In the second half of his pre-Palace press conference, Mikel Arteta reflected on his side’s current form, and discussed how Gabriel Magalhaes has evolved into such a force at set pieces.
He also spoke about Eberechi Eze’s bright start to life at Arsenal and praised his players for spending time together away from the club’s training ground.
On where he ranks Arsenal’s second half performance against Atletico Madrid…
To be honest, actually in what we delivered, it was very unexpected, because to score that many goals against Atletico in 96 minutes is very difficult – to do it in the period that we did even more. So it’s an element of surprise, an element of surprise that caught me. Surprise because then I was thinking about the subs, and I wanted to do certain subs in the moment we scored a goal, and then I was thinking, maybe I do something else, and when I had [decided], okay, I think this is better, we score another goal, so then I didn’t have a clue what to do, so I needed some time to go back and say, okay, maybe something else is better. But it was a special night because it was a really different context and test against us, against a team and a manager that I rate very, very highly, and we had a really strong performance.
On whether the team is producing the best, most consistent performances since he arrived…
Probably it’s one of the best [periods of form] because when we looked at the fixtures that we had at the start of the season, it was very difficult. We have a lot of new players, which is very exciting, but at the end, as well, those players need to glide and get settled and start to perform in the team, and that process has been quite fast and very efficient. It gives us a good platform for the rest of the season, and now it’s about building and maintaining that momentum because that’s very important in football.
On whether it’s better to lead from the front..
I don’t know. What is good is to have the feeling that the team has the resources and the capacity to perform at the highest level, and that gives you reassurances, that’s it. And the rest, let’s see, I think there will be a lot of ups and downs throughout the season. Hopefully we can be very, very stable, but we need to prepare for everything.
On Alex Ferguson saying attackers win you games, but defenders win you titles…
When you look at his titles and who it is talking about this topic and the manner, and the reason why, you have to really put that as a big message in your office. Because you know that that gives you one of the biggest platforms to win titles, and it’s something that he did consistently, so he’s right.
On whether it’s hard to focus on defending when it’s not the sexy part of football…
We defend to score more goals, we defend to attack better. That’s the purpose, that’s the reason why we defend, that’s the intention that we defend. It’s not just to concede a goal, or to avoid a position in certain spaces. We have that aim, we have that mindset, the way we defend. And the rest, I think it will happen in better conditions hopefully, especially in the areas that we want to defend.
On whether Big Gabi is redefining the centre-back position with his ability to attack and defend…
Yes, I think it depends what you want from your centre-back. If you ask me, I want somebody first that dominates both boxes, and masters that. And then, yeah, he can do that, he can do that, he can do that. Great, but the first two things are them. Gabi as well, he’s grown. I mean, when you look at his presence, the way he leads the team, the way he talks to people, when you look at his body language, it’s a lot of things there to like. And it’s not a coincidence that he has evolved into one of the best centre-backs in the world.
On centre-backs, one day being valued as much as strikers, if they also score goals…
Well, I don’t know to what point, but obviously, yeah, a few names come to my head and they’ve been very, very expensive already. So that tells you how important they are.
On what names come to mind…
A few. You are much better than me with data!
On how Big Gabi has improved his aerial threat…
I think it’s belief. I can tell you, go and run to the first [near] post and you can do it with sense of behaviour, energy, attitude, belief or conviction. And Gabi’s is tremendous. The team’s belief is really, really high. And that’s the start of everything. And you can create that [fear] in the opponent. It’s a good mix.
On how much Arsenal practice set pieces in a week…
Everything obviously is very planned where we want to invest the time basically. And what it’s going to give us the biggest value. That’s where we want to put our focus. And in relation to the opponent, it will be different as well. Obviously, the fixtures and the days that we have to prepare, we’ll have to manipulate that in the most efficient way.
On how Viktor Gyokeres and Kai Havertz will operate together…
I’ll leave that headache for a little bit longer. The closer we get, I will start to think a little bit more about that. But my perception is that those players can play together without a question. We’ll try to find the best way in relation to where the team is in that moment as well.
On his assessment of Eberechi Eze’s first months at the club…
He’s done a lot of things very well. First of all, when you come to a different context, especially the amount of games that he’s playing and that he hasn’t played every three days that often, his availability and the capacity he has to perform has been really good. Our understanding of him, I think, is much better, now. And the understanding of him towards what the team needs to explore his qualities as well [is better]. What I like the most is his willingness to do everything that he can to help the team. And there are certain parts that have always been a bit of focus. Can he do that? Can he? And he’s certainly doing it. The more he spends time with certain players, the better he will become.
On working on set pieces with Manchester City 10 years ago…
When I looked at the time, probably we were improving. We were much better than what we were doing. But now [in comparisoon] we were very far. But when I look at today, in three years’ time, ten years’ time, I would say we are still…[lacking] because others are not doing that well, it doesn’t mean that we do so well. We can still improve a lot.
On who he spoke to about set pieces when he first showed interest in them…
Well, first of all, who are the best in the world at doing it? What do they do? What are the patterns? Who is involved? What kind of processes do they have? How do they train them? What kind of players do they have?
On his players being spotted out for dinner with each other this week…
Dinner, dinner. Early dinner. Early dinner.
On the importance of players bonding away from the pitch…
I love it, because playing every three days and with the other international games, they spend so much time together. They came to me and said, we would like to have a dinner together. I was like, really? OK, go. Have fun and enjoy it. That means that they want to spend time with themselves and be sometimes away from the building and I think that’s something really, really positive.
On whether more dinners are planned…
Ask the leadership group. If the time is well and they behave the way they do it, there’s no problem.
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