Mikel Arteta says he knew Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was hungry for a win against Benfica after watching the player’s reaction to a missed penalty in training the day before the game.
The striker was roundly criticised for missing three gilt-edged chances in the first-leg of Arsenal’s last-32 tie with the Portuguese giants but put things right in Athens with a well-taken brace, including a very late header to seal a 4-3 aggregate win.
After the game, Arteta praised the striker for the way he’s channelled his energy in response to a dip in form.
“Sometimes when you go through difficult moments, you can have those difficult moments and get into a sad mode,” said Arteta.
“I think that’s the worst thing you can do because nobody has to feel sorry for themselves when you’re having those moments. What you have to do is get upset, get angry, work harder and approach the situation and face it.
“Face the challenge in a way that creates more motivation and more hunger to do it and I think in recent weeks I’ve seen that reaction.
“For example, in a training session before we played here he missed a penalty and he was really upset. Instead of going sad he got upset and I said to the coaching staff that I like that and that he would be fine tomorrow.
“When you have that mentality, I think that’s the right way to approach it.”
The Gunners arrived back in London in the early hours and will train tomorrow before taking on Leicester on Sunday afternoon. Brendan Rodgers’ side have been flying high in the Premier League but were surprisingly knocked out of the Europa League last night on hom turf by Slavia Prague.
While we’re knackered but buoyed by victory, the Foxes will have had more time to recuperate while also chewing over a damaging defeat. It’s going to make for an intriguing contest at the King Power.
“We have to travel back on a four-hour flight but we won’t use that as an excuse,” said Arteta last night.
“We have to deal with that, we know that when you play in European competition you have to be able to perform every three days and we will prepare to play Leicester with the same intensity like we always do.
“They’ve been really consistent in the league. I think they’ve done a lot of good things, there’s not any luck or anything like that in how they’ve developed as a team.
“Obviously they have a really good manager, a great coaching staff and they have made a lot of good decisions in the last few seasons.
“They have built a way of playing which is completely suited to their recruitment policy, and with a bit of time the quality that they had already in the team – plus some young talents that they have recruited and experienced players they already have – they have a really good mixture. I think they totally deserve the position they are in at the moment.”
Is that some kind of Daft Punk tribute?
“Get Upset, Get Angry, Get Lucky,” never worked out for me for some reason. I tried and tried and tried, but never made it past angry, especially when it was directed at my flaccid member.
Yep and in the next round we got Olympiacos One More Time.
Oh well we’re Human After All aaand cue the Crescendolls
Tough match, let’s hope that they can maintain their current form against us. And we get out of the habit of giving away silly goals.
That’s a tall order mate.
With Ceballos, Luiz and Xhaka on the pitch, a very tall order.
That said, we should all be eternally thankful that we no longer have to put up with Mustafi and his Billion And One Ways To Fuck Up A Game.
Frankly, I don’t care what motivation Auba needs to draw upon to get back to his “normal” goal scoring form, as long as he does it. The brace against Benfica was great, but overall he’s still way behind where he should be given his quality. Let’s hope the last game represents the re-set.
Before Christmas, we didn’t have ESR or anyone else on the pitch resembling a decent No 10 attacking midfielder.
You can’t misfire if the weapon hasn’t any rounds in it.
A forward can’t score without assists.
Just a reminder…….🙄
Never mind the punk lyrics, Arteta needs to concentrate on getting in a decent attacking midfielder this summer to help Saka and ESR with the assists. Then he might see an overall improvement in our forward line as a rule, not just Auba. This Odegaard fella has potential and looks the part, but we seriously need an experienced guy to come in and hit the ground running. It’ll cost upwards of 50m and another loan from Stan, but that’s what we’ve got to do if we’re serious about challenging for top four again. That said, the top half of the… Read more »
I’d have a look at Will Hughes at Watford, !5-20 mil and premier league experience…
Will Hughes at Watford. You heard it here first, folks.
Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp, Liam Brady – sorry fellas, your time as the ultimate Arsenal legends are done….
People who were comparing him post-contract to Ozil smh
People who care more about the amount of money we spend than the quality of player we have on the books.
People who really ought to be supporting Leyton Orient instead of Arsenal.
I just find reports on Arteta really easy to read, he’s mostly talked a really sensible and intelligent game. Knows we’re ultimately striving to be where a club like Leicester currently are, that’s the reality of our situation, why kid ourselves otherwise. I’m hopeful with Arteta at the helm, that after one or two more transfer windows, we’ll be in a similar position to Leicester, at least in the Championship race until Jan/Feb time and finishing strongly (which I think Leicester will do this season, after losing to us on Sunday, bit similar to “that season”) always I’ve gone on… Read more »
A reasonable take which I tend to agree with. Hopefully we make strides before the boo boys and Wenger Out Brigade are back in our stadium though.
agree – I have always been, and remain, in the ‘give-him-time, he’s-one-of-our-own, going-to-be-one-of-the-greats’ camp… But just wish I could understand some of his subs – Willian again vs Benfica when we’re chasing goals and had Laca, Marti, and Pepe sitting on the bench???
On paper with the draw for next round Europa…the two BIGGEST challengers are PL rivals United (or AC Milan) and Spurts. Roma and a weakened Ajax this season may also be Banana peels.Maybe Rangers… Other than that, theoretically, we SHOULD have a good chance. But if we play like mugs with too much caution not enough common sense again, we may not be as lucky as against Benfica. Still many fundamentals in this team Arteta has yet to get right. I don’t buy this ‘its not his team’ bollocks. He has as is a far more expensively assembled and talented… Read more »
Auba, hope he keeps scoring now.
I still think he is best from the left except given circumstances favourable with space.
That said, he took the first goal well so hopefully he can improve his competitiveness in the box.
OTOH with Tierney and Bellerin knocking balls in (Many times without sufficient aim), we need more bodies in the box. Laca in and around there plus Auba a free role to join in may be a good prescription as oppose to over elaborating in midfield (particularly now if we have Partey back)
over elaborating in midfield? we havent played through our midfield most of the season. which explains why we are so shit and so bad at creating chances.
we looked better for a spell when he put smith rowe in the middle. but now this clown of a manager has decided to move him from a role he was thriving in to play some kid who wont even be here next season
christ this man talks some amount of shite. cant wait till he get sacked
Please remove ‘cheese’ from your name you blasphemer!
For someone who’s taken this club to the dizzying heights of 16th in the Premiership, he loves a chat.
Thanks Miki Vardy to score against us again..