Mikel Arteta says bridging the gap between Arsenal’s past and present is vitally important and he plans to offer more club legends an opportunity to spend time with his players at London Colney.
Earlier this week, Sol Campbell, who made more than 200 appearances for the Gunners across two stints, was invited to take in a training session by former teammate Edu.
The former England international is the latest big name ‘Invincible’ to share his experience with the current crop after Dennis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry made an appearance at last season’s North London derby.
“It’s great to have them back,” Arteta told his press conference on Friday.
“Sol said to me yesterday that it was 10 years ago the last time he was here, and that’s not right. We need those people, with those experiences with the club, to be closer to the players, to share their experiences and to be around.
“Then the feeling is different. [The current players] were looking up to Sol and some wanted to ask him a few questions. I think it’s extremely helpful.”
Campbell won two league titles and three FA Cups during his time working with Arsene Wenger and is well-placed to pass on advice on how to cope with the pressure of a title race.
In the aftermath of successive 2-2 draws, Arteta’s players are under pressure to get back to winning ways when Southampton visit the Emirates on Friday night ahead of Wednesday’s crunch showdown with Manchester City.
After meeting to discuss the recent wobble, Arteta senses his players are ready to push each other even harder in their bid to end a 19-year wait for a Premier League trophy.
“I see a sense of revenge and determination to get it even better and that it’s not enough and you have to tweak it and demand more and more of each other,” he said.
“We have to be perfectionists, but at the same time we have to play with that flow.
“We are really good when we play with that energy and flow and don’t be thinking about the results. That’s the last thing that we have to do.
“If anything this week I’ve had to stop them because they want it more and more, so let’s leave it for tomorrow because that’s the day we have to show it.
“The way they talked, the way they communicated in the meetings we had [showed their determination].
“The discussions are to understand how we move forward after that. It was all the right answers – they were very clear on what we want, how we’re going to do it and why it’s taken us all the way here. That’s what we have to continue.”
It is brilliant to see this kind of connection. It can only be a good thing. Our young squad may be relatively inexperienced, but the confidence our players gain from relationships with legends who are willing to share their time and knowledge is immeasurable. We have a rich recent history. It is easy to focus too heavily on the tricky post-Highbury period. That will always be a part of the media narrative until we achieve comparable success, even though in that time we broke FA Cup records for appearances in finals and wins, were often in the mix at the… Read more »
I think it is a great idea.
Although Arsenal are a fantastic team with tremendous potential being at the top of the table so close to the end of the season is new territory to them and they don’t have the experience of it.
Players like Henry, Campbell and Bergkamp could give valuable advice and confidence to these young players
This is a no-brainer…
Still in our hands! I believe in these guys and I still expect $ity will drop points somewhere…and to us as well. We got this! COYG!
The league is coming home to the Emirates. I can’t let that thought go. Failure to bring the league title home is not an option. COYG!!!
3 pts today and a point against City. If we can do that it throws some of the pressure back on them. I still think they have another draw in them since they will rotate for Madrid.
Seven points gap going into Wednesday’s clash would be nice. Everyone I talk to tends to think Man city are favourites for the title because “they will beat Arsenal at home” and have two games in hand.
Something tells me we are top for a reason and they aren’t 10 points clear of us for a reason. The same people were confident we would lose to liverpool and beat West Ham.
Beat Southampton tonight and let’s enjoy the final 6 games after
Yeah it’s just pundits being the deadshit morons they are. When $ity were dropping points previously, they were all just saying, “oh they’ll work it out”. WhyTF do they cheer for $ity cheats and not call them out for cheating? Hmmm…I wonder where all that cash flows around?!
Love that team and manager. No braiser to have more Arsenal greatest spending qualitative time with the current square.
I had high difficulty not to think too much about last game over the full week… as consequence of that time spent ruminating, I only see 2 scenarii for tonight which are completely opposite. Here’s hoping for the bright one where we simply outperform our highest number of goal scored in a game this season. COYG!!!
*no brainer
Fantastic piece by Tim Stillman on this subject.
Although I want this team to win the title this year, I won’t be overly disappointed if they don’t. I have been so thrilled at the level of improvement between last season and now with just three players – Jesus, Zinny and Saliba – coming into the first team from the beginning, and Trossard arriving in January. Saka, Martinelli, Ødegaard and White have grown in stature within that period too. I am persuaded the upward trajectory of this team will continue next season, and we will definitely be better. It’s never been this exciting peeping into an Arsenal immediate future… Read more »
While I tend to agree, I’ll still be pretty deflated if we don’t win. I think it’s well under 50:50 that we’re in this situation next season. It is REALLY freaking hard to win this league with the money thrown around – this is a golden opportunity. Next season I expect we’ll be good for sure and we’ll be in the CL where we should be. I see winning the league next year as much more of a miracle than this year, and certainly much much more than getting a result against $ity in Manchester. I bet the players aren’t… Read more »
🎼🎵🎵🎵“I wanna knooooow, where your captains gone two three four five six seven eight….” 🥇🥇🏆🏆
😂😂