Mikel Arteta was the man charged with sitting next to the boss in the pre-Olympiakos press conference and the Spaniard was in head boy mode with a series of diligent, but not particularly ground-breaking, sound bytes for the assembled media.
While you expect honesty, it’s hardly as though the deadline-day acquisition was going to say anything controversial with his boss sitting next to him. Indeed, when asked for the lowdown on Wenger, the Spaniard readied an answer before his boss cut in and jokingly said, “Don’t say too much Mikel.” All very jovial…
Anyway, here’s what the midfielder had to say about playing in the Champions League, dealing with the high expectations at the Emirates and how he copes with the difference between domestic and European fixtures.
On playing in the Champions League…
Playing Champions League football is one of my biggest challenges. It is hard to explain what it is about the Champions League, the atmosphere is different and you are playing against the best teams in Europe every time. All players want to win the Champions League, and I am no different.
Everybody says the atmosphere at the Emirates is really nice for the games in the Champions League. Hopefully it is going to be like that on Wednesday, and we can give something good for the fans to support us.
We have a great opportunity to go through the group stages, and a great chance to win tomorrow after a good result in Dortmund. Everyone is really focused, determined and ambitious because it is a great chance for us to do well in Europe.”
On living with pressure at Arsenal…
You expect pressure. A club like Arsenal has to be in that situation [at the top in the Premier League and Champions League]. If they are not, it means people are not expecting big enough things. That [pressure] is what we all want, hopefully it will stay like that and we can respond to it.
On settling at in North London…
I knew very well the playing philosophy at Arsenal and the players because I used to like watching them play because they play the best football in the Premier League. That helped. After that we’ve got a really nice group of players, staff that really care and look after us. After that it’s about attitude. You need to try and adapt to what is needed in the tea [this needs an ‘m’ but as has been pointed out in the comments, it’s funnier without] and with the other players.
I’ve always been a big admirer of Arsenal’s philosophy, the way they play and what they propose on the pitch. For me it was a really good opportunity.
On taking confidence from the Dortmund perfomance…
If we win tomorrow it is massive, if we don’t it’s different. We had a chance to win in Dortmund and in the last minute we conceded that goal. I think it was a fair result for both teams. As I said, for tomorrow we’ve got to be strong at home.
On whether Dortmund is the toughest game out of the way…
You never know what the next game is going to be like. What we need to do is make sure we are prepared and we are ready for it.
On his first home game in the Champions League…
I can’t wait, everybody says how massive it is and the atmosphere at the Emirates is really, really nice for a night game, in the Champions League. Hopefully it will be like that tomorrow and we can give something good to the fans to support us.
On the step up from Premier League to Champions League…
It’s hard to explain. The atmosphere is different. You’re playing against the best teams in Europe every time. It’s a special competition and everybody wants to win the Champions League and I’m no different. You’re expected to win it here and that’s a really good thing. We need to be prepared for that and go game by game. But we all know we have the ability to do it.
On whether he has been surprised by Wenger’s methods…
No. Personally I didn’t know him, but I heard good things about him.
[Cue Arsene interruption, ‘Don’t say too much Mikel.’] Journalists fall off chairs laughing…an easily pleased bunch
He’s very calm, very positive. He shows a lot of trust in the players. For us that is really important when people have been criticising the team. He’s really positive and confident. I think that’s very important for the players.
” You need to try and adapt to what is needed in the tea and with the other players.”
Mistype or doping scandal headlines in the tabloids tomorrow ? lol.
MR Blogs has had a lot on his mind recently!! lol 🙂
just to point out this is a post by andrew allen, not arseblogger
it’ll be that hard water.
What an absolutely breathtaking beauty of a man.
dddeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeennnnnnnnnncccccccccccchhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!
He sounds so calm, collected and spirited that it relieves me. I don’t know if Cesc spoke like this, but he has the nice sound of a class player — humble, friendly and reserved. I’m definitely going to bet that his on-field performances will match his attitude. Man I wish we did buy Xabi Alonso for 16mil pounds back then… But then maybe we wouldn’t have experienced Arteta becoming an Arsenal player. It’s nice in its own way in that he’s not going back to Barcelona any time at all. It was almost like literally having a monkey off Arsenal’s… Read more »
These comments really are deeeench!!
Somehow i feel “dench” word is not cool anymore as frimpong is not as good as we imagined he would be. Coq is.
Arteta is a rather handsome bloke.
Bobby he is not however.
Booby is not forever, did u really just say that pele oh my god, wash your mouth out and take a deep breath and think long and hard about what you just wrote.
Blogs surely pele’s remarks have to be removed ?
Popeye, av u read what I’ve posted fella?
Me thinks blogs would agree.
“…You need to try and adapt to what is needed in the tea [this needs an ‘m’ but as has been pointed out in the comments, it’s funnier without] and with the other players….”
I literally fell off my chair….Kudos mate, Kudos !
Off thread. Nasri subbed after having a stinker tonight. Wahahahaha!!
what a cunt
Mooro: too right. Nasri’s just joined a team where their main striker refused to come off the bench. How pathetic is that on £100k pw. Nasri – the new Adebayor.
Samir – on sais que t’est la et on se fou de ta sale geule de guine.
Ha now Tevez iz zee cunt yes!? He was just so fucked off wiz my goofy lesbian face he’d do anysin to get away! And I did not av a stinker tonight sank u very much, clichy waz far worser
They were both pretty terrible, weren’t they? K. Toure was destroyed by the Hunchback Of Notre Dame on the other wing as well.
Arteta – the Spanish Tom Cruise…
Speaks more sense than Crazy Tom.
Do you mean the former Arsenal footballer Tom Cruise, or the weird one that believes we were all descended from aliens souls from a galactic war?
I’d like to see the Arteta press conference without Wenger there kicking him under the table every time he gets near the truth…”to be honest, I was amazed how many lazy buggers we have here, that’s why I’ve been dishing out justified bollockings to my team – mates in every match I’ve played for Arse so far. We all did it at Everton, our manager encouraged it, and the upshot is that Everton regularly overachieved on zero cash with a reasonably talented but small squad. It’s called unity and having a sense of purpose…..what do you mean “you are not… Read more »
[…] there’s pressure tonight then Mikel Arteta says that’s necessary at a club like Arsenal: You expect pressure. A club like Arsenal has to be in that situation [at […]
Superb night of champions league action weren’t it???
“Footballer refuses to play for Mancini”…Samir Nasri later apologised to City fans.
25 million to you sir! Do call again. Ho ho ho ho. Mugs.
Horseface was pony, cliche was kak!
32 million! Yay
And Ian wright is really starting to annoy me.
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