Mikel Arteta was in a very jovial mood ahead of Arsenal’s clash with Manchester United at Old Trafford. Buoyed by the seven-goal drubbing of PSV Eindhoven in midweek, it was clear that energy had lingered.
There was even a question about his wife’s new book that has come out. However, the key highlights were Myles Lewis-Skelly’s red card escape and his energy being harnessed in the right way. The other being more on Chido Obi-Martin’s exit from Arsenal to join their historic rivals.
You can read every word from the press conference which football.london was in attendance for here.
How has the mood lifted amongst the players after what you did on Tuesday night? And how helpful, given what awaits on Sunday?
Yeah, obviously it was a great night for us, an important competition that we have a lot of hope on it, and the manner and the way we did it obviously lifted everybody. That’s the past, unfortunately, so it’s about what we do today, the preparation for tomorrow, and try to replicate a great performance again on Sunday.
There was a lot of brilliant things you did, and maybe, was the toughest thing having to take Myles Lewis-Skelly off in that first half? What was your thought process? Did you get a chance to talk to him about it? And how much do you have to work with him to make sure this is the next part of his process and progress? Because I know you were quite protective over him there.
Yeah, I think it was quite clear that we had a liability there, with the yellow card and the next action. So, it wasn’t a moment to take any risk, and learn from that experience managing the game for so long, especially with how important this competition is. So, yeah, a lesson to learn from him, for sure. We will support and help him. But, yeah, the line is really thin in the sport, and he needs to understand that.
He’s obviously done so much good for you. Do you get the sense he’s the sort of player that can learn quickly?
Yeah, I think so. Yeah, because he’s very intelligent, he’s extremely demanding of himself.
And that’s a fine, by the way. Yes!
I don’t know, it’s up to you guys. It’s up to you. Hopefully, you have that in place.
Something more expensive than five pounds.
I think so. So, I think it’s better for you guys to discuss with your colleagues.
I know his reaction is like that. He’s a perfectionist. He’s got a great environment around him. They are here to learn as well.
I understand that Thomas Tuchel has a shortlist, but it doesn’t sound so short, of 55 players. Would you expect both Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly giving their form to be on that list? And how do you feel about that in terms of the next step of their development?
Well, I have no idea. Obviously, what I’ve read and hear about the noise that is around it. So, it’s Thomas who will take with his coaches the decision and we’ll support it.
But, obviously, somebody who’s nurturing them, would you like to see that? Do you feel at this point in their career that’s good for them? To be around a different environment, to learn something different?
Well, knowing Thomas and the coaching staff and the environment that they have created on the England campus, it will be an incredible experience for them. If that’s the case, whenever that is, that’s not my decision; that will be their decision. How we manage them here, it’s ours. It’s in our control. Down there, we’ll leave it to coaches and people that are super experienced. Much more experienced than me.
Well, talking of experience, 200 up for you.
The top three, maybe, to sit here now, moments so far. And have you got another 200 in you?
It’s gone fast. Probably the number one is with the day that I was sitting here on the first day, just fulfilling that dream of one day becoming the manager of this incredible football club. And then there are many others. But the other night was out there with one of the best because of the way we did it.
That’s two what about a third?
A trophy, for sure. When we won the first FA Cup, after everything we went through as a club the last few years and the Covid period, which was really, really difficult as well.
Win 200 more. In this industry, what happens? It’s our best. I have a lot of energy still and I’m very driven to have more success.
Odegaard usually drops in at six to help with ball progression in your build-up. Even though he might not be providing a lot more assists and goals than maybe people expect this season, he clearly is very vital in that build-up stage. He himself said he hasn’t been at his best, but do you think he’s been hard on himself as captain, and we should be looking at the other things that he contributes on the pitch to the wider team?
Yeah, obviously, when you isolate data and you’re looking at certain aspects of the game, that cannot reflect just the overall performance of a player for sure. But he’s got the ability to do that while you’re talking about in that phase and then still arrive in great positions, in great situations to provide assists and to score a goal. And he’s proven that many times in the other games. I think he was a very good example of that.
We’ve seen a lot more variance in build-up and positioning from your players, obviously due to your injuries. PSV, we saw Timber near the back post get the header. Calfiori was very high up. You had about six players in the box at times. Has this period really inspired you with different attacking opportunities to the possibility where when you have your full attacking options back, you still want to be a bit unpredictable and a little bit more fluid than you possibly have been in the past?
Yeah, we need to look at threats from other areas. Obviously, we lost very important wingers that provided a lot for us in that final third. We’re looking to explore other options as well. The team has this capacity to adapt. A lot of players with great football intelligence as well to understand when to move and why. Especially, they do certain things. They certainly float. We saw actions and combinations that are very difficult to defend.
Ruben Amorim said the key for him and the team will be surviving physically through the match on Sunday. How physical do you expect this match to be? Because even through the rough patch that they’re having, they’ve surprised people with results in the most random of times and it’s at Old Trafford.
Yeah, well, that’s the history of that football club. The players that they have, the coach that they have. Watching the game last night against Real Sociedad, it’s very clear that they are very capable to put on a really strong performance and beat you on the day. We know that. We know the difficulty of the match. That’s how we prepared.
You mentioned on Tuesday night, last week, that we’d gone from a situation of zero goals in two games to seven goals in one game. That being be the beauty of football. You’ve had a few more days to reflect on that? Do you have any more insights into how we did go from zero goals to seven goals in one game?
They would have scored, we were in total control of the game in one action. They had the big chance with Saibari and they hit the crossbar. That could have changed the game, you know. And if Myles had got sent off, it would have been a different game. So that’s why you have to really understand the context of the game and how it happened. We were super effective in the final set, in the box. And that’s a massive strength, especially in the Champions League. And that’s why we won the game without margin. That’s clear.
It feels like the intensity of the Premier League has been very high. And the Champions League maybe released some of that. A different competition, something new. Returning to the Premier League this weekend, can you utilise that freedom and that enjoyment from that midweek win to take into Sunday?
It goes through momentum. And again, what the game provides, because we’ve been really good in certain games, but the result wasn’t coming fast enough. The things were coming in the right moment, at the right time, in the right way. And that’s very helpful. So, every game is different on that.
Can I just ask you about Chido [Obi-Martin], who you could come up against on Sunday? What were your emotions in the summer when he left? Obviously, he was a player, you had his young play, a lot of talent.
I wasn’t too involved in that decision. Obviously, when a player decides that the best pathway for him is to leave, there’s not much you can do. Very unfortunate because we want to keep our players from the academy and to be very successful with the first team. But in that case, with Ayden, we weren’t able to do that.
There was a sort of feeling at the time, I think, among some fans, that young players maybe didn’t have a sort of pathway. Do you think that now, this season, with Ethan and Myles, that sort of perception has gone? And that there is proof that if you’re a young player and you’ve got the talent, you can play in the first team?
I don’t know whether the perception is out. Internally, not. And the reality is very different, because those players are always with us. I mean, I guarantee you that if there is a player there that can help and impact the first team, he’s going to be with us.
Just on Myles quickly, is it a difficult challenge to strike the right balance with him? Because physicality, riding the challenges, winning duels, is such a fundamental part of who he is on the pitch. How do you control that without taking it away from his game?
I think dominating the situation, that’s it. Control the situation. You need to dominate. What space are you defending? What is the level of exposure that you have? Is the opponent facing you or not facing you? So, what is the probability to win the ball and when you have to commit to certain duels? And then you have to apply defensive principles that are very clear to most of the time have the best possibility to win the ball and don’t get exposed. If you don’t do that, at that level, big problem.
Just on your other full-back Ricci, I mean, he’s shown this incredible attacking intuition. Like, he looks like a centre-forward at times, the way he moves, the way he finishes. Is that something you knew about him or is it something you’ve discovered since he arrived?
No, he certainly has that capacity to flow in areas that for a defender is very unusual. So that was something that really caught my eye. The other one that is very unpredictable, sometimes chaotic and that can be very difficult as well from the opposition. And that eye on goal, especially in open play, to be fair, I didn’t have that understanding of the things that he could do, but you see day to day in training that he’s very capable of creating things that they are not there in that moment.
I hope you don’t think this is too personal, but I saw you yesterday encouraging us to engage in your wife’s first book, which must be very exciting for you. I’m just wondering if there’s any sort of crossover that you’ve talked to each other about?
Well, I’m very proud of her because she’s doing amazing and she has an incredible career in various ways, and she’s very much into that right now. To have the person that I love the most in this world next to me and giving everything that she gives to me, I feel very lucky.
