Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta on the Kai Havertz injury, the Everton v Liverpool midweek match and Dubai Training ahead of Leicester
14/02/2025
Sobha Realty Training Ground, London, UK
14/02/2025
Sobha Realty Training Ground, London, UK
Category
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SportsTranscript
00:00Hello, good morning. Happy Valentine's Day. Thank you. The same to you. Premier League is back. Do you love it? I love it, yes.
00:08But some heartbreaking news, more injury heartbreaking news about Kai. We know it's serious, we know he's out of his seat, but potentially he'll be back for the next season as well.
00:17Just explain how he is and how you're going to deal with the situation.
00:21We were having a great camp in Dubai, recharging, training, having some time off and connecting again with nature and a different environment.
00:31And then the injury happened in a very unexpected way, so it's a big blow obviously because of the injuries that we have.
00:41But fortunately we've been through a lot this season. We have played without Kai Magallanes, without Saliba, without Ben White all season,
00:49Tome Yasuo all season, Calafiore two months, Merino two months, Martin Odegaard two months, Bukai Osaka three months, Gabriel Jesus, all of them.
01:00So that's it, that's the challenge ahead. Love it and look forward because we are still where we are with all the things I mentioned,
01:08on top of playing four times with 10 men, blah, blah, blah. So let's see what the team is made of.
01:14You used the word in there that you love it. I was going to say to you, as a coach, does that get your juices flowing, trying to solve a problem like you've decimated up top at the moment?
01:23Yeah, because I don't want to look, I understand the narrative. Any team in this league lose four players in the front line like those ones.
01:31And I know what the answer is going to be. I don't want to even mention that because we've been through a lot and we have sustained the level of performances and results to this point.
01:42So we are more than capable of doing it. And that's the only thing that we're going to be looking at.
01:47Is anything ruled out? Ethan up top? Raheem up top? Merino up top?
01:52You don't have to be very creative with the options that we have. I'm sure you're going to get it right.
01:57But you did say at some point quite recently that Ethan has it in him to be at the top number nine.
02:03Yeah, the thing is when. I think it's in there, it's more than a necessity. It's a real quality. He's been playing as an attacking midfielder in the right wing and I think he's been really good in that position. So that's fine.
02:15A chance for Raheem to shine, giving him a chance to play week in, week out.
02:20Yeah, and for other players as well and for Leo probably to play in two or three different positions.
02:25So it's between all of us. We have mentioned that many times. He's adding value from different players.
02:32Probably being a little bit different in when we have to be adapting to the qualities and the strengths of our players and go for it. The spirit is certainly the same.
02:43With Mikel, there's been a few headlines. Is he still on the schedule that was set for him and would you be tempted to try and speed him back because of those problems you got with other injuries?
02:55Well, I don't know. We have a long-term injury. What is faster? In a 10-day injury, three days is a lot because it's 30%.
03:05In three months, a week, probably it's not that much. But it's too early. It's in an early stage of the rehab. When we get a little bit closer and he starts to do more demanding stuff and more load, we will see where he is.
03:20Just to clarify quickly, there's no setback?
03:22No, no, no. He's fine.
03:24Just finally on injuries, Ben White back in the squad?
03:27Yeah, Ben has been training more regularly now, so we have to still manage a lot his load, but he's going to be available, yes.
03:35Just moving on, Wednesday night, I don't know whether you saw the matchday programme, Everton-Liverpool.
03:41Yeah, a few.
03:42A bit of housery maybe going on there, your goal against Liverpool?
03:46It's probably because it was the last time that Everton beat Liverpool at Goodison, so yeah, good memories. I look young.
03:53Yeah, you jumped higher.
03:55I was a very powerful player, as you know.
03:57It's a big, big jump there. Did you jump that high when Everton got that late lead?
04:01I better not tell you the story what happened. No, no, no. It was a funny one. Because I lost connection in that moment. I was watching the iPad and I lost the connection. We didn't know exactly what was going on.
04:15That's the beauty of football, you know, that uncertainty and the fact that for everybody, and it's not the first time, for everybody it's really difficult to win matches in this league.
04:26That's why always the hope and the ambition is there, because to do it consistently for ten months is a very, very, very long league.
04:35When I saw that goal, I looked at it back, took it down beautifully, 20 yards out, the right foot, hit it with the right foot, no chance.
04:43It looks like you might have an answer to your striker problem.
04:48I think we'll be in big trouble, my friend.
04:51Just with that points difference now, maybe down for 25 hours to four at the weekend, does that lift hopes, particularly after Dubai last season?
05:02Well, when the gap obviously becomes a little bit shorter than you expected, it's always really positive.
05:08And you need that, at the end it's generating momentum, you know, and the next few weeks are going to be critical as well,
05:15to understand what we're going to have after the international break, where you are with six, seven weeks to go in the season.
05:22All clubs deal very differently with injuries, and you said previously it's a really good time for Saka to take a break,
05:30obviously it will be good for Kai as well.
05:32But as a manager on a daily basis, how do you focus, you know, you have to pay attention on the next game, on winning,
05:38the players that are on the pitch, but how do you make those that are in this period where they do need to focus on themselves
05:43still feel included and focused for when they return too?
05:47Well, keeping them as much as possible close to the team and involved, you know, and they are very responsible as well,
05:53managing the spirit, the energy of that team, and supporting in the best possible way,
05:59to maintain the standards, to maintain the belief around the team, and to be connected.
06:05Because when you come back, if you've been in the process every single day,
06:09I think after it's much better to achieve again the performance level that you need.
06:14And Arsenal are one of the best final pressing teams in the world,
06:17but Kai, Saka and Martinelli, they're a massive key in you achieving that.
06:21Will you try to maintain that by playing players out of position, like Rice or Mourinho,
06:25or will you have to change over the way you typically press as a team?
06:29We will have moments, I think, in relation to the position's qualities and the intention that they have,
06:36and their availability, again.
06:38Hopefully we will be better and better and better in the next few weeks,
06:42but for now, always adapt to the qualities of the players.
06:46Leicester next, away, they've had a mixed season, but some of it has been capable performances.
06:51What have you made of them so far, and what sort of tactical battle do you expect?
06:54Yeah, very difficult, and at home as well, against top opponents,
06:57they made life very, very difficult, and on route very well.
07:00And how he sets up his teams, and you can see the spirit there,
07:05and that they are very much alive, and yeah, they are a threat.
07:12Hi, good.
07:14First of all, pretty much all the injuries you've had this season,
07:18you've already outlined, have been serious injuries,
07:21not just sort of a broken toenail or something like that.
07:24Why is it, do you think, that the injuries players are picking up,
07:28not only here, but other clubs, are serious, i.e. out for a month, out for seasons?
07:35Well, you cannot prove it,
07:37so the evidence that we can provide is very limited in many aspects,
07:42and every case is very different.
07:44Obviously, some of them we know that are based on loads and minutes,
07:48it's inevitable, so we have players that have been injured,
07:51that have played 130 games in the last two seasons.
07:53So at the end, it's an accident waiting to happen, you know,
07:56if you continue to load and load and load.
07:58Is it this season, is the accumulation of that, is the stress of that,
08:03is it luck, is it preparation, is it methodology?
08:06There are a lot of factors, and very difficult to point out as something,
08:09but obviously the schedule that is planned is super demanding,
08:14and for certain players, especially the explosive players, becomes a real issue.
08:19Mentally, for a player, coming back from injury is difficult.
08:22What about you, what about the manager?
08:24Because when a player goes down injured, is your first thought,
08:28because you've had so much bad luck,
08:32I'm going to lose this player for a long time.
08:35Yeah.
08:36Big pain in the tummy, that's the first feeling.
08:39First of all, when you see a player in pain, obviously it's a really bad feeling.
08:44Then you feel like, you know, again, and then you realise you have no time to do that.
08:49You know, support the player, start to look forward,
08:52and start to look at alternatives,
08:54and how the team is going to be able to continue to perform,
08:58and convince yourself about that,
09:00because the player needs to feel that belief as well.
09:03And you can use cases, that situation we've been in in the past,
09:07and we've done it, great.
09:09So if we've done it before, we can do it again.
09:12Hindsight is the greatest thing none of us have,
09:15but it is the greatest thing to be able to foresee.
09:18With hindsight now, if you turn the clock back a month,
09:21would you do anything to avoid another strike?
09:25Too sorry to?
09:26Would you have done absolutely anything to have got another strike,
09:30if you'd have known what you know now?
09:33No, but we always put in that situation that we were an injury or two away
09:38of a very risky situation.
09:40But when you try your best,
09:42and you think that you've done everything that you are capable of,
09:45and you have done your homework,
09:47and try that and you don't achieve it,
09:49you can have regrets, but at least you know that you've done it.
09:53And the last one, I know how competitive you are,
09:56and I know you want to win every game, every competition,
09:59but now realistically, because of how short you are in terms of players,
10:04especially attacking-wise, are you going to have to think,
10:08I'm going to have to limit my ambitions this season,
10:11regroup in the summer and then go again?
10:13If I do that, I prefer to go home.
10:15No chance.
10:17We'll go to Alex from the BBC.
10:19Hi, Nigel.
10:21What's the spirit in the group like you said there,
10:24when you see a player get injured, in the timing,
10:27have you had to lift up the group after another key player has got a long-term injury?
10:32Yes, there is always a moment,
10:34and it happened when we were training super well,
10:37and we were in the best environment, and suddenly this happens.
10:40You have to turn things around at the end.
10:43Unfortunately, we go through that a lot,
10:45and you could see the reaction when Gabriel Jesus got injured,
10:49and the reaction of the whole team, and how we feel about that.
10:52Tome Yasu is another one that has been really, really strong in these kinds of situations.
10:57Ben, when Mikel just came in, and suddenly he's on the floor,
11:00and he's out for six or eight weeks.
11:02Unfortunately, we had a lot.
11:04It's part of the game, it's part of our profession,
11:06and we have to deal with that.
11:08Because of this particular injury, did you see more of an impact on the squad?
11:12Was there a change immediately after Kai had this injury?
11:15Was it like you could see on the players' own, not another one?
11:19The reaction is, OK, what else do we have to do?
11:22Let's do something else, what else do we have to do?
11:24That's it, that's the reaction.
11:26Art Athletic.
11:27Hi, Mikel.
11:28Hi.
11:29Can I just ask how Kai did his hamstring?
11:31Would that be OK?
11:32Yeah, he was going to stop a shot after I said,
11:35and I stretched the leg and he felt his hamstring.
11:39In terms of the options you have now, obviously very different profiles to Kai
11:43in terms of height and frame.
11:45Sorry for my voice.
11:47I'm just wondering, would that change the way you,
11:50not approach your philosophy of how the game is played,
11:54but just maybe a few different tweaks for the different profiles you have with Leo?
11:59Yeah, we have to.
12:01There are certain things that we're going to have to adapt.
12:05And again, it brings another opportunity as well,
12:08because we're going to have in the front line players that are very unpredictable,
12:14so good in 1v1s, very creative, very sharp,
12:18and it's going to give different headaches as well to the opposition.
12:21And just on one thing you said before,
12:23the accident waiting to happen with just the scheduling,
12:26I was also wondering about the workload players have to do now
12:29in, I guess, one football.
12:31Is that something you also feel kind of contributes?
12:34Because I know a few weeks ago you mentioned Kai making those runs
12:38all the way back to, I think it was zone 6, you said.
12:42So with all that workload,
12:44is that something that also comes hand in hand with the schedule?
12:48Yeah, well, the intensity obviously is going to a different level
12:52and the demands that we put in play in terms of the amount of minutes
12:56in this competitive environment, it's higher and higher.
13:00So it's just a consequence of that.
13:02And you look at all the graphics and the injuries that have happened
13:06in the last two seasons, especially this season,
13:08and long-term injuries, especially muscle and tendon involvements,
13:11it's higher than ever.
13:13So there is a relationship,
13:15and even the date of the sample is small, I think it's very clear.
13:21Simon for Standard.
13:22Mikel, in terms of solutions and things you can do,
13:26obviously you are still able to bring in a free agent.
13:30Is that something you're considering?
13:32Are you still looking at the market?
13:34I'll explore every possible situation and make a decision from there.
13:38The other one as well, I know Max was out with you in Dubai.
13:42I know the Premier League rules need to be under 16,
13:45but there is some sort of possible scope
13:47that you could request to the Premier League,
13:49that you could play him.
13:50Is that something you're considering?
13:52Yeah, we have Max, we have many other kids as well there.
13:55It's a great opportunity for us to see them in our environment,
13:59and it's clear on the rules on age restrictions at the moment,
14:03and very difficult to change that as well.
14:07Tom for London.
14:08Hi, Mikel.
14:09You mentioned earlier about the narrative
14:11of us trying to work out formations and line-ups.
14:15Is there an argument that sometimes you might want to keep
14:18more of a senior player in reserve on the bench,
14:20and you might play, for instance, a younger player for the start,
14:23so you've got that more senior option to come on later in games?
14:27Yeah, that's a good point.
14:28Sometimes it's a way of twisting your thinking
14:32and probably exposing the player in an environment
14:36that is from the beginning, and it's a bit easier.
14:39We'll have to cope with different contexts probably,
14:42and some of them that we haven't even imagined
14:44or can't really plan today.
14:46But we are ready.
14:48And just one quickly on the marquee.
14:50I remember you mentioned before that bodies don't help
14:53when you bring in players,
14:54and there's not a benefit to just bringing in a body.
14:56Do you still feel in that way that just having someone
15:00of a certain ability could help in these situations?
15:05Well, a certain ability, an ability that can play in our level.
15:09That's a body that then we recognise as somebody
15:12that can support and impact the team.
15:15James, ESPN.
15:16You talk a lot about the load on the tyres,
15:19because everything you can do in training,
15:21how do you have to adapt training to these games
15:25that you do every day?
15:26Can you even train properly?
15:28No.
15:29We're very limited.
15:30We train less than ever.
15:31You see our data, we train less than ever.
15:33It's normal.
15:34There's no time for training.
15:36But we talk about training only what happens in the grass.
15:39The biggest problem is that you don't train the muscle.
15:42That's the problem.
15:43So the muscle is under-trained,
15:45and then you expose the muscle and the tendon
15:47to an exposure that they cannot absorb
15:49because the tendon needs 72 hours to recover.
15:52So a lot of people talk about,
15:53what are we doing outside?
15:54It's not inside.
15:55It's inside when you have to load that muscle
15:57for two, three, six, eight weeks.
15:59You haven't trained it.
16:00The risk of injury is much bigger.
16:02One, because the muscle or the tendon is not recovered,
16:04and then it's not prepared to absorb the load
16:06and the stress that you're going to put it under
16:08again every three days.
16:09That's the problem.
16:10So when you say accident waiting to happen,
16:12that's what you're talking about?
16:13Yeah.
16:15You've obviously had to show a lot of resilience
16:17already this season.
16:18You mentioned all the injuries you've overcome.
16:20Does that sort of give you confidence
16:21that you can deal with this again?
16:23You've already come through so much,
16:25and you're still back there in title.
16:27Yeah.
16:28And look at all the factors that can give you an edge
16:31that maybe they weren't there, you know?
16:33And a big one, again, is going to be our people,
16:35our supporters.
16:37If we're going to be short in certain areas,
16:39they can contribute in a way
16:40that nobody else can impact the team,
16:42and it's with our energy.
16:43And so when the energy can change momentum,
16:46can change belief,
16:47and can put a player from this level of performance
16:50to that one without me talking to them.
16:52And that's a big power,
16:54and we have to use everything that we have in-house
16:56and in our domain to do that.
16:59And that in the single on Wednesday,
17:01you talk about momentum changes.
17:03That helps, you know?
17:05It seems that it helps when you see your team performing
17:08and what we've done in the Champions League
17:10and what we are doing in the league
17:11with all the conditions that we are in.
17:14That massive belief, you know?
17:16And the players' reaction is really what it gives me,
17:21being in the mood that I am,
17:22that they want more and they are not satisfied
17:24and they're not going to stop with that.
17:26OK, last couple in the live section.
17:28Harry from BBC London.
17:29Miguel, Raheem Sterling has not played as much football
17:32as maybe some people were expecting him to
17:34when he arrived at the football club,
17:35but do you know him inside out?
17:37How do you get him going now for a period of time
17:40where he's going to be the same?
17:41Well, he's been much more involved recently as well
17:45and he's married and he has earned the right to do so.
17:48And obviously now in terms of the minutes
17:50and availability we have of players,
17:52other players are going to have more exposure
17:54and certainly Raheem will be one of them.
17:57OK, and finally a question in Spanish from Mel at the back.
18:00Hola, Felipa, Raheem and Miguel.
18:02Have you had the time in Dubai with the team
18:05and with the families of the players?
18:08What is the importance of that time there
18:10to relax the mentality for the players and for you?
18:17To live together.
18:18In the end, they are the most important part
18:21of everything we do
18:22because it is the part that gives us emotional support,
18:24those who are with us every day
18:27and to have them close in an environment
18:29where there is no competition
18:30and where everyone is a little more relaxed
18:32is the best way to get to know each other,
18:34to understand each other
18:35and I think it's a beautiful moment to live together.
18:38And tonight, of course, you're going to be in a hotel,
18:42are you going to do something with the team?
18:44Are you going to go to a restaurant
18:45or are you going to do something with the team?
18:47Are you going to be in the air
18:49or are you going to leave everything alone?
18:51For Valentine's Day, you say?
18:53Yes, for Valentine's Day.
18:54For Valentine's Day, they don't want to be with me,
18:56they want to be with their wife.
19:07All the best and let's do it again.
19:10Sorry?
19:14Yeah, it's going to be packed
19:16and it's just a joy to watch again
19:19the amount of support that they deserve getting
19:22because of what they are doing.