00:00 It's very early in the season, you're already three points behind Manchester City.
00:06 When there's such an intense team, how difficult is it not to keep looking at that gap and worrying about it all the time?
00:15 We cannot be looking at… All the teams, when we have played 10, 11 Premier League matches, this is a long marathon.
00:22 Things are going to change, momentum is going to shift and at the end you have to look. In this league, you're going to have to need 96 to 100 points to win it.
00:33 When you're going to get them is a different story, but this is the target. In order to do that, you're going to have to play so well and win a lot of matches.
00:41 More matches that no-one has ever won in this club, that's for sure to win it.
00:46 Is that what it does to you, just dropping one point?
00:56 You're dropping one and the other team winning three. It's a big difference. That's why those matches are so important and at the end can have a big influence in the course of the season.
01:11 Is it really so much pressure on the guys to win this?
01:21 We know that we have to win it, but you cannot focus on the outcome, you have to focus on the process and how we're going to get prepared tomorrow to give our best to win the game.
01:32 Then the result will take care of itself and that's what we're going to do.
01:38 Just on last season, I think one of the big reasons why Arsenal did so well was the units. I think you spoke about Alex Granit and Gabriel Martinez.
01:50 It seems like you haven't really been able to build those as frequently this year. Do you think that's maybe why the attack has not been as free-flowing as it was last season?
02:03 There are many factors to a lot of the things, but we had other units as well that we have considered less than time can remember.
02:14 There are certain units that are working really well. We have to have a lot of problems with availability of plays, especially in the attacking areas and in the fast plays that we put in the last line.
02:24 Having that chemistry and playing minutes and being together, it's very, very important because timing is everything, especially when you're attacking small spaces.
02:35 Do you think the foundation you have behind that is maybe part of the reason why you're still being competitive at the top end of the table?
02:43 Because even if I've said it's not free-flowing, you're still very competitive.
02:49 That's what we have to do because there are certain things that are going to allow you always to be there.
02:54 We do a lot of those things really, really well. Other things that we have to improve.
02:59 Thank God that we still have a lot of room to improve.
03:03 One thing you've mentioned a few times is players needing something different from today in six months' time, three months' time.
03:14 I was just wondering if you have an example of something where you thought, 'OK, they need something different now to what they needed three months ago'?
03:23 Yes, but when you go to the individual, a player can go through a difficult period and sometimes it's related to performance,
03:29 sometimes it's related to what happens in his private life that can really affect him.
03:34 They need love and support.
03:36 Maybe that same player has done something in his life that is not the best thing to do for his professional career and that is performance.
03:44 That player needs something very different in that moment.
03:48 We have to keep our eyes and ears open all the time to try to give the players what they need. That's our job.
03:54 When you first heard from the FA that they'd be writing to you about your comments after the Newcastle game, what was your initial reaction?
04:05 Do you think this in some ways sets the bands and sets an example for the FA in that managers could be now worried about expressing their own opinions after the games?
04:15 No, I think everything here has been done in a really constructive way.
04:22 I said what my duty was and obviously the FA has its own duties and they have to do the processes that are required and we will respond to that in the best possible way.
04:33 We move forward. We learn from the past and we move forward together because the most important thing is how we're going to look after this beautiful game.
04:41 Going specifically to your team, with Jadon Souza with a potential issue around Benketi's injury, from the January transfer window, what's your assessment of your forward line? Do you think now that might be something new for both of them?
04:55 That they are great and I am so happy to have them. For me, they are the best in the world. That's my assessment.
05:01 With them two now out, obviously the forward line, you have them to support Trossard, to support Salah. What's the January transfer window?
05:08 I would love to have them all but at the moment not. But maybe in two weeks' time the picture will change and it will be better.
05:15 But as well it's an opportunity for the rest to shine because as well sometimes it's really tough when someone is playing and when he's sitting on the bench looking at me saying, 'What are you doing?'
05:24 So it gives them an opportunity now to show how good they are.
05:30 David Moyes said he stopped saying what he really thinks because he doesn't want to get fined. Are you prepared to carry on saying what you think?
05:53 He's Scottish, I'm Basque. It's not in my nature for sure but you can always learn. David is a really wise and experienced manager and if he's doing it it's for a reason.
06:07 But as well I have to be consistent and I've always been trying to be honest and transparent and act with integrity and defend my beliefs.
06:19 You were saying that people support you but they don't want to say it themselves because they don't want to get in trouble?
06:25 I don't know. Hopefully I'm not in trouble and hopefully this can be taken in a constructive way and I move forward. That's it.
Be the first to comment