In the second half of his pre-Bournemouth press conference, Mikel Arteta touched on whether he’d have played for England as a player and fielded questions on Arsenal’s travel preparations, Gabriel Jesus’ form and Raheem Sterling’s England ambitions.
Here’s what he had to say…
On playing for England…
I was thinking about it the other day, I was talking to Edu about it at lunch and yeah, I would have done it. I would have done it. I felt very proud about it. I was very realistic about the players Spain had at the time and how little chances I had, so you need to know your level, look in the mirror. In the end, it didn’t happen. It was good, at least to think about.
On whether he was upset it didn’t happen…
No, it’s okay. If you cannot do it, you cannot do it. I wasn’t prepared to fight against the world in that moment.
On preparing his side for a period with lots of travelling…
We discussed that and we’ve put things in place, especially to make the players feel fresh because there’s a lot of travelling, a lot of requirements, routines and habits that become a bit different. They’ve just been 10 days away from home most of them in hotels and playing international football, they are quite used to it. The thing is, when you glide those two things together and the days become a big proportion of certain periods and more challenging. So far, we’re very early in the season and the team is fresh.
On what the club does to keep the players fresh…
Try to make those periods as short as possible and as efficient as possible, obviously respecting the priority always which is performance, that is preparation, that is rest and recovery. If we have to bring them back straightaway after matches, perfect. If the best thing is to stay in the hotel and try the following day to have better sleep, better food, better time to recover and prepare the next match, they have to understand. Then we always do certain activities within the squad to keep it fresh, to keep it a bit of a surprise and something a bit ouf of the norm.
On the importance of developing a strong reputation on the road…
We try to prepare the best possible way and the results that we’ve had in the last two seasons, especially away from home, is reassuring. It brings confidence, it brings trust to the team that we are capable of competing in any scenario and that, in my opinion, is very important for ourselves and the opponent because they can see that we are ready for face-to-face.
On Gabriel Jesus’ start to the season…
He came back in great shape, probably the best condition he’s been with us, he was flying in pre-season and, unfortunately, he got that injury straightaway which affected him for a few weeks. He put a lot of work into it to come back and now he needs to get the rhythm. He’s played a few games, he started against Atalanta and Bolton and Southampton. He’s there, now he needs to earn the right to play more. He’s got our full support, he’s a player who can play in various positions and he’s a really important player for us.
On a lack of English coaches and how you develop more…
I don’t really know the system that well to give a clear opinion but I can tell you the level of English managers is really high and the education of the players, especially in the academies, is extremely high. That means that there is quality is there, do they have enough opportunities as well, that’s not a question probably for me to answer.
On Thomas Tuchel understanding the pressures of club management and that benefitting him when it comes to conversations about players…
All the managers understand the demands we have at the club level but the reality is well is they have a responsibility to do their best for their country and to fulfil the duties they have in the role, which is to win all the games. With those demands, you have to make the best decisions you think for the day and it’s very difficult. I understand that, to look one month ahead, three months ahead or looking at the previous history.
On trying to keep Jack Wilshere at the club…
I don’t know exactly where we are with that today. At the moment, he is here with us and we’re extremely happy to have him. What happens in the future, we can discuss it after.
On whether he expects more players to sit out the next Interlull…
My wish is that everybody is fit and available and they can go with the national teams and we don’t have to adjust any of that. Let’s see where we are in November.
On whether people should be surprised by Spain having more coaches in the Premier League than England given the number of total A License holders in Spain (2,000) compared to England (200) and the costs involved…
Again, it’s very difficult for me to give you a proper answer because I don’t know all the data and the other factors that are contributing to that imbalance in the numbers that you are describing.
On whether Raheem Sterling was one of the England players he described as smiling when Thomas Tuchel was announced as manager…
I don’t know if Raheem was there.
On Ben White smiling…
He doesn’t ask me about Bukayo or Declan, he goes to [Ben], do we assume those two were happy then! Yeah? Ok.
On Tuchel being happy to have Declan and Bukayo…
And Raz and Ben as well…
On it being important to get Sterling back in the England squad…
If that’s his desire and what he wants, for sure. He’s in a really good moment right now, I was watching the last two training sessions and he was exceptional. Raheem at his best can compete with any player in this league, for sure.
Arteta is using Pokemon in training?! No wonder the team is so good these days!!
Finally we have an explanation for why we signed ParkaChu.
I you want to understand why English managers are useless come and watch my son playing under 8’s football on Sunday mornings on a full size pitch.
No rondos. No one touch football. No futsal. Just 22 little boys chasing a ball round an acre of muddy grass like a swarm of bees.
Haha so true. I wonder if there is any truth to the class theory. In England, football is cherished as a working class sport. On the continent it is valued by academics and people of all backgrounds. I don’t think it’s unfair to suggest elite thinkers produce better coaches. Also becoming a coach in places where costs and access aren’t prohibitive help too.
Bloody working classes. With their turnips and their lack of footballing philosophy…
If only they ditched the turnips and we’d have a plethora of qualified coaches
Yes surely Cruyff’s Barcelona are an institution for the bourgeoise. And Brazil. And Argentina.
You are right though they seem to be a different class than “Europe”!
That Arteta didn’t get into the England team at that time, when it was much shorter in talent (especially creative talent) than it is now, is another stupidity that was purely down to nationalistic ego. Every other country in the same situation would’ve taken him, just like Eduardo was a key player for Croatia, or Jorginho for Italy despite I’m pretty sure growing up mostly in Brazil. “we don’t want Spain’s leftovers” seemed to be the prevailing thinking at the time, despite Spain having at that point enough talent to practically fill *two* World Cup winning squads. Really sorry and… Read more »
When he’s won everything there is to win with Arsenal, at least twice, he can become the England manager and win everything with them too.
So the general narrative is going to be about why there’s no Englishman managing England. I can see the tabloids slapping a big dollop of xenophobia on top with lots of bitter old pundits ready to parrot said narrative. Tuchel won’t stand a chance.
We’ve got an Irishman running our arseblog and there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think how unbelievably inappropriate that is.
I mean, would Andrew even sing “The Angel”???
Fuming.