As you might expect, injury talk dominated Mikel Arteta’s pre-Leicester press conference following confirmation that Kai Havertz will miss the rest of the season with a torn hamstring.
While disappointed to lose such a key player, the manager was bullish about Arsenal’s ability to cope without him and their other injured attackers while chasing down league leaders Liverpool.
The Spaniard also addressed whether he regrets not strengthening in January, why injuries have plagued his squad, and how tactics might need to adapt.
On returning to Premier League action…
I love it, yes.
On Kai Havertz’s injury and how the team now copes…
We were having a great camp in Dubai, recharging, training, having some time off and connecting again with nature and a different environment and then the injury happened in a very unexpected way. It’s a big blow, obviously, because of the injuries that we have. But fortunately, we’ve been through a lot this season. We have played without Gabi Magalhaes, without [William] Saliba, without Ben White all season, Tomiyasu all season, Calafiori for two months, [Mikel] Merino for two months, Martin Odegaard for two months ,Bukayo Saka for three months, Gabriel Jesus, all of them. So that’s it, that’s the challenge ahead – love it and look forward because we are still where we are with all the things that I mentioned, on top of playing four times with 10 men, blah, blah, blah. So let’s see what the team is made of.
On whether solving this latest problem excites him…
Yeah, but I don’t want to look [although] I understand the narrative. Any team in this league loses four players in the front line like those ones and I know what the answer is going to be, I don’t want to even mention that because we’ve been through a lot and we have sustained the level of performances and results to this point. So we are more than capable of doing it and that’s the only thing that we’re going to be looking at.
On who might play up front…
You don’t have to be very creative [guessing] the options that we have. I’m sure you’re going to get it right.
On Nwaneri being a possible solution…
Yeah, the thing is when? I think it’s in there, it’s more the necessity, it’s a real quality. He’s been playing as an attacking midfielder and in the right wing and I think he’s been really good in that position.
On a chance for Sterling…
Yeah, and for other players as well and for Leo [Trossard] probably to play in two or three different positions. So it’s between all of us. We have mentioned that many times, it’s adding value from different players, probably being a little bit different in adapting to the qualities and the strengths of our players and go for it. The spirit is certainly the same.
On whether Saka is on schedule with his return and whether they could fast-forward his recovery…
We have a long-term injury, what is faster? In a 10-day injury, three days is a lot because it’s 30 per cent. In three months, a week probably is not that much but it’s too early. He’s in an early stage of the rehab, when we get a little bit closer and he starts to do more demanding stuff and more load, we will see where he is.
On whether Saka has had a setback…
No, no, no, he’s fine.
On Ben White being back…
Yeah, Ben has been training more regularly now. We have to still manage a lot his load but he’s going to be available, yes.
On Everton putting Arteta on the front of their programme on Wednesday…
It’s probably because it was the last time that Everton beat Liverpool at Goodison [Park]. Good memories, I look young.
On the picture they used showing him jumping high in celebration…
I was a very powerful player, as you know.
On whether he jumped up high when Everton equalised in the 98th minute…
I better not tell you the story of what happened. No, no, no, it was a funny one. Because I lost connection in that moment, I was watching the iPad and I lost the connection. We didn’t know exactly what was going on. That’s the beauty of football, that uncertainty and the fact that for everybody, and it’s not the first time, for everybody it’s really difficult to win matches in this league. That’s why always the hope and the ambition is there, because to do it consistently for ten months…it’s a very, very, very long league.
On Arteta’s winner for Everton against Liverpool being evidence he could play up front for Arsenal….
I think we’ll be in big trouble, my friend.
On the gap on Liverpool being smaller than expected…
Well, when the gap obviously becomes a little bit shorter than you expected, it’s always really positive. And you need that, at the end, it’s generating momentum. The next few weeks are going to be critical as well, to understand what we’re going to have after the international break, where you are with six or seven weeks to go in the season.
On how he makes the injured players feel included…
Keep them as much as possible close to the team and involved. And they are very responsible as well, managing the spirit, the energy of that team, and supporting in the best possible way to maintain the standards, to maintain the belief around the team, and to be connected. Because when you come back, if you’ve been in the process every single day, I think after, it’s much better to achieve again the performance level that you need.
On using players out of position to maintain the side’s pressing qualities…
We will have moments in relation to the position’s qualities and the intention that they have, and their availability. Again, hopefully, we will be better and better and better [on the fitness front] in the next few weeks, but for now, always adapt to the qualities of the players.
On what he’s made of Leicester so far…
Very difficult, and at home as well, against top opponents, they made life very, very difficult. I know Ruud [van Nistelrooy] very well, and how he sets up his teams, and you can see the spirit there, and they are very much alive and they are a threat.
On why the injuries are so serious…
Well, you cannot prove it, so the evidence that we can provide is very limited in many aspects, and every case is very different. Obviously, some of them we know that are based on loads and minutes, it’s inevitable, so we have players that have been injured that have played 130 games in the last two seasons. So at the end, it’s an accident waiting to happen, if you continue to load and load and load. Is it this season, the accumulation of that, is it the stress of that, is it luck, is it preparation, is it methodology? There are a lot of factors, and it’s very difficult to point out something, but obviously, the schedule that is planned is super demanding, and for certain players, especially the explosive players, it becomes a real issue.
On how hard it is for a manager to deal with injuries…
Big pain in the tummy, that’s the first feeling. First of all, when you see a player in pain, obviously it’s a really bad feeling. Then you feel like, not again, and then you realise you have no time to do that. Support the player, start to look forward and start to look at alternatives, and how the team is going to be able to continue to perform and convince yourself about that because the player needs to feel that belief as well. And if you can use cases, situations we’ve been in in the past and we’ve done it, then great. If we’ve done it before, we can do it again.
On whether, in hindsight, Arsenal should have done anything to recruit another striker in January…
No, but we were always put in that situation, that we were an injury or two away from a very risky situation. But when you try your best, and you think that you’ve done everything that you are capable of, and you have done your homework, and try that, and you don’t achieve it, you can have regrets, but at least you know that you’ve done it.
On whether Arsenal need to reset their ambitions given the injuries…
If I do that, I prefer to go home. No chance.
On whether he’s had to life the spirit in the group…
Yes, there is always a moment, and it happened when we were training super well, and we were in the best environment, and suddenly this happens. You have to turn things around at the end. Unfortunately, we go through that a lot, and you could see the reaction when Gabriel Jesus got injured, and the reaction of the whole team, and how we feel about that. Tomiyasu is another one that has been really, really strong with these kinds of situations. Ben [White], when Mikel [Merino] just came in and suddenly he’s on the floor and he’s out for six or eight weeks. Unfortunately, we’ve had a lot. It’s part of the game, it’s part of our profession, and we have to deal with that.
On whether Kai’s injury was particularly felt by the group…
The reaction is, OK, what else do we have to do? Let’s do something else. What else do we have to do? That’s it. That’s the reaction.
On how Kai did his hamstring…
Yeah, he was going to stop a shot after a set piece, stretched the leg and felt his hamstring.
On missing Kai’s height and having to adapt accordingly…
Yeah, we have to. There are certain things that we’re going to have to adapt. And again, it brings another opportunity as well, because we’re going to have in the front line players that are very unpredictable, so good in 1v1s, very creative, very sharp, and it’s going to give different headaches as well to the opposition.
On workloads in modern football and the extra strain contributing to injuries…
The intensity obviously is going to a different level, and the demands that we put in place in terms of the amount of minutes in this competitive environment, it’s higher and higher. So it’s just a consequence of that, and you look at all the graphics and the injuries that have happened in the last two seasons, especially this season, and long-term injuries, especially muscle and tendon involvements, it’s higher than ever. So there is a relationship, and even though the sample data is small, I think it’s very clear.
On whether Arsenal are open to signing a free agent…
I’ll explore every possible situation and make a decision from there.
On Max Dowman not being eligible to play…
Yeah, we had Max [in Dubai] and we have many other kids as well there, it’s a big opportunity for us to see them in our environment. It’s clear on the rules on age restrictions at the moment, and it’s very difficult to change that as well.
On perhaps keeping senior players on the bench to have options later in games…
Yeah, that’s a good point, and sometimes it’s a way of twisting your thinking and probably exposing another player in an environment that is from the beginning and is a bit easier. We’ll have to cope with different contexts probably, and some of them that we haven’t even imagined or can’t really plan today. But we are ready.
On whether he still believes recruiting ‘just a body’ wouldn’t have helped…
Well, [someone with] certain ability, an ability that can play in our level. That’s a body that then we recognise as somebody that can support and impact the team.
On whether Arsenal can adapt training to help with injuries…
No, we’re very limited. We train less than ever. You see our data, we train less than ever. It’s normal. There’s no time for training. But we talk about training [as if it’s] only what happens in the grass. The biggest problem is that you don’t train the muscle. That’s the problem. So the muscle is under-trained, and then you expose the muscle and the tendon to an exposure that they cannot absorb because the tendon needs 72 hours to recover. So a lot of people talk about what we’re doing outside [on grass] not inside [in the gym]. It’s inside. When you have to load that muscle for two, three, six, eight weeks, you haven’t trained it, the risk of injury is much bigger. One, because the muscle or the tendon is not recovered, and then it’s not prepared to absorb the load and the stress that you’re going to put him under again every three days. That’s the problem.
On this being what he means by the injuries being an accident waiting to happen…
Yeah.
On whether he takes confidence from the way Arsenal have dealt with issues this season…
Yeah. I look at all the factors that can give you an edge that maybe they weren’t there. And a big one, again, is going to be our people, our supporters. If we’re going to be short in certain areas, they can contribute in a way that nobody else can impact the team. And it’s with that energy. And so when the energy can change momentum, can change belief, and can put a player from this level of performance to that one without me talking to them. And that’s a big power, and we have to use everything that we have in-house and in our domain to do that. That helps.
On Everton’s goal helping belief…
That helps, it helps when you see your team performing and what we’ve done in the Champions League and what we are doing in the league with all the conditions that we are in. That [gives] a massive belief and the players’ reaction is really what gives me [a reason] to be in the mood that I am, that they want more and they are not satisfied and they’re not going to stop with that.
On how he gets the best out of Raheem…
He’s been much more involved recently, and he’s merited and earned the right to do so. And obviously now in terms of the minutes and the availability we have of players, other players are going to have more exposure and certainly Raheem will be one of them.
On being away with the players and whether he’ll be doing anything for Valentine’s Day…
For Valentine’s Day, you say? On Valentine’s Day they don’t want to be with me, they want to be with their wives.
On Arsenal Women selling 50,000 tickets for their north London derby on Sunday…
Yeah, it’s going to be packed and it’s just a joy to watch, again, the amount of support that they are deservely getting because of what they’ve done.
A tough run in for us without so many attacking players. Here’s hoping…
The Wengarian goalkeeping paradox The Chelsea reject redux starring Gallas and Luiz and Chech The small midfielder symposium There have been plenty of Arsenal eras defined by strange on-field quirks. Welcome one and all to Arteta’s Art of Attacking without attackers. A kind messianic 2-8-0 formation where inverted wing-backs play as false 11s, the DM plays in half space zone 9 and your goalkeeper registers 8 final third entries per game. After throwing my dummies out of my pram for the last week, I’ve stopped sulking and now I’m full here for it. Let’s win this thing with total chaos… Read more »
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If only I could upvote you multiple times. You’re a non-disgrace to this association.
I am taking screenshot of this comment and reproduce it when we win the league this year.
Cheers
Difficult to square his comments about load making injuries inevitable with his previous claims that the best players have to play two games a week.
Being the best might include having the best muscles and tendons; so that helps with having to play every three days.
♫ Your tendons are shit
Your tendons are shit
Kai Havertz
Your tendons are shit ♫
it’s not claims, it’s facts. the best players on the best teams will have to bear that kind of load. and that load makes injuries inevitable. only way around that would be fewer games, but no one at the top of football governance cares about that.
One way to give them fewer games is to occasionally rest them. If you just run them into the ground because you can’t bear to risk losing a few points in the short run then you’re basically running the club like a Ponzi scheme
that’s elite football. the only teams always putting the long term view above the short run (aka titles) are midtable teams that only try to be comfortably above relegation and maybe reach EL/Conference
We broke Ramsey and Wilshere with this mentality, and have screwed up this season doing the same.
Let’s open up our trophy cabinet and see how it looks lately shall we?
same thing happens in Madrid (RM), Liverpool (Salah) and Manchester (Rodri). even Hazard only had 2 of 7 seasons below 75% league minutes with Chelsea. hard to question their trophies…
possible to wonder if Arsenal has too many players with that kind of minutes in consecutive seasons and need more depth. but the absolute best guys will always play at least 80% of the minutes available when healthy.
‘We broke Ramsey’ is an interesting take on what happened to him.
Wenger ran him into the ground when he returned from injury to “play him back into form.” After 2 and a half years of that his hamstring tore and he was never reliably fit again.
They are run into the ground because the squad is laughably thread bare to begin with…and the money made available to bolster it was not wisely spent. Accountability is noticeably missing for the abysmal squad planning.
Was thinking the same… and last week’s comment about Havertz being a ‘genetic freak of nature’… clearly not, Mikel!
When he made that ‘2 games a week’ comment, I don’t think he meant ‘2 games a week for 3 seasons in a row with two international tournaments in between and no break at all.
Say what you want about Mikel but I love the way he goes about his business and talks. What else can he do but be positive? There’s probably a big part of him which enjoys a crisis since he loves to problem solve. One door closes, another opens. Let’s see. One thing I’ll never understand is why other fans hate him so much. I don’t get it at all. He doesn’t whine about anything and always speaks respectfully about others. He’s painted as Mourinho’s evil cousin and it’s just weird. I guess if he hadn’t turned Arsenal into a competitive… Read more »
I doubt many fans hate him. It is just this particular situation was inevitable. He actually says ‘it was an accident waiting to happen’. They have gambled and lost, but it is probably fair that fans are upset and angry with the decisions that the club have made.
sorry I meant fans from other clubs
Probably because they know it will rile certain supporters up.
Who gives a fcuk, Jeremy?
I love it when other teams fans hate on us.
Its the refs and PiGMOL i worry about
It’s because Arteta has an arrogance about him, which riles people up. Thing is he has not won anything to justify that persona. One FA cup in five years is not much to write home about. I am unhappy that he has run these players into the ground, because he likes a small squad. Why on earth for example did Saka play in the FA cup against Preston? Perhaps some of you fanboys might like to address that one.
Don’t get bitter, get better
i’m intrigued to see how we do. Maybe we’ll have more speed, interchangeability up front with a false 9. There’s an element of unpredictability now which could work in our favour (if you’re the optimist)
Ben White finally being available is massive, because it means we can shift Timber to to LB, thereby shifting Lewis-skelly to LCM, which allows us to shift Merino to DM, shifting Rice to LCB meaning we can shift Gabriel to CF so that Nwaneri and Tross can play on the wings.
That’ll work, except when Mercury is retrograde.
I love the fight and defiance of that man. He never makes excuses, you can see he actively pushes them out of his head and dismisses any reporter who asks him about injuries etc. As James or Andrew once said, a little steely fucker.
One of his best qualities as a player was his mentality. He played for PSG at 18. Steely little fucker.
Who is PSG?
Nwaneri and MLS for Arsenal in their teens?……Now, that’s some real steely little fcukers
„I look at all the factors that can give you an edge that maybe they weren’t there. And a big one, again, is going to be our people, our supporters. If we’re going to be short in certain areas, they can contribute in a way that nobody else can impact the team. And it’s with that energy. And so when the energy can change momentum, can change belief, and can put a player from this level of performance to that one without me talking to them.” I know he’s mostly talking about people in the stadium, but we’ve got our… Read more »
Nwaneri will have the opportunity to increase his value 30m pounds in the next few months. He will be asked to be a full fledged starter. Looking forward to see him rise up to the opportunity!
Love a good bit of accountancy before the distraction of the football starts
Surely the season can’t get any worse with the unprecedented amount of injuries, bad luck and refereeing injustices? In the immortal words of Mick McCarthy “It can”.
Fucking well done.
Just seen on my timeline that Gunnersaurus has ruptured his Palaeolithic tendon.
Who’s going to dive out of the way of kids half time penalties now? Vic Akers?!
I devonian know what to say.
That will become Win’s job. Unfortunately, Win will go rogue and eat the ball and go down with a stomach problem, and the whole season deflates from there.
No Win, no wins.
Don’t call me Shirley
I just watched the presser. Something about Arteta’s bullishness if not arrogance, I find re-assuring. No room to feel sorry for self or the team. I feel he was talking more to the team not just the press. I hope he pulls off the impossible by winning the league or UCL. Here’s to hope!!!
With everything that’s happened to us this season it’s hard to see beyond just doing what we can to finish in the top four, but reading Arteta’s interview here I really do feel better. His message, the belief he has and his enthusiasm and vigour to keep going no matter the challenge is awe inspiring. I think much like Wenger before him Arteta is legitimately not just a great manager but a great man. We’re blessed to have him.
Does Mikel love this club? Yes. Does he truly feel for his players on a deep level? Yes. Is he ceaselessly searching for ways to do things – ALL things- better? Yes. But surely one must now question whether (a) the club fully supports the above or (b) he has the gravitas or cojones to get what he wants from them or (c) a bit of both – coupled with the unfortunate conclusion that perhaps he is also culpable in seriously underestimating just how close to the wind we’ve been sailing… and for way too long. Saka and Havertz are… Read more »
Had a look at Transfermarkt and it seems like our only senior players not to be injured this season are Trossard, Kiwior and Jorginho. Some have just been bad luck, but that reinforces what Mikel is saying about load, especially with such a small squad.
I have to say I really don’t understand this whole idea of keeping players on the bench to make a difference. I want the best 11 players playing all game.
I love Mikel’s attitude and proven adaptability to situations. “Let’s fuckin go for it, guys.” Find some goals and keep pushing!
Let’s make 1989 great again
He can dance around the questions as much as he wants, but we made a huge mistake in not bringing a player at the very least on loan with no obligation to buy. I am sure they were available. Maybe not the best players around, but definitely can’t be worse than sterling or sending Merino or anyone else up front. We need natural attacking players to play up front. Our hope now is the academy players. There is more chance that Neto will score from the bench than sterling on the pitch. I am not joking.
Well if we win every league match 1-0 for the rest of the season then we’ll be champions 👍 we have the defence for it, but can we sneak a goal? Think Tierney needs a stint on the left wing, could make use of zinchenko in midfield at some point too, then Martinelli and Saka should be back at some point 👍
Time to get Thierry out of retirement!… 47 still do a good job 😉
It’s not over until the fat lady sings. And I haven’t heard a thing. COYG!
Can we be creative and push Martin Ode further forward ?
Does
Timber…..Salibs….Gabi…Cala
………………….TP5
………….Rice………..MLS
…..Ethan……Martin……Leo
Work , total false 9 with players interchanging oʻ
I like this as it keeps Sterling on the bench – a “best 11” approach could be better than any
Arsenal will surprise the PL without a striker. I sense more hunger to prove something in the players.
We are here to deliver.