Arteta to have sleepless nights over Liverpool winning team

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Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta to have sleepless nights over Liverpool winning team  25/10/2024  Sobah RealtyTraining Ground, London, UK

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00:00Is that something that you also feel through the players?

00:03I'm sure you're insulting the players, but that's in them, that's in the dressing room.

00:08But that's the way we try to behave every single day and if we could be four points ahead,

00:13that's not going to change the season and we've been there in that situation as well.

00:17So probably we'll learn from it as well, but the possibility is tomorrow.

00:21Let's have a beautiful day on Sunday when we really perform,

00:25we are who we are and we win that game in the manner that we want.

00:29This has to be what drives our team.

00:31Last season, your success, your finishing the table,

00:36were built on results against your big rivals, weren't they?

00:40You had fantastic results against them.

00:42How much confidence does those sort of results and those sort of performances

00:45give a squad for another season?

00:46How much would it give you if you won and repeated it again on Sunday?

00:50Well, that tells you that we are capable of doing it and we did it, as you said,

00:54in a really consistent way this season as well.

00:56We went to Villa, one of the hardest grounds, and we won there.

00:58We went to City, played 55 minutes with 10 men.

01:01We did it and tomorrow is another opportunity and the team has done it.

01:05That's the good thing.

01:06They already experienced it.

01:07They believe how good they are and that's really important.

01:11Hi, Makaar.

01:12On Sunday, you obviously have to deal with Al-William Saliham in the back line.

01:16Against Bournemouth, Kibio has obviously sort of done a face-to-face substitution.

01:20Does he have a potential partner to play this weekend?

01:23And if not, what are the ways you could go around this for the back line?

01:27It is one of the options that we have, certainly, and Jacob has done it there.

01:31Obviously, the context that we did it the other day was very different for him as well

01:35because of the situation that we have to play with 10 men for so long.

01:39But certainly, he's one of the options.

01:41It's early days, but Arjen Slot is obviously a great start at Liverpool.

01:44It's very early to say, but looking towards the future,

01:47do you think... Obviously, we've mentioned you and Pep quite a lot,

01:50but with Slot, could that be a potential rivalry or a potential burst

01:54that you need to keep an eye on for the next few years to come?

01:57No, that means that we are all there fighting for the same aims.

02:01And that's it.

02:03Me, I admire and really like the way he sets his teams in,

02:07the way he communicates as well.

02:09Yeah, we'll welcome them on Sunday.

02:11Jordan?

02:12Hi, Miquel.

02:13Talk about those different combinations, those drawings of different back fours.

02:17When you're sat at home on Saturday night and they're going through your head,

02:20how stressed does it make you going into a big game

02:24not knowing what back four you're going to put out?

02:27The only stress, I mean, because it's not a back line,

02:30it's the midfield, it's the front line as well.

02:32For me, stressful would be two things.

02:34One, that you don't have options, and then what do you do?

02:37And the other thing that generates not stress,

02:39but you get in the shoes of the players,

02:41is that every time you make a decision,

02:43obviously it's a positive one for somebody,

02:45not so positive for the one that you have to deal with on the human level

02:49with that player, and that's what it causes a little bit of tummy ache,

02:52if anything, but that happens every week.

02:55That's a process of choosing the line-up

02:57and understanding how everybody's going to feel about it.

03:00And because it is so early in the season,

03:02it sounds like you could be in a situation

03:05where you're taking a risk on a player on their fitness on Sunday.

03:08Is it too early to be taking risks?

03:11Or because it's such a big game, do you think,

03:13I need to take a risk?

03:15No, obviously the risk that we take,

03:17normally we want to understand what the risk

03:20and what the consequences can be.

03:22You don't always get it right for sure because it's medicine

03:26and there's a lot of unpredictability,

03:29and as well the moment you extend minutes on players,

03:31but I think the player is a great indicator of how he's feeling,

03:35how much he pushes you every single day.

03:38If you have to do it, I don't think it's great

03:41when players are really pushing you

03:43and giving you the right clues to say,

03:45OK, I'm ready, I feel good about it,

03:47then it's easier to push

03:49and I think everybody's more certain as well.

03:51And finally to Gary.

03:52When will you make the decision on the team?

03:55Tomorrow night or Sunday morning?

03:57Normally I prefer to go to bed with the line-up in my head

04:01so I can sleep like a baby.

04:03But sometimes it cannot be

04:05because you have to wait for the next day.

04:07Sometimes two days before or just three days before

04:10you already have the idea,

04:11against this team, this is what I'm going to do.

04:14But when you have uncertainty with injuries, that's tricky.

04:17What's a knock-on effect for the rest of the team

04:22in terms of how he maybe squeezes play?

04:24You mentioned six changes at the back and the combination.

04:28What's a knock-on for the midfield,

04:30which obviously hasn't been slightly disrupted this year,

04:33and for the forward line?

04:35Yeah, obviously a player in one line,

04:38especially if he's a versatile player

04:40that can play in different places,

04:42is moved, that has a knock-on effect on the rest.

04:45And if he doesn't, it has a knock-on effect as well

04:48on the things that you are able to do

04:50because you have to fit the qualities of that player

04:52to deliver the game plan that you want.

04:54But that's always the case.

04:56OK, everyone, thanks very much.

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