to build the energy,
01:01to change certain purposes that we want in the training session,
01:04and I think the players enjoyed it.
01:06You can all but secure a qualification with a win tomorrow night in the top eight,
01:11which means you've missed the two extra games in the play-off stage.
01:15How important is it to miss those games,
01:17especially with the injury issues you have at the moment?
01:20Yeah, obviously so far we've done really well.
01:23We are in a really strong position and now it's time to capitalise at home
01:27on the work that we've done for many months.
01:30So we need a strong performance today against a really good side,
01:33and we'll try to do that.
01:37Mikel, if you cannot automatically qualify for the knockout stages,
01:41which obviously you have odds on to do,
01:44being out of the FA Cup as well,
01:46that opens up potentially a nine, ten-day gap
01:49that you could go away to do some warm-up training.
01:51Is that part of your thinking?
01:53My thinking is let's do what we have to do first,
01:56which is always difficult because we're talking about the Champions League,
01:59and if we manage that, obviously,
02:02we'll have the best ideas on the table to make the right decision, hopefully.
02:07Because that break helped a lot last season, didn't it?
02:10Yeah, it was very helpful.
02:11With the schedule that we had for the last three months,
02:15you can have a break and reset a little bit,
02:18and work on things and rest some people.
02:21While some people are back, that would be great.
02:24Two weeks left of the Trostle window, are you enjoying it?
02:27I love it.
02:30Do you laugh when you see Arsenal linked with half a dozen different strikers?
02:35No, I understand it happens as well in the summer,
02:37and I get a lot of people texting me,
02:39you're after him and this and that,
02:41I don't even know what they're talking about.
02:43I don't follow it too much, I have enough work to do with a lot of things,
02:49so I don't get too distracted with it.
02:52OK, and we'll go to Simon for this one.
02:55Miquel, just on William, are you pretty confident
02:57that he'll be back for that Man City game on February 2nd?
03:01Yes, I hope so, yeah.
03:03On the music thing, obviously today you had some Brazilian music,
03:09does it change in terms of what you want to inspire from your players,
03:12and what are you hoping that that music today will inspire?
03:14Yeah, yeah, and depending on the drill, depending on the day,
03:17some players pick the first song, the first two songs, the last song,
03:22it's interesting, really.
03:23Can I just ask one, obviously, the injury situation, particularly in attack,
03:27you've got Fabio and Rhys out on loan, I know Rhys is injured,
03:31but if you get to the end of the window and you haven't been able to bring someone in,
03:35is there an option to get one of them back, is it something you're thinking about?
03:39Well, there were certain possibilities with the Fabio situation,
03:43we are exploring all the things that we can do,
03:47just in case we cannot do them, as well as how the injuries are progressing
03:51and when we're going to have them available, so we are aware of everything.
03:55Tom from Bologna.
03:56Hi, Mikel, obviously one of the players we saw out there this afternoon
03:59was Max Delman with the senior team,
04:01how impressive is it to see someone so young with the senior team already?
04:04Very impressive, at his age as well, some of the things that he does in training
04:09are unbelievable, he's a player obviously with a huge talent,
04:13that we have a lot of belief that we can develop him
04:16to become one of our own and he's doing very well so far.
04:21And what do you see as the possible pathways to give him some minutes at a senior level?
04:26Well, at the moment with all the legislation there are a lot of restrictions for your age,
04:31something that in other countries you don't even mention,
04:33so we'll have to wait and see, he's taking very fast steps,
04:39because every time you put him in a different challenge, different level,
04:43he overcomes that hurdle pretty quickly, which is great,
04:45so we're on it.
04:49Hi, I wanted to ask about Dynamo Zagreb,
04:51they've been great at promoting academy products,
04:55and they've integrated some great players in the past and currently,
04:58how great, how exciting is it to see a game between two sides?
05:02Obviously you've got the Haaland Academy talent that you've brought in
05:05and they've got some nice young players that are coming through.
05:07Yeah, incredible talent, what they've done for many, many years,
05:11very consistently as well, the type of football that they always play
05:14is a very particular country with a very clear philosophy
05:18of how they want to play the game, so yeah, it's going to be a very difficult match.
05:24Hi, I'm Arteeta from Creation Nova TV,
05:26when we are speaking about talents, what's your opinion about Martin Baturina,
05:32a huge talent of Dynamo Zagreb, of Creation football,
05:35especially because there are some rumours that Arsenal is looking for him?
05:40Yeah, I don't like to talk about individuals,
05:42but they do have a lot of talent, they have obviously some individuals
05:48that it caught your eye because you have in your head as well all the players
05:54they play in that club and what they've done in the past,
05:56so yeah, it's always a good league and a great club to follow.
06:01What can you tell us about them, what do you know about them as a team,
06:05and I suppose that you know that Fabio Cannavaro came as a coach one month ago,
06:11a big star on the bench for Dynamo.
06:14Yeah, well, that's the context of the game a little bit, obviously,
06:17with a new coach and with the fact that they haven't played a competitive match
06:20for a month, obviously we know the games that they play,
06:23they're friendly and we watch them, and just to try to gather ideas
06:28and more principles basically than systems and formations,
06:31because Fabio's played when he was in China,
06:34different formation when he was in Italy, now as well,
06:36so to actually understand what he's going to do,
06:41know the idea behind it, probably yes, so we'll adapt to that tomorrow.
06:45And last question, you spoke with Eduardo da Silva,
06:50a legend of Dynamo and a very popular ex-player of Arsenal,
06:54you know each other from the player days?
06:57Not really, we didn't play together, but obviously it's a really familiar face
07:01with a very specific history as well and certain moments as well
07:06that obviously he became very important and very loved here
07:10and then, as you said, the career he had there,
07:12so very good to see people coming back that they've been here
07:15with a big smile on their faces.
07:18Jürgen, just on Ove Bakaya, we saw him without his crutches the other day,
07:22is it still looking likely that he'll be back in March
07:26or could he be back before then?
07:27No, that's not going to change, I think it's within the process
07:32and the timeline that they had, that face is gone now,
07:35he's doing really well, he's feeling better day by day,
07:38but we have to respect the healing process
07:41and then obviously he still has a lot of stages to go through in the rehab.
07:45Just in terms of him, it must be great to have him back
07:48because obviously he's played so well before those couple of weeks.
07:50Yeah, it was a big setback because he was getting some consistency,
07:54more minutes, we made him play in a different position,
07:57he was doing really well and suddenly this happens.
08:00It's understandable, the load as well goes through the roof immediately
08:04and that's things that we have to manage.
08:07OK, finally, in the live section we'll go to Jordan.
08:09Miquel, a couple of years ago Arsenal made a few changes game to game of any team in the league,
08:16this year it's obviously been a lot more difficult with injuries,
08:19just wondering how many times this season do you think you've actually been able to plan
08:23to rotate the team, or do you plan one, two, three games in advance?
08:30Whatever I say is not going to be probably the right one,
08:32but I think if there is one or two I will be surprised.
08:37Is that a few?
08:38I think so, yeah.
08:40Because one of the things, you look at the team in the full-back area and the forward area,
08:44there's been a lot of injuries in the same position,
08:46the one place there's not been many is in the middle of the park with parties or junior rights,
08:51I think I was looking at the numbers, the last 6-17 games we've changed it in there 16 times,
08:56parties going to right-back a few times, do you think moving him there sometimes,
09:00because it causes two or three people to change, actually disrupts the team?
09:04I have no choice, but I don't have another full-back.
09:08You don't have another full-back?
09:09I don't have another right-full-back, no. I have Jürgen, nobody else.
09:13Timbuktu have gone to right-back and you've been bringing up centre-back,
09:17that's the alternative choice, isn't it?
09:19To keep some consistency in the place where you've got Piers available?
09:23Sorry, sorry, I don't understand.
09:25So if you weren't moving the party, you can keep some consistency in one area of the park?
09:31And who plays as a right-back? When Jürgen is not available or his load is too high?
09:35No, Jürgen was available the other day to play right-back.
09:40When?
09:41The other day you mean?
09:44Yeah, yeah, yeah.
09:46It's the first time, but in relation to the way we have to play,
09:49we cannot have a right-footed player defending a right-winger.
09:53No, it's just an interesting point.
09:55Because I don't have another right-centre-back, I don't have it.
09:59OK?
10:00Yeah.
10:01OK, cool, we'll finish.
10:03That finishes the live section.
10:04You didn't understand.
10:06That finishes the live section, we'll go to 10.30 tonight, we'll kick off with John.
10:10Can I just take you back to the music, Miquel, because that was quite fun.
10:14Is that just a way of mixing things up and keeping things a bit fresh, a bit different,
10:20and sort of almost, I don't know, just breaking down the routine?
10:25Music is very much part of our culture.
10:28We have music in a lot of different places,
10:30and I think music has the capacity to change your mood,
10:34to change your energy to a certain place, and I think it happens in all of us.
10:38You play a song and immediately you feel different,
10:41and we have certain songs that trigger something in our team,
10:46because they have some history as well with us,
10:48and we use it when we believe it's the right way to do it.
10:52What's your favourite music to use?
10:53I have a lot, depending on the day, that's what I'm saying, it's all about my energy.
10:57As soon as I play a song many, many times, my kids say,
11:00''Dad, can we stop it, please?''
11:02It's what it is.
11:03I know the feeling, doesn't it?
11:05Just going back to the striker and Jadon,
11:09did you always feel last summer, when you obviously tried and weren't able to,
11:14did you feel as if you had a striker or enough in attack to get you through this season?
11:21I mean, what we couldn't do, we couldn't do, that's it.
11:25I look at a lot of positives and things that we have been able to do in the market,
11:29because we have so many to do in the last few years,
11:32and we haven't invested, really, the things that other teams have done in the front players.
11:40But we put it in other areas that we believe were really necessary,
11:43and we have to develop players to have really high standards as well,
11:46so every case is different, and I'm very happy with what we have.
11:51Miquel, you mentioned the mood of the players and changing the mood with using music,
11:56what is the mood of the players?
11:57Obviously, the other day was very frustrating, putting them ahead,
12:00and that's a belief, but how are the players feeling about the challenges that lie ahead for us this season?
12:06They were really at it the next day.
12:08I mean, it's our job.
12:13I don't want them to feel unlucky, we deserve much more, all those things.
12:20We have to control what we can control.
12:22Is there anything we could have done better in the game to win by a big margin?
12:26Yes, let's focus on that.
12:27The other thing, we were very unlucky, I think we were very unlucky.
12:31Did the result reflect the performance?
12:33No, it didn't, it's clear, obvious, we've seen it two times.
12:36It's what it is, so it's in our hands to change it, and that's it, and move forward.
12:41And obviously the Champions League is a different focus now away from the Premier League,
12:45and the team has evolved from last season, obviously you've got to the quarter-final now,
12:50on the brink perhaps of qualifying.
12:52How important is it for you to use this competition to build the evolution of this team
12:58and the experience you've had over the last few years?
13:01Well, I already saw a big one from last year and the way we performed against certain oppositions,
13:06especially away from home, we played some big games at home this season as well,
13:10and we're very dominant, something that in the past we haven't been able to do.
13:14So we need to keep going, and now we need to capitalise on what we've done for many months
13:18in the competition, and then the right to be with the top teams in the manner that we want to be,
13:23and let's see where we are when we go to the next stage, if we deserve to be there.
13:28Hi, Mouka, last season from January, when you went on that unbeaten run,
13:32Jacob, Kivio started quite a few games in that run, obviously injuries had an impact there.
13:38What's happened to Kivio this season?
13:40Because obviously when you've changed the team around, especially the back line,
13:43Kivio has often been on the bench. What's the thoughts behind that,
13:46and what's Kivio's position in the squad now?
13:49Well, the ideal position with Jacob is left-central defender, that's key,
13:52and as well with the amount of changes that we have to do in the front area,
13:56the attacking midfielder area, full-back area,
13:59he hasn't found the consistency that he had for that period of time,
14:02but he will play games, and he's played games, and I'm very happy with him because
14:07he's a player that, the way he looks after everybody, the way he trains,
14:12and when you need him, he's always there.
14:13There's very few in the squad like this, so I really value having Jacob in the squad.
14:18You gave Ethan Wineri his debut in the Premier League a few years ago,
14:21the youngest player in the Premier League who still stands today.
14:25Obviously we now have Max Dalman in and around the first-team training on a regular basis.
14:30Of course, for this competition, because of the rules, he can't be part of the squad,
14:33but can you envisage Max Dalman maybe featuring on the bench in a league game this season?
14:38I don't know. I don't know if we can even do that.
14:42I think he's not allowed to do that yet because of the rules again,
14:46but I don't know. It will happen naturally, organically, whenever it has to happen.
14:51He's in the environment already, which is incredible at his age,
14:53so whenever it has to happen, it will happen.
14:58You went to America in November to chat to the owners,
15:01are they, at this point in time, would you speak to them again about maybe what you want to see?
15:08Do you have some sort of assurance that if you want to do something, it's there to be done?
15:13Yeah, we are in constant contact, obviously,
15:16understanding the situation, how the team is evolving.
15:20Obviously, some of the big news that we had, unfortunately, they weren't that positive.
15:25How we feeling about it? They've been super supportive and they continue to be so.
15:30Josh, they've been financially supportive all the way along,
15:33are they prepared to back you in this case?
15:36Like you said on Friday, if you get the player in,
15:39it's going to be a difference between doing well and not doing well this season in some sense.
15:45Yeah, well, first of all, it's backing the club and themselves,
15:50because we all want the best, so the decision that we make is not to back anybody,
15:54it's just something that makes sense, that's going to improve the squad,
15:57it's going to give us the ability to perform to a level and to win the things that we want to do.
16:03If that's the case and we have the resources to do it,
16:06we will try.
16:07OK, we'll go to the last couple of questions, and then we'll go to Jordan.
16:09Hi, around this time last year you played Declan Rice as centre-back for half an hour
16:14against PSV, you said that was sort of emergency planning,
16:19no wonder now without Tommy Assi, without Ben White, all these players missing...
16:23Yeah, he's been there, he's been in my head,
16:25but the reality is he had to play because of certain circumstances,
16:28six as an 80, play one game as a 10, as well as to put him in a different position.
16:33It's not ideal, he's coping with it really, really well,
16:37but we know that he has the ability to do that, offering something different
16:41to obviously the other central defenders,
16:44but the reality is that we don't have right footers in those positions.
16:47So he could do it?
16:48I think so, yeah.
16:50OK, finally to Jordan.
16:51OK, just on Cannavaro, such an amazing player, a World Cup winner, Ballon d'Or winner,
16:58naturally when a player like that becomes a manager there's so much pressure and expectation
17:02that he has to then be the same sort of manager as he was a player.
17:06As an ex-player yourself, how tough is that when you're expected to be the manager like a player?
17:13Yeah, I imagine, I don't know, in his case obviously he's already been in different jobs
17:18for many years, but I admire his unbelievable career as a football player
17:24and as well what he's done as a coach in different roles in different places,
17:28and tomorrow we will meet and it will be a good experience.
17:31You say about him being in different places,
17:33been in China, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Italy and now Croatia,
17:37just how amazing is that for a young coach to have all those different experiences
17:41and it's something that maybe you want to have one day?
17:43Plus all the ones that he had as a player, all the experiences are amazing.
17:47I think those experiences have incredible value and it really changes and moulds a person
17:55and consequently the coach.
17:56So it's getting everything that you can and getting an environment
18:00where you can develop that idea, give you time and then have success.
18:06Would you want to one day travel like that as a manager in the future,
18:09go to different countries?
18:10At the moment, no. At the moment I'm so happy where I am.
18:13LAUGHTER
18:14OK, well, that's us.
18:23Thanks.
18:29See you again soon.
18:45Cool.
18:46Thank you guys for waiting.
18:49Anyone want to kick us off?
18:50Gary, did you want to kick us off?
18:52Yes, hello.
18:53Hi.
18:53Yeah, good, yeah?
18:55Yeah, good, thank you.
18:56Thanks for coming.
18:57No problem.
18:58Especially on your recent goal, first two assists of the weekend.
19:04With the injury situation at the moment,
19:06does it feel even more important to you to play your role,
19:10given that you're going to be playing more often than you need to?
19:14Not really, but I want to be important every single time.
19:18Obviously now I will look a bit different,
19:23I think from the outside because of the injuries,
19:26but, yeah, I want to help the team moving forward in terms of winning games,
19:33so that's my approach.
19:35When you're playing week in, week out, does that help?
19:37Yeah, definitely.
19:39Obviously when you play a lot of games you get physically better,
19:43you adapt more, and that helps you in a way, I would say so.
19:48You spoke to Mikel, he says obviously about the January trial,
19:52I'm not going to ask you about specifics,
19:54but he says the club are ready to spend money
19:56if they can find the right people in January.
19:59You arrived in January, so you're proof that the January signing can work.
20:04Is it a more difficult time for a player to come in in January than in the summer?
20:11Yeah, I think so, of course.
20:14It's less time as well, and I think everyone knows it's the hardest time
20:19to get players in because obviously the teams where the players are at
20:24probably are also in a different situation.
20:27So it's not the easiest to adapt as well as a player to a different club,
20:32but obviously there's not much I can say about it.
20:35That's more up to the club and the manager, obviously.
20:38Is there anyone who might come in?
20:40You're all there to welcome them and make sure they hit the ground?
20:43Yeah, of course, that's what I think the whole squad is all about.
20:48We welcome everyone in who is a new player, and that's how it should be.
20:53Sam?
20:54Hi, Nick. I think your first day would have been two years ago today.
20:58You obviously did adapt very quickly and had an impact.
21:02How did you do that? How did the club help you to do that?
21:07There's no black and white, I think,
21:10but obviously I played already a couple of years in the Premier League,
21:14so I knew the league already and the team-mates as well.
21:19I think we have such a good group.
21:21Everyone tries their best to welcome you into the team,
21:24and I think that affects the players as well a lot,
21:27especially if they come from maybe a different country, I would say.
21:30I think that's the most important thing, to feel welcome.
21:35Just quickly, one of your team-mates, Ethan Leary,
21:37you'll know that the fans are so excited about him
21:40and just want to see him all the time.
21:42What can you tell us about him?
21:46Yeah, he's just an amazing player.
21:49You can tell already in training sessions how confident he is as well,
21:54beating his man 1-1, has such a good shot as well, scoring goals.
21:59So, yeah, I think he has a bright future ahead of him,
22:02and I think he can help us a lot.
22:05John?
22:06Jürgen, I think it will be your 100th appearance from him, is that right?
22:11Yeah, yeah, they told me.
22:12How do you reflect upon that, and the two years that you've had?
22:17How do you comment on tomorrow?
22:18Yeah, when they told me this the other day, I was surprised.
22:22It's been so quick already, time flies,
22:25and yeah, I'm really happy with it, obviously,
22:28that I have that mark in the tomorrow game,
22:32and yeah, I've had such a great time already,
22:35and hopefully in the next X amount of time I will have the same impact,
22:41and hopefully by winning something as well.
22:44That's a lot of games.
22:45I mean, you do that within that period of time, isn't it?
22:48No, definitely, yeah, it is.
22:49That's why I was surprised as well.
22:51100 games is already a lot, especially in two years,
22:54but that tells you where the club is at as well.
22:57That means that you're competing in every competition,
23:00and that's what we want to do.
23:02Between Christmas and New Year,
23:04Mikel spoke affectionately about you,
23:06but he sort of said sometimes you're his biggest moaner,
23:09within the dressing room, you probably saw it.
23:12Do you recognise yourself in that?
23:14I mean, the way he was saying it was that basically,
23:16you always want to make your point,
23:18you want to be in the team,
23:20you want to challenge the referee's decisions,
23:21but do you see that within yourself?
23:23Yeah, of course, I wouldn't use moan,
23:25but if he wants to use that, I'm just a winner,
23:29and if a decision goes against me and I think it's unfair,
23:33I think that's really personal, I would say.
23:37Is that in training or in games?
23:39That's how I am, and obviously I want to win every game,
23:42and I think that should be the mindset of every football player.
23:46And I guess you want to play, don't you?
23:48You want to start, and that's obviously on you now.
23:51But do you recognise that in yourself,
23:54that sometimes you can maybe look a little bit,
23:56I don't know, a little bit unhappy, a bit upset?
23:59Yeah, that could be.
24:00It's not that I do it on purpose, I would say,
24:06maybe the body language at that point could be,
24:09but I'm always ready, and I think I've shown that as well,
24:12even if I'm on the bench, that I can make an impact as a sub,
24:16and I want to do that in both ways.
24:19If I'm a starter, a sub, I want to help the team win games.
24:24Tom?
24:26Premier League has been a really challenging time,
24:30with the injuries and stuff.
24:31Does the Champions League, though,
24:33offer you an opportunity for a trophy that this club is desperate to win?
24:39Yeah, it's a different competition again.
24:41We want to win every competition if we could.
24:46Obviously it's not easy, as it says,
24:48but yeah, it's another opportunity.
24:52Tomorrow again, we want to win that game
24:54and get us as close as possible to the top eight,
24:57and that's our aim at the moment.
24:59And, as John mentioned, 100 games coming up.
25:02I mean, you've obviously played with a lot of different left-back partners.
25:04At the moment, you've got a very young left-back partner in Mars, Louis Skelly.
25:08As one of the more senior figures in the team,
25:10what's that experience of kind of being somewhat of a mentor
25:13on the left-hand side,
25:14and being that senior figure to look up to for Marcos?
25:18Yeah, I think he has shown his qualities
25:22over the past few weeks to everyone.
25:25We have seen it already over the past months
25:28that he had the capability of doing that,
25:31and now he shows it on the big stage.
25:33And yeah, he's such a good player.
25:37So strong as well for his age.
25:38It's unbelievable.
25:39And also down to earth,
25:42and I think that's also one of his biggest qualities.
25:46And yeah, he is also, same as Ethan,
25:49a bright future ahead of him,
25:50and I'm really pleased for those two.
25:52So you might have a challenge with him in training?
25:55Yeah, he has.
25:57Yeah, definitely.
25:58Simon?
25:59Leo, can I just ask you about Kai,
26:02who you were very close with at a difficult time on Saturday,
26:07having that goal.
26:09How big was that for him,
26:10and how has the squad been with him during this whole past?
26:14Yeah, very big.
26:15I think every striker and every team wants to score goals
26:18and help the team moving forward.
26:20And obviously, there's always people who will say something
26:25if a player or a striker or an attacking player
26:28is not scoring or whatever.
26:30But I think he has helped us already so much over the past,
26:34I don't know how long he's been here now,
26:37almost two years as well, a year and a half.
26:40But yeah, he's so good for us,
26:42and not just in terms of goal scoring,
26:44but he helps us getting up the pitch,
26:46and he's such a good player.
26:47So yeah, I think it helped him as well.
26:50He's also a confidence player, I would say,
26:52so it's up to us as well to get him in those positions.
26:56Can I just ask you about the back end of the summer window?
26:59We heard talk of interest from Saudi Arabia,
27:02clubs are new.
27:02We heard reports about a new contract.
27:05Just what sort of situation is with all of that?
27:08Not much, really.
27:10I'm just focused now at the moment on the next game
27:14and playing for Arsenal and winning things.
27:16So I'm not really there with my head at the moment.
27:19Jordan?
27:38I don't really think it's the players who pick it.
27:40I'm not sure who's on the tunes when we're doing the warm-up.
27:46But yeah, you just kind of get used to it, I guess.
27:51At the start when I joined,
27:52it was a bit weird for me that we had this.
27:54But now, yeah, it's just natural for us
27:58to have the music playing when we are warming up.
28:03And how have you adapted to Mikel in general?
28:05Because he likes to try different things,
28:08something that we might think are a bit strange,
28:10but you guys seem to get a kick out of it,
28:12some of the motivational methods and stuff.
28:15Was it strange when you first arrived and now it's just normal?
28:17Yeah, same thing.
28:19It's a bit different as well to any other manager I had.
28:22But at one point you just get used to it.
28:24And I think, as you said, it helps on some days
28:29players to focus more and get the meaning really
28:33of the importance of the game.
28:36Last couple on this side, we'll go with Issam first.
28:38Hi, Leo.
28:38With Raheem Sterling, what's it been like to move around?
28:41Because obviously you're a winger,
28:43he's a winger, he's got a lot of experience.
28:45What's it been like to help him around?
28:47Has he particularly helped you with anything in particular?
28:51Yeah, obviously he's a very experienced player
28:53and I get along really well with him.
28:55So not in particular with me,
28:58I think he helps also a lot the young guys as an 18.
29:05So I think it will help the players a lot.
29:06But yeah, obviously I think he's a quality player
29:08and he can help us a lot moving forward.
29:11As a winger, what's it like with the challenge
29:14since Bukai Saka has been injured to fill that?
29:16Not only the goals, the assists,
29:17but also the influence he has on the pitch.
29:19Has that made you guys kind of step up in a way
29:21to try and fill that void and push on forward?
29:26As I say, you always want to be important for the team.
29:29It doesn't really matter if you have injuries or not.
29:31I think everyone wants to play and push the team
29:34and be important in terms of scoring goals, getting assists.
29:39I think every attacker wants to do that,
29:42not specifically when we have injuries.
29:45Obviously we all know what we did for the club already
29:49in terms of goals and assists, and you can't replace that.
29:52But obviously we have such a good team
29:54and such a good squad who can adapt to it.
29:57Obviously now with Gabi out as well, it's a bit short,
30:01but I think we'll find a solution in that case as well.
30:05With you guys out there,
30:06the FA Cup and obviously the second leg of the Carabao Cup to come soon,
30:10do you guys see the Champions League as a real opportunity
30:13of sort to wear the season out
30:14through each of the quarters last season?
30:17Yeah, I think everything is an opportunity, really.
30:22We did really well up until now,
30:24and we just want to be in the top eight first,
30:28and then we can move forward from that.
30:32Gary?
30:32I just want to pick up on Jordan's question.
30:34Which of the tunes that go down well in which one?
30:39I think you're not asking the right person.
30:44To be fair, it's that natural that I don't even listen to it.
30:49It's just there in the background,
30:51and you're more busy with your warm-up
30:54and getting into the training session.
30:56So it's a really hard question to answer.
30:59Is it Nicky or the DJ?
31:02No, I don't think so.
31:05I think it's one of the staff, one of the physical coaches.
31:09You've got two and a half years left with the option.
31:12Do you see yourself finishing here,
31:15or what do you see as your future?
31:18Yeah.
31:20Obviously, you never know in football how things turn out,
31:24but I'm really happy here, and I still want to win things here.
31:29I think we have a great squad, a great team,
31:31with a manager who pushes us every day to achieve big things,
31:35and we need to evaluate every single season.
31:40Final one. Jordan, yeah.
31:42Sometimes when a young player comes into the team,
31:45the older players need to sometimes protect them
31:47or look after them on the pitch.
31:48Just with my own, I know we spoke about it earlier,
31:50but does it feel like he needs everyone
31:53to sort of look after him on the pitch?
31:55In what way do you mean?
31:57So a young player coming in, a lot of pressure on him.
32:00Sometimes you're playing in front of him.
32:02Yeah, of course.
32:03Does it feel like anyone has to do that?
32:07Yeah, definitely.
32:08I think you always try to speak to them a little bit,
32:10but I think, as I said before, he's really down to earth
32:14and he knows what he's dealing with,
32:16and it's still soon.
32:20He only has played a couple of games,
32:22but he will get used to it,
32:24and yeah, he's a class player,
32:28and as I said, the more games he will play,
32:32the better he will get, I think.
32:33It's obviously a really international question about Arsenal now,
32:36with so many different players from different countries,
32:38but with Ethan, with Myles, with Saka,
32:42do you feel that there is an Arsenal-English core to the group growing?
32:49That's not really something I would pay attention to, to be fair.
32:53I just think we have such a great group all together,
32:57and there's nothing you would point out, I would say.
33:02Cool, we'll end it there.
33:03Thank you, guys.