After Arsenal’s 4-2 victory against Vorskla in the Europa League, Alex Iwobi tackled the assembled press in the mix zone on the way to his car.
The Nigeria international spoke positively about Unai Emery’s influence at the Emirates, his ambition to score and assist more and how he’s hoping his teammates can maintain their positive momentum in the coming weeks and months.
On the performance…
It’s nice to be back out there and I’m trying to prove a point to the boss. It was a great team performance and that’s the main thing. We just need to continue like that.
On life under Emery…
It’s true, he demands a lot, we’re working a lot harder in training, running a bit more. As you can see we’re buying into his ideas and I’m enjoying my time with him.
On helping Emery with his English…
I’m not helping him, his English is actually very good. I’m impressed to be fair.
On playing a Thursday and Sunday schedule…
It’s always going to be difficult but this year we’ve got a great squad, even the youngsters making their debuts are coming on well. We’re ready for any match, we’ll prepare and rest up, we’re ready for whoever.
On a three-game winning run breeding confidence…
Yeah, of course, we have to keep on being consistent and keep on going. We have to win as many games as we can to get in the Champions League next year.
On not being the youngster of the squad anymore…
I’m not the youngster, no more. That’s what happens in football, time flies. You just have to keep on proving to yourself and your teammates that you’re good enough and that’s what I’m trying to do.
On his ambition for this season…
There’s a new manager, a new system. I’ve already said we’re buying into his ideas, it’ll take a bit of time, but we’re getting there. Now we have to keep being consistent, keep pushing.
On Emery making him a better player…
I’m sure, yeah. There are new ideas and I’m learning a lot from him. He’s trying to get me to get more goals and to create more chances for my teammates. He’s helping me learn as well.
On scoring more goals…
The big players, they get recognised for their stats; assists and goals. It’s something I need to add to my game.
On how good a result it was beating Vorskla…
It was important to get the Europa League campaign going with a great win. The only thing we’re negative about is conceding goals, but it’s a good win and we’re onto the next.
On why Arsenal conceded at the end…
Maybe a lapse of concentration, we wanted to keep on pushing and get more goals. It’s something we’ve got to learn. Like I said, the important thing is to get the three points.
On this being the first of four consecutive home games…
Yeah, we’re strong at home. We’ve also got a couple of wins away. We’re strong at home with the fans giving us the extra support. We’ll try and keep on getting as many wins as we can.
On putting the early season defeats behind them…
We’re not going to dwell on the past, we’re always looking forward to the next game. We learn from our mistakes, we’ve got four on the bounce now. We have to keep this momentum going now.
I prefer to think the photo choice is on purpose.
Love Iwobi. One of the guys that’s been Arsenal for seemingly ages that feels so close to actually fulfilling his promise. Also is looks more hench this year which is awesome – very hard to shake him off the ball now. Excited to see more from him
His best performance in a while. Looks faster, sharper, and hope his assists and goals counts go up. Love his goal celebrations!
How dare you!
@Crash Fistfight I understood that reference
He hasn’t had a bad performance this season to be fair. Don’t know why he hasn’t even made the bench in the last 2 PL games but i think it probably was a slight injury? But when he played, he performed this season.
I think he was ill for the Cardiff game
Bruh!
“The big players, they get recognised for their stats”, except for the most creative player in the premier league over the last 5 years. The most premier league assists in that period, second in clear cut chances created in that period, second in total chances created during that period while playing more than 20 games less than the number one player, second in assists from open play by 2 assists and the fastest player to reach 50 assists in premier league history. All of this was done without a single teammate scoring more than 20 league goals for two seasons.… Read more »
Yes.., and also stamina. He runs out of gas pretty fast (for a young player). I currently rate him as a 55mins player, that I believe can improve to a 90mins player if he really puts his mind and energy to it. His stats will definitely sky rocket if he does.. Best wishes Bro. I will keep supporting your contribution to the team from over here.
What’s all the fuss about this Thursday-Sunday scheduling? Doesn’t seem like it’s much worse than the Tuesday/Wednesday-Saturday/Sunday scheduling. Especially considering if you’re in the CL, you’ve got to put a bit of a bigger fight in the games. Why all the pointless questions about it all the time, it’s still two games in a week…
You play Thursday night, have a day to recover, get 1 or 2 sessions on Saturday to prepare for Sunday’s game. You play Tuesday or Wednesday, you get one or sometimes 2 days more to prepare. So playing Thursday potentially affects your performance on Sunday
Man Utd played away at Wednesday, then at Saturday. Arsenal play Thursday – Sunday. Same number of days off.
There will be days when you get to play tue-sun. So you have time to recover.
When athletes are tuned to this level and perform with the speed and physicality they do in the Prem, a full,day of recovery, or the extra day of preparation for the next opponent between matches makes a massive difference. Recovery from taking a kick or getting stepped on, shaking the tired aches out of the legs, it’s a big deal.
The point here is, that on the long run, we play just as many games, as Man City plays, same distance between games, but one day later. After Thursday, we have 2 days off, but we had 3 days off before the Europe League game.
Short-term I understand the point – we would be better off if we had less days rest before the EL game, and more rest for the PL game, but long-term it surely doesn’t make any difference, especially because we can rotate more than Man City.
Arsenal could have won by 6-2 or 7-s. The game reminds me of the 3-1 loss to
MU.Arsenal had more shots and outplayed the rd but goals win games not how
you play and dominate the opposition,
The defence cant keep a clean sheet and allied to the strikers misfiring, a repeat
of the fiasco cant be ruled out.
“He’s trying to get me to get more goals and to create more chances for my teammates”
Sounds about right.
“we wanted to keep on pushing and get more goals”
The spirit of Wengerball is still strong in this current crop, I see.
Taking nothing away from the fact we are playing rather POOR opposition in europa at present, Iwobi had a good showing.
He remains one of the VERY few options we have as a genuine wide player.
We have tried to accommodate instead the likes of Ozil and Ramsey into same line up to IMO detriment of quicker transition from defense to attack.
We remain reliant too much on the fullbacks pushing forward to add width and make a difference on the overlap.
I wouldn,t worry to much about stats, they are just that, stats, as long as you continue to play well you will be ok
Arseblog’s commentary on Auba’s interview would be great here as well. Does Emery make you a better player? No, I’m regressing under him to be honest, I hate playing for him.
Good game yesterday let’s hope for more from him. COYG