Mikel Arteta thanked his players for their efforts as they overcame Liverpool at Wembley on penalties despite minimal training since returning from holiday.
The Gunners netted all of their spot-kicks to seal victory in the season’s traditional curtain-raiser with captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang converting decisively having already scored in normal time as the side’s drew 1-1 after 90 minutes.
After the game, the boss chatted to BT Sport…
On the win…
You never get used to it [winning trophies]. I knew the challenge we were facing today against this incredible opponent. David, for example, trained for one day and he was able to play 90 minutes. Thank you very much to the players for the effort and the performance.
On what pleased him most…
The courage of the team, how aggressive we were without the ball, how well we made the decisions to break the pressure of Liverpool and put some issues on them that they had in the backline. I am pleased. I knew in the second half we were going to suffer, we didn’t have the legs and they’ve been training for two weeks. We sustained it though into penalties and the boys had a lot of courage to put things right.
On a good response to Liverpool’s equaliser…
Absolutely, in the last 10 minutes we took the ball, we played in the final third, we were able to dominate and created good chances to win it as well. I am really pleased with how they compete. Hopefully, they can get used to it, that creates a good atmosphere, creates the lift. Let’s try to improve again.
On Aubameyang’s importance…
Big games, big moments, big players. He responds really well to that kind of pressure. He was magnificent in the FA Cup final and magnificent again today.
On Auba’s contract…
We are close.
On transfer business this summer…
We are working with the club to try to achieve what we planned but we know the market is what it is. I am happy with the squad that I have and my job is to make that better.
On a trophy setting us up for the new season…
As I said, it generates belief. We have a lot of things to improve, still, but to be able to compete against these sort of teams in a final like this, it makes me really proud.
Arteta Forever.
Wahooooooooooo. Another trophy. Get in ????
Ainsley Maitland-Niles trophies 2-0 Harry Kane trophies.
Let’s keep AMN, and let’s keep Martinez in goal.
Feel very comfortable having Martinez behind the post
I’d prefer him between the posts where he can actually save it 🙂
Nah, gotta start behind the post so he can get a run-up and punch with maximum power!!! 😉
Martinez hasn’t to it a glove wrong since he came into the side. He looks quality. Is leno better with the ball at his feet?
Surely the extra cash from selling Leno would be quite a bit?
I know my initial desire to keep Martinez over Leno was influenced by emotions of his story with the club, but now they are firmly based in fact. We should keep him, and sell Leno, and make more money by keeping the keeper that hasn’t missed a beat for us.
Why sell either? Make them compete.
If really need to sell, sell Leno. As both are as good now, then should sell the one that can generating higher fund. Martinez 20mil vs Leno 35-40mil, as simple as that. The accountant/businessman/board of Arsenal should know how to calculate & I hope they are not stupid, as simple as that. Unless Arteta & the coach has more data/knowledge that we all unaware of…..
I’m going to be pretty angry if we sell Ainsley. I know we need to generate funds but this guy is improving rapidly. Whereas Kolasinac, I like him too when he’s attacking, not defending, but he ain’t gonna get any better so perhaps he should be the one to generate funds. I mean we got Tierney, Saka, and AMN who can all cover the left side anyway.
Martinez is our most assured keeper post David Seaman. No nonsense, top quality goalkeeping. The sample size is big enough now to make a definitive judgement. Leno is by all means a top quality keeper too, but Emi is has upped it another level.
Back him up.
No, thank YOU Arteta
Just fucking give this man the players he needs and let him take us places.
Who the fuck could down vote this…?!!!
Arseblog must be getting hacked by Spuds.
I assume the use of the F word when there could be kids or women on these message boards…..
Downvotes for this? I don’t get it…..
Some men just want to watch the world burn…
What a finish that was from Auba
There are many clubs in pl who could do with elneny. Hopefully shefield comes up with a bid for him.
I know I’m in the minority, but I’ve always quite liked him, and would be fine with him as a prominent squad player. Think his reputation for “passing sideways and backward” is undeserved (and he moves the ball very quickly most of the time, even if it’s going sideways or backward). As others have pointed out, I think instructions from prior managers had a but to do with his passing as well. His ball through to Willock (I believe) late in the game today was fantastic.
Elneny’s a very tidy passer, the problem with him is he’s “nothing special”. That said I’d be happy if we kept him as a squad player, it’s not like we have many midfielders with security in their passing. Also, we have no obvious starter next to Xhaka, who himself is a very limited player and should be relegated to a squad player status – if only we had the personnel to do that.
This is basically my argument. If the end form of our midfield is relegating Xhaka to a squad player, why not sell him and keep the guy who is already a designated squad player? You’ll get about 10x the transfer fee (on an asset that will only depreciate) and save significantly on his wages on a player who can perform ostensibly the same roles. If I was watching today’s game as a neutral and you told me you could have one of the two Arsenal midfielders I’d pick Elneny. But the market value for Xhaka is around 30m euros (based… Read more »
Sooner sell him than AMN.
agreed a good squad player to keep but 10m in this market would be a good deal for him and hard to turn-down. Elneny is very similar player to what arteta was in his twilight years.
A market in which the likes of Leeds pays a fortune for a centre forward who was rubbish at Bolton? Let’s just keep what we’ve got and sell at appropriate times and prices. Yesterday but 5 m on Elneny and 10 on AMN. Well done Arteta.
I’m the same mate does very little wrong extremely disciplined does his job with no fuss, be a handy player to keep a hold of especially if we don’t get Partey
I’m with you Guns Up. If he sticks around I think he will surprise quite a few people. There wasn’t a moment of panic around centre midfield as there used to be in the past few seasons. And he was always in the place where, again in the past few seasons, there was always a massive gap. He receives the ball, helping defense keep out of pressure. Ball movement was excellent. A calming influence on the park.
Elneny can do a job and he’s likeable but we finished 8th last season. He’s not an upgrade on the midfield that often struggled to contain — or ask questions of — the opposition.
Could he be the backup to the Torreira/Ceballos/Guendouzi replacement(s) we’re in the market for? Sure. But he doesn’t offer enough for us to retain him of we really want to progress.
The sideways passing thing has always been a bit of a myth with Elneny, even in this game he played a lovely one-touch pass right through the Liverpool defence to Willock that cut them open. If anything, he has the exact same skill set as Xhaka, with the added advantage of having a seemingly perpetual engine on him.
Given that he is a seasoned international who is on low wages compared to others in the squad, he should definitely stay.
I want to make my point here without taking away anything from Elneny’s performance today. I thought he was wonderful.
The problem is our midfield is really weak at the moment and we do need an upgrade. The problem with Elneny is although he is a tidy player on the ball he is nothing very special. If we could afford to keep him as a squad player I wouldn’t be against it. But if we do have to sell him to make new signings I would totally understand.
Any player should be available– for the right price. The price is everything.
If someone offers 15 million for Elneny, we should definitely sell him. But the only offers we’ve been rumored to have for him were far less than that. If the best offer is only 5 million or so, we should keep him, as he’s worth more than that to us as a solid squad player.
Oh yes I completely agree, but I also feel there’s a surplus of centrebacks that we can shift out before moving on to an extremely light midfield. Right now, technically speaking Xhaka, Mo, and Torreira are our only first choice options, not counting Willock. Guendouzi and Dani’s futures are up in the air, Torreira is looking like he’s out the door, the Partey deal looks to be stalling and none of the academy kids look quite ready to step up yet. Certainly can’t hurt to have Elneny in the squad at a time like this, especially when the likes of… Read more »
Personally, I think El nemy played very well
AMN = MoM DON’T LET HIM GO!
We do have a really good manager in Arteta. I know it is hard times financially with COVID but if the owners being billionaires and if they are serious about the club we all love they would back Arteta in the transfer market. Stan it is time to pull your finger out of your arse and do something good for this club.
Amen, brother (or sister)
I know many people dont rate the Community Shield… but eff that, two pieces of silver ware in a month!! Give Arteta anything he wants!
Thought the team where brilliant today. Very impressed by Elneny, had one or two moments but other wise he was always in space to create triangles with Xhaka and was tidy and quick with his passing in between the lines and worked hard trying to break up play. Will be good to see how good we are when we have full strength squad!!
COYG!
I know you can’t read too much into games like this one, but this there’s a different air about this team, they’ve got a Winners mentality that I’ve not seen in many years, I can’t wait for this season to get going it’s going to be a good’n!
I agree. Winning teams or teams that compete for trophies are usually happy teams. These guys look like they want to play for each other, their coach, and the mighty Gunners.
Take a bow Arteta. Arsene and Arsenal was a great love story. Arteta and Arsenal has also proved to be love at first sight. Thanks for cheering up a Gooner’s weekend.
The team leader had spoken. Great job. Coined things together,get what he wanted.
It generates my belief that it would be insane to sell Emi or Ainsley, we’d never be able to even replace them with the pittance we get for selling them. If we want to fund a midfielder sell Torreira and Guendouzi. Elneny can do a job for us, with the Europa League we will need a deep squad.
I would still like to see what Arteta can get out of Torreira. We’ve only really seen him properly under Emery. But yes 100% it would be insane to sell Emi or Ainsley.
We’re going to have to sell in order to buy and Torreira isn’t settled, he and his agent keep on about all the teams in Italy that want him, he’s an ideal candidate to sell. A decent but not exceptional player who can raise a reasonable fee and isn’t particularly connected to the club.
Its exciting to be an Arsenal fan again think Arteta could be in for a long and successful career as manager here almost feels wengeresque and a tad more ruthless
This man needs the board to help him, not hinder him.
And that means hanging on to AMN and Bellerín and stumping up the cash for Partey.
Just fucking do it, Kroenke. You’re an 8 time billionaire – that’s change out of your back pocket.
Nketiah can’t score from outside the box. He needs to improve a lot, he missed 2 or 3 glorious chances to put the game to bed. Everyone says he’s a good striker I’m yet to see it. He’s got pace and arrives at the box to make a few tap ins that’s great but everything else about a striker he lacks. He can’t hold up play, or play with his back to goal, his link up play is average, he can’t score from outside the box. Arteta needs to help him improve I think he’s still young and so theres… Read more »
Not convinced by Nketiah at all. Seems like a nice lad but he is too one dimensional and I would sell him ahead of AMN. Feel much the same about Joe Willock too…
I agree with you I’d rather let go of nketiah and keep AMN cos he’s a versatile playr. Whats more, age is still on his side. The real issues we need to deliberate on is how to get rid of redundant British players. Look at the like of wolves not having excess england player, they did well. I can’t guarantee top results with the likes of chambers, willock and Nelson.
I disagree. Eddie is a penalty box player who knows how to score. He works hard too and has good technique. He will only get better and I think he will surprise people this season
I was extremely upset when we chose Emery over Arteta in 2018. A lot of my Arsenal friends felt I was wrong especially when we were doing well in the beginning with Emery and I still didn’t like Emery. I can’t explain why, but I always felt we should have chosen Arteta when we replaced Wenger. I can see Arteta becoming one of the top coaches in the Premier League and an Arsenal legend.
In hindsight it’s easy to say that we should have signed Arteta in the summer of 2018, but in retrospect you also have to take into consideration those extra 18 months or so that Arteta had at Man City improving every day as a coach working with Pep and world class talent has probably reaped the benefits for Arsenal during these last few months. If we signed Arteta in 2018, he may not have had this relative success quite as quickly.
Arteta has made watching Arsenal a real pleasure again. Just since the restart, we beat Liverpool twice, Manchester City, and Chelsea. Just think about that!!!
Yes but we also need to be able to do it against the stubborn likes of Aston Villa, Brighton, and Olympiakos. Master that, and top 4 is a real possibility.
That’s my concern too. We can play like this against good teams. But smaller teams like Brighton, Spu*ds etc will sit deep. We dont have the creativity in the middle to unlock those teams.
Completely agree with you. I think the key to challenging for top 4 will be in dealing with lesser teams. The 3-4-3 and counter attack is a great tactic for big teams, but we need to shift back to a 442, 433 and dominate possession against the smaller teams and I don’t think we have the personnel/ setup for that figured out. Auba doesn’t flourish as much is he is double teamed with a deep lying backline and we have noone willing (considering the situation with Ozil) who can unlock defended through midfeild. I think having Willian will help us… Read more »
I believe that we should sell Lacazette for a good sum, if we can get Suarez from Barcelona either on loan or permanently, he’s world class and will still score more goals than Lacazette.
Winning trophies is a great habit to have.
Maybe Luiz’s new chin scruff beard brings him good luck. He was good today against really tough competition despite only training once.
From The Guardian report – ”
On his touchline Klopp looked pensive in red and white baseball cap. Mikel Arteta was, as ever, a whirl of frantic energy, one hand stuffed into his pocket, the other endlessly pointing and flexing, like a man in a disco trying desperately not to dance.”
Made me chuckle. Arteta does indeed keep tinkering with instructions throughout the game. It’s rather reassuring too.
It may have only been a pre season friendly, but today was a watershed, make no mistake.
Klopp is no fool – check out his face when Auba tucks that penalty away – he knows that, with the right financial backing from this board, Arteta could build something a bit special.
Now it’s down to our board.
Arteta deserves a little dance tonight.
Great win. Loved it. It makes NO sense to sell AMN!
I’m too young to have witnessed Wenger at his absolute prime, but I imagine this is how it felt watching a manager in full control of their club and with only room to grow. Staggered at how Mikel has surpassed even my wildest expectations, and long may his reign last.
It was wonderful kid. You just feel there’s endless possibilities to where the club can go. Winning the league at Old Trafford, then at White Hart Lane and doing it unbeaten. The only real regret I have with Wenger’s tenure is the CL Final; so many things went wrong – first the idiot ref who gave Lehmann a red card (and also a penalty) when he could just let pay go on as Guily already scored. Then Pires had to be substituted instead of that snake Hleb for Almunia, Henry missing a good chance to put us 2-0 up. Then… Read more »
I think Arteta is mastering how to beat the top teams; Liverpool, Man City, and Chelsea, which is great stuff. Now the challenge is to find a system against the lower ranked teams. We have to have a diffrent style to play and beat the likes of Aston Villa, and Brighton next season.
Having a fit for purpose playmaker would be a big help in that regard
Maybe 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 against the lesser teams? Willian may not be the sexiest signing but I believe he can tear teams up, having any one of Pepe, Auba, Martinelli, Saka as his foil.
Counterattack 3-4-3 is working wonders against the top teams – and I’d love to deploy that against highly attacking teams like Chelsea or United. Funny how Chelsea (Mourinho’s) and United (SAF and Mourinho) used to do that against us to our detriment, but now we’re doing it and I’m actually loving it.
Those penalties.
That’s it.
Those penalties.
Well done boys!
Like others here, I’ve been impressed with Elneny his week. I’d definitely prefer to keep him rather than Torreira who’s clearly not really happy here. Get a decent fee and it will be of mutual benefit.
It’s getting boring beating all the top teams over and over again yawn…:-)
Less then a year in management and 2 trophies. Can’t deny arteta might be what we have been missing