In the second half of his pre-Crystal Palace press conference, Mikel Arteta explained the emphasis his analysts put on performance and circumstance to develop a full-picture of Arsenal’s level, before tackling questions on the importance of silverware and the form of Gabriel Jesus.
Here’s what he had to say…
On what his team’s in-depth analysis of Arsenal’s matches shows him so far…
The sample is smaller, but comparing games, for example, what we did against Everton at home and how we played away against them [last season] and how we did today, we’re much better. Against Fulham, [compared to last season] 10 times better. Against many opposition, much better. The thing is that you need the reward of winning that game and that’s disappointing. In the last six, we won four and drew two. We deserve to win all of them by a mile. And we are not happy because we want to win the six of them because we deserve to win them.
On how deep his team’s analysis goes
I think there is always a lot of noise after a game and a red card. And then probably a few days later, you can analyse the game and say, “Yeah, but you guys played with ten men.” But two months later, when you put all the data together, nobody talks about that. And when you play 45 minutes without a player or two players or three players or seven defenders out, nobody recalls that. We have to because we need to understand a different perspective of the team.
On whether there was always a chance of a dip in form given the strain of the last two seasons…
The chance, if you are not top, to be somewhere down is really high. I wouldn’t say small. The probability is the highest, probably. Because being at the top in this league is the highest thing, the most difficult thing. So after that, everything is going to be behind it. We want to be first, we want to be the best and that’s how it works.
On needing a step back before going forward again…
In relation to points or winning, it’s very difficult to predict. Performance is something else and that’s what we put the emphasis on. At the end, doing everything that we can to end the right to win games and have the highest probability. After winning or not is a consequence of many factors.
On whether he’s heard about the rebranded European Super League proposals…
Today? Yeah. No, sorry.
On many of his squad not yet winning a trophy and the effect it can have…
It gives you trust, belief. The fact that you’ve done it, I think it’s contagious for the rest and it has to be a first time that you do it. And as well, difficult to replicate when you haven’t done it and you have the hunger to do it. That’s a really positive thing as well. So we have to look at it from that perspective.
On how important it is for Gabriel Jesus to break his scoring drought…
I’m very looking forward to that because he does everything in the best possible way. His application, his energy, how he tries, how he wants it and he just needs to be rewarded. Hopefully, it’s going to be very soon.
On whether Jesus is suffering from a crisis of confidence…
I don’t know if it’s confidence, but obviously, he’s got that will, that the ball goes in the back of the neck and he starts to have some momentum in relation to that. At the end he plays in positions where he needs to deliver those moments and he’s really trying.
On suggesting Ethan Nwaneri could play as a number 9 and whether that’s already an option…
No, it’s the possibility of it and I don’t see it now. You’re asking me about ways of playing together, can we play in different formations as well? So that’s it, nothing that’s going to happen now.
I’m the biggest cheerleader of Gabby Jesus (as you can see in my profile name) and praying for him to break that duck becauseI think he’s a good man and totally deserves it. Fingers crossed he bangs in a couple this evening, which then triggers a prolific run and shuts his haters’ mouths for good!
The sad fact is that Man City sold him for the reason that he is just not good enough. His record at Arsenal reinforces that, 66 games and 15 goals is very poor.
The same is said about GJ everytime but alas…
I don’t think criticism of a player is hating them. He hasn’t been very good for Arsenal and was just OK for City. There is no harm in admitting that fact.
When we bought Jesus and Zinchenko from City, it felt like the right move to push us in the competitive direction. However, if we want to push further, we need better starters and backups. Jesus and Zinchenko are not those.
If they were, City would have kept them..
Guardiola started putting Aguero on the bench thinking that Gab “nobody plays the pressing game better” Jesus could replace him. After five games, he had to change his mind and bring back reliable Aguero. Arteta had to use Eddie and Havertz. There were never a prolific run. That’s the problem.
Amen.
Hey man you were right you called it!
Heard it here first, folks!
We need a trophy(s) to keep players like Saliba long term. We’ve been very unlucky with injuries the last few seasons. Here’s hoping…
Class is permanent which is why it’s such an enigma to us all why he appears to be so low on confidence in front of goal, we really need him at his best, so again hopefully this game will be the turning point in his career for us, I would also like for us to start Sterling, a mystery why we included him to our squad but a player who’s scored a lot of goals in his career who like Jesus could kick start their season, with Tross and Martinelli having a poor run of games we need to change… Read more »
first time in 14 years all teams in the EFL cup quarter finals are from premier league, sign of changing times, the competition is strong in EPL and the EFL cup it’s a trophy worth winning and we should make sure of a win. we have at least to more trophies to point, CL and FA and we must targtet them.
let’s look where we are in the leage after we meet citeh on first feb
Chelsea has had Reece James, Nkunku and Fofana almost in Tierney’s world in recent seasons.
And that means what? Chelsea has over 30 decent players on any day and can replace most of their starters. If we lose 2-3 we are in shit.They can lose Caicedo over 100m, bench Enzo Fernandez, and still have Lavia, lose any of their wingers and still have decent quality, we lose Saka we are in shit, we lose Odegaard we are in shit. If we lose Gabriel or Saliba (with Tomi, White all out long term) we are in shit. Point is our squad is thin and quality on the bench isn’t even of the same standard. I hear… Read more »
If Jesus is suffering from confidence issues, then what is it? Ability? Fitness? Desire?
I’d rather it be something tangible that can fix itself like confidence. If it’s one of the other 3, then there’s no real hope.
As said by Clint Eastwood in the movie Unforgiven, “deserves got nothing to do with it”.