00:00Hi Mika, the New Zealand rugby team were here this week, I think you might have been impressed
00:04on the day they came, I wondered if you've got any relationship with them or if that's
00:09how it came about?
00:10With the All Blacks?
00:11Yeah.
00:12Yeah, I have a great relationship with Razor, with the head coach, he's an inspiration,
00:18he's such a character and yeah, it was a shame that the day that we were leaving they were
00:24coming, we tried to set up at different times, it was difficult to do but yeah, I know we
00:29know him very well.
00:30Is there anything you've taken specifically from rugby or from them?
00:39Yeah, many years ago I already read a book that is great, I recommend it to everybody
00:43called Legacy and it talks about them and the culture and the winning mentality and
00:48how they approach sport, life, relationship is really inspiring and yeah, and then I had
00:57the chance to meet him and we are in one of the groups together so it's been great.
01:02Which things from them have you used here at Arsenal?
01:06A few.
01:07I'm sure they won't mind if you reveal one or two, it's all confidential.
01:11No, no, no, it's especially about the culture and the importance of clarity and not importance
01:20of what it means when you put a jersey, the sense of belonging to something, when somebody
01:27plays with that feeling I think it elevates his level of commitment, it elevates his capacity
01:33to perform and impact the organisation in a different way.
01:39You saw last season at St James' Park, the atmosphere there can be very hostile and one
01:47of the things I stood out for last time was that big tackle he had on Longstaff and the
01:52touchline, it kind of got everyone up and together on that day.
01:55How important is it that your players are again up for the fight and able to match that
01:59hostility if it is the same again this time?
02:01Yeah, with the right emotional control it's good, you need to compete, when you go to
02:07this branch you know the intensity, you know the level of duels that you're going to be
02:11approaching and that is something that we have improved a lot but as I said, doing it
02:16in the right way, in the right manner to be very efficient.
02:19It's been reported that Arsenal have been recently paying £18,000 a year for private
02:23school tuition for a few of the academy players, this is something that Man City have done
02:28for a number of years at St Bede's College in Manchester.
02:31Have you had any input in this at Arsenal at all and what impact this could have in
02:35the future for kids to have a private education background as well as the football element?
02:40That's more probably a question for Edu and for Per probably to answer and how they are
02:47working with that pathway and explaining the right way but yeah, anything that we can support
02:54and improve their possibilities to become Arsenal players or professional players but
03:00at the same time their education is completely aligned so they don't waste any gaps there
03:05I think is really important.
03:07As we just said there was a lot of tension and emotion last season, do you think playing
03:13in those conditions your team thrives and plays better?
03:19Well we played, our emotional state normally is very, very good and is very demanding.
03:27In this league you have to do it, it doesn't matter where you play, whether it's home or
03:31away, obviously it changes certain things in terms of the energy that the crowd provides
03:35but you have to be so good at that and I think the team has evolved a lot on that.
03:40Do you think the players still have that game last season in their mind and wanting to use
03:44it as a bit of motivation?
03:45I think the players have in memory all the games that they play and when there are certain
03:50situations in a specific moment whether individual or collective in certain grounds you tend
03:55to recall those moments, whether you score a goal or you were sent off or you won a game,
04:00the victory, the dressing room, you get to a stadium and you start to have things that
04:04the dressing room is familiar and you relate that particular moment or that smell or the
04:09visual with something that happened to you or the team there, that's inevitable.
04:14This is a 12.30 game, does it make any difference going to St James' Park when it's an early
04:20game rather than an evening game under the lights?
04:23It seems to be a special night at St James' Park because it's an early game, does that
04:28have any influence on maybe catching the fans a bit cold if it's a bit early?
04:33I don't know for the fans, I think for players there are a few that prefer to play early
04:38and others under the lights.
04:39I always prefer to play in the evening because as well when I come in from normally we play
04:44more under the lights and it's a very special atmosphere, it's a different feeling as well,
04:48you prepare the whole game, day to day game, but the early kick-offs are really good.
04:55Going back to last year, I wondered if you watched it back, what happened, how you reacted
05:00and whether you tried to change your behaviour on the back of that, because although it's
05:06the season and things haven't gone particularly well, you try to keep a lid on your emotions
05:12at the end, not smoking out after a game against Real Madrid.
05:16I had to watch it because I had to go in front of a panel and watch myself on videotape
05:25and give the arguments for them to decide whether I was guilty or not and they didn't
05:33charge me.
05:35How do you know the New Zealand coach, where would you come across him?
05:44Through a connection that I had in Australia with somebody else.
05:48You've got quite a few links around, Eddie Jones and other sorts of people, what can
05:55you take out of them in another sport?
05:57Is it a mental thing, is it a physical thing?
06:00What I like the most is you can talk openly with somebody that is doing a very similar
06:05job in terms of the demands that we all have, but there is no competitive approach there
06:12and you can really be transparent and honest and share things that probably with a football
06:18coach that is playing in the league you cannot do.
06:21That's a really good thing because somebody that is in your shoes daily and needs to make
06:27very similar calls even if it's a different sport.
06:30It's great to have that option.
06:38That Tuna loss to Newcastle a couple of years ago at the end of the 2002 season, does that
06:43loss still hurt?
06:45Was that one of the toughest defeats in your tenure and did that fuel you going forward
06:49to the right position?
06:51Which defeat, sorry?
06:52You said 2000?
06:54The end of the 2002 season, the Tuna loss to Newcastle, does that defeat still hurt?
06:59Every defeat hurts and you learn from it for sure.
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