Arteta on identifying Arsenal's slow start to the season (Full Presser part 3)

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Mikel Arteta on identifying Arsenal's slow start to the season  22/11/2024  embargoed section    Sobha Realty Training Centre, London, UK

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00:00Do you get a sense of how they feel about how the start of the season has gone?

00:08Yeah, not only that, as we're looking back, we make a lot of decisions and understand

00:13okay, evaluate how those decisions were made, what was the process behind it, have they

00:17worked yes or no, and for some of them it's still too early because in football there

00:22is this smile that time can fluke to it and change relation to what happens in the context.

00:28But it's just living there or being there, you see the reception, how they talk to you,

00:34how they look at you, the questions that they ask, the interaction that you have, and it

00:39cannot be any more positive.

00:40Again, I'm not talking from my side, but it's a joy to have the owners that we have.

00:45Do you get a sense that they're quite calm with you and trusting you fully that you can

00:50turn it around?

00:51Yeah, but it's not in me in particular.

00:53I always felt it, probably as well because I am very open and critical with myself and

01:01try to put the things on the table straight away, but as well with the rest of the team

01:05and the fact how involved they are, with the coaches, with all the staff, with Cale, with

01:11everybody that is happening, and I'm really comfortable with that.

01:15How impressed have you been because I think there's a fine balance in that between being

01:20quite hands-on and then also just letting and trusting people to do their job.

01:24How impressed have you been in that respect?

01:26How can you see it from a distance but still feel connected?

01:30I think it's got its moments and I think it's very important that we all feel comfortable

01:37and uncomfortable.

01:39In this sport, the lead and the demands that we have is sometimes put the temperature up

01:44a little bit, sometimes bring it down, and everybody needs it.

01:48I'm the first that needs that, and not only from him, from the coaches, from the players,

01:52media, it's great to have that.

01:54So you are always seeking to be the best and evaluate and judge yourself in the right way.

02:00What's the temperature like now?

02:02Very good.

02:04Like Mallorca in June.

02:09With Liverpool at the middle, obviously nine points at the top of the table, we asked you

02:14a lot about Man City.

02:15In some ways, is the start Liverpool have had so far kind of shows that it's not just

02:20about Man City, it's a wider game out there and these teams can fluctuate up and down?

02:25I think we discussed that after two or three games already.

02:29There is so much quality in a lot of teams.

02:33It's true that teams have had very different schedules and that's a very important thing.

02:39Teams have various contexts and difficulties and others.

02:43So after 18, 20, 25 games, we'll see where everybody is and hopefully we're going to be there.

02:52Do you feel sometimes the context is missed when it comes to looking at the table?

02:58I don't know.

03:00It's that rush, that willingness to be...

03:02I mean, it's all about expectations.

03:05When you are in the hype or you are frustrated, it's because you expect something.

03:08If you expect that Arsenal are going to be in the top six and we are third, we are great

03:13after three and you are looking all the time at the table.

03:15When it's just...

03:16Now it's about winning.

03:18Anything that is not, that just creates a different emotion.

03:20You cannot get dragged into that.

03:22And especially so early in the season, especially when it will happen.

03:26So that's for us, to control that and just to be analytical and be very thorough on the

03:31things that we need to perform at the highest level.

03:33To end the ride, to win.

03:34Winning, after, is something else.

03:35With the points gap and obviously the changes at the club that will happen in the next couple

03:36of months and weeks, what's it been like to experience all that?

03:37And in some ways, does that show the strength of the internal environment at Arsenal, that

03:38you're able to basically ride and just get on with the task at hand?

03:51Yeah, we all want to win, win, win, win, win, but it's so good sometimes when something

03:56happens and it doesn't quite get there and then you look and say, let's see how people

04:01react to that.

04:02Really interesting.

04:03Honestly, it's a great exercise from the outside to take a lot of notes, look around, put your

04:09ears open and see how people start to talk and behave and in which direction they go.

04:15It's a great one.

04:16In that environment, superb.

04:22Do you feel like tomorrow is the season that starts now?

04:33No, but I know what you mean.

04:35Tomorrow and after every break and especially we're going to get into the Christmas period,

04:39we know that there is something special in that period and you have to generate that

04:44momentum and we feel that it is the right moment now for us to start building that momentum.

04:49We weren't able to do it in terms of results a little bit earlier, which we wanted, but

04:54let's do it now.

04:55Can I just ask you as well, David Cook, the referee, and the comments that you made on

04:56that video.

04:57What were your thoughts when you saw it?

04:58No comments.

04:59Sorry.

05:00What is the mindset, is it almost like they're angry with what's happened, they're just waiting

05:23to correct it?

05:28I think it's a good way to sum it up.

05:30So last year we were losing 2-0, we scored 2-2 and just watch the footage of how we celebrate

05:37the goal.

05:38And now this season you're up there and you score 1-0 and how we celebrate the goal.

05:42It's a bad race, expectations are higher and you're not satisfied.

05:47This team wants more and more and even if we win and win and win, they're going to be

05:51willing to do more and I love that.

05:52I thought the way you spoke after the Chelsea game in terms of the equaliser, I think you

05:53said it was unacceptable the way it happened.

05:54Most people outside the game will probably think that was just a very good goal that

05:55Chelsea scored.

05:56Is that a sign of the standards that you want from them and the perfection it's going to

05:57take from now?

05:58I can repeat myself because I said it inside there.

05:59In our standards, unacceptable.

06:00How do you manage the expectations of the fans?

06:28The only thing that we've done is promote expectations.

06:31Manage them?

06:32I cannot.

06:33I can't promote them.

06:34So when people expected something about this club and where they were and it's gone up

06:38there, great.

06:39This is my job.

06:41Now it's about delivering with that expectation time and time and time again, which is only

06:46one way to fulfil that expectation, winning big trophies.

06:50That's it.

06:51Anything else is going to be...

06:53You don't feel any difference from last season in terms of expectations?

06:56Yeah, because last season probably they didn't expect that we could do it again.

07:00Especially with the level of other teams and where we were.

07:03But we did it.

07:05Maybe now the expectations are different, I don't know.

07:09When you go to America, it's about looking forward to the next year and how much of that

07:15is about looking backwards?

07:17Because you look at the next two windows, that's what you would do next summer.

07:22Yeah.

07:23Well, there are other kind of things across the club, obviously, that they need more vision

07:32in terms of, OK, what's going to happen in 24 months, 36 months.

07:36But what we especially spend time on is, OK, what's going to happen in the next 12 months.

07:41Yeah.

07:42And what happened in the previous six or 12 months.

07:45How much say would you have in the new sporting director?

07:51Is that important to you?

07:54In some clubs, having that little bit of friction between the manager and the sporting director

07:59is actually quite helpful and beneficial.

08:02Well, I can talk about what we are doing right now and I'm going to be very much involved

08:07in that process because we want to find the right person, first of all.

08:11And the right person has to be someone who is able to cooperate and make each other better

08:16and take us to a different level.

08:18That's the objective of it.

08:19So, yeah.

08:22Mika, just a quick one on Zinchenko.

08:24He had a good game for Ukraine in the midweek.

08:26He's obviously an important player for you.

08:28Do you think he can kick-start his season on the back foot?

08:31Yes, and hopefully that will be a trigger to start to see the best version of Alex because

08:38we really need him.

08:40And I agree that he had a really good game and emotionally you could tell how good that

08:45was and how important it was, especially playing for his country.

08:48So we need now to lift his level and bring him back to what he can deliver.

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