In the second part of his pre-Nottingham Forest press conference, Mikel Arteta shed more light on his recent meeting with Arsenal’s owners in the US and the role he’ll play in finding Edu’s replacement. He also touched on the mood in the camp after a difficult start to the season and why he’s confident his players are ready to show their best form.
On his meeting with the owners and how they view Arsenal’s start to the season…
Not only that, as we’re looking back, we make a lot of decisions and understand and evaluate how those decisions were made, what was the process behind it, have they worked, yes or no? And for some of them, it’s still too early because in football there is this smile (curve on the graph), the time [to measure impact] can fluctuate and change in relation to what happens and the context. But living there or being there, you see the reception, how they talk to you, how they look at you, the questions that they ask, the interactions that you have, and it cannot be any more positive. Again, I’m not talking from my side, but it’s a joy to have the owners that we have.
On the owners fully trusting him…
Yeah, but it’s not in me in particular, I always felt it, probably as well, because I am very open and critical with myself and try to put the things on the table straight away. But as well with the rest of the team and how involved they are with the coaches, with all the staff, with Kate [Laurens, comms director), with everybody and I’m really comfortable with that.
On the owners trusting him to get on with the job but still being connected at a distance…
I think it’s got its moments, and I think it’s very important that we all feel comfortable and uncomfortable. In elite sport and with the demands that we have, sometimes put the temperature up a little bit, sometimes bring it down, and everybody needs it. I’m the first that needs that, and not only from him, from the coaches, from the players, media, it’s great to have that. So you are always seeking to be the best and evaluate and judge yourself in the right way.
On what that temperature is like right now…
Very good. Like Mallorca in June.
On Liverpool’s start proving the title isn’t just about beating Manchester City…
I think we discussed that after two or three games already. There is so much quality in a lot of teams. And it’s true that teams have had very different schedules. And that’s a very important thing. And teams have various contexts and difficulties and others. But after 18, 20, 25 games, we will see where everybody is. And hopefully we’re going to be there.
On the table not always highlighting the context of schedules…
I don’t know. It’s that rush, it’s that willingness to be there. It’s not about expectations. When you are in the hype or you are frustrated, it’s because you expect something. You expect that Arsenal is going to be in the top six and we are third, we are great and you are looking all the time at the table. Now it’s about winning. Anything that is not that just creates a different emotion. You cannot get dragged into that. And especially so early in the season, especially with what happened. That’s for us to control that. Just be analytical and be very thorough on the things that we need to perform at the highest level to earn the right to win. Winning after is something else.
On falling behind the leaders and dealing with off-field issues, like Edu leaving…
We all want to win, win, win, win, win, win. But it’s so good sometimes when something happens and it doesn’t quite get there and then you look and say, let’s see how people react to that. Really interesting. Honestly, it’s a great exercise from the outside to take a lot of notes, look around with your ears open and see how people start to talk and behave and in which direction they go. It’s a great one. In that environment, super.
On whether the Forest game feels like a new start to the season…
No, but I know what you mean. Tomorrow and after we break, and especially when we’re going to get into the Christmas period, we know that there is something special in that period and you have to generate that momentum and we feel that it is the right moment now for us to start building that momentum. We weren’t able to do it in terms of results a little bit earlier, which we wanted, but let’s do it now.
On the David Coote controversy…
No comments, sorry.
On the mindset of the players and if they are angry about their circumstances and waiting to correct it…
I think it’s a good way to sum it up. So last year we were losing 2-0 [at Chelsea], we scored 2-2 and just watch the footage how we celebrated the goal. And now this season you go out there and you score 1-0 and how we celebrate the goal. The expectations are higher and you’re not satisfied. This team wants more and more and even if we win and win and win, they’re going to be willing to do more and I love that.
On labelling Arsenal’s defending for Chelsea’s equaliser “unacceptable”…
I can repeat myself because I said it inside there. In our standards, unacceptable. Yeah.
On managing the expectations of fans…
I can’t. The only thing we’ve done is promote expectations. Manage them, I cannot. I can promote them. When people expected something about this club and where they were and it’s gone up there, great. This is my job. Now it’s about delivering with that expectation time and time and time again, which is only one way to fulfil the expectation – winning big trophies, that’s it. Anything else is going to be…[makes awkward noise].
On whether the expectations are different to last season….
Yeah, because last season probably they didn’t expect that we could do it again. Especially with the level of other teams and where we were. But we did it. Maybe now the expectations are different, I don’t know.
On how much his meeting with the owners focused on the future…
There are other kinds of things across the club obviously where they need more vision in terms of what’s going to happen in 24 months, 36 months. But what we especially spend time on is what’s going to happen in the next 12 months and what happened in the previous six or 12 months.
On how much input he’ll have when it comes to selecting a new Sporting Director…
I can talk about what we are doing right now and I’m going to be very much involved in that process because we want to find the right person first of all. And the right person has to be someone who is able to co-operate and make each other better and take us to a different level. That’s the objective of it.
On Zinchenko playing well for Ukraine and it being a trigger to kick-start his season…
Yes, and hopefully that will be a trigger to start to see the best version of Alex because we really need him. And I agree that he had a really good game and emotionally you could tell how good that was and how important it was, especially playing for his country. So we need now to lift his level and bring him back to where he can deliver.
Sporting Directors and Managers, who report to who?
Interesting comments from Arteta on Zinchenko. On the face of what he’s saying it doesn’t sound like he’s given up on him just yet. It might just be him managing the media and giving them no talking points, but I wonder if we will see more of Alex in the coming games than we might have expected. An in-form Zinchenko is still a useful option in the right context.