- 1 year ago
Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya and manager Mikel Arteta preview their UEFA Champions League clash with Sporting
Courtesy of UEFA
Lisbon, Portugal
Courtesy of UEFA
Lisbon, Portugal
Category
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SportsTranscript
00:00Better?
00:29I can keep it to two questions if that's okay.
00:31Anyone want to kick us off?
00:33Kyle?
00:39Hi David.
00:41Over the past few weeks, you start the season with loads of clean sheets,
00:43but over the past few weeks there's maybe not been as many
00:45and you've had to deal with a lot
00:47in front of you in terms of a changing back four
00:49and Mikel before the international break
00:51described all the injuries
00:53with them all happening more or less in one place as a nightmare.
00:55I just wonder how it's been like for you
00:57having to deal with that constantly changing
00:59back four in front of you
01:01and how it's affected you in your performances?
01:03Well, I don't think it has affected in any way
01:05it's just, obviously we've had some injuries
01:07but we have a
01:09great squad
01:11and anyone that can play
01:13in those positions we rely on
01:15and I know they're going to do their job 100%
01:17so no matter who plays there
01:19we feel confident that we're going to defend
01:21and they're going to do the right job.
01:23Sam?
01:25Hi David
01:27your performances this season
01:29have been really good and I think a lot of fans
01:31would say you're the player of the season so far
01:33I just wondered, do you feel a lot more
01:35comfortable and settled
01:37this year than compared to when you first came
01:39and what's changed about that and why?
01:41Well, I think
01:43it's a matter of adaptation
01:45you know, everything has a process
01:47and I know
01:49at the start of last season
01:51there was a big debate
01:53and a lot of noise outside
01:55but I think from
01:57January this year
01:59I think it's just
02:01changed completely
02:03I was more confident
02:05I was showing what I was capable of
02:07and then after the summer
02:09I just felt myself
02:11I was in the right place
02:13and I think with all the performance
02:15and the help with the team
02:17it showed
02:19what we're on here and what we're capable of
02:23James, do you want to?
02:25Ok, we'll go up here first
02:27Hi David
02:29it was against a Portuguese team last season
02:31Porto, you had probably your biggest moment
02:33last season, I just wanted
02:35to ask you, in terms of
02:37your Arsenal career really taking off
02:39did that feel like the night that you really
02:41truly arrived as an Arsenal player?
02:43Well, it's a nice
02:45moment to save two pens
02:47and get through to the next
02:49round and everything
02:51My career started when I
02:53signed for Arsenal last season
02:55and that's how I see it
02:57obviously you have moments, good moments
02:59bad moments, that's part of football
03:01but obviously that's a great memory
03:03to have in my mind
03:05and for everybody I think
03:07because it was many years ago that we didn't get through
03:09to the quarterfinals
03:11We spoke about some of the big saves you've already made
03:13at the start of this season, as a goalkeeper
03:15projecting that body language
03:17and that confidence to your defenders
03:19It seems like you
03:21carry a different presence in the goal this year
03:23to maybe this time last year when you were just
03:25asserting yourself. Is that something that
03:27Mikel has worked on with you? Because he talks about
03:29body language quite a lot
03:31Yeah, I think it's something that you work on
03:33and like I said before
03:35is adapt to a new
03:37circumstances, a new club, a new environment
03:39and that takes a
03:41process to have but obviously
03:43with the help of the staff and
03:45the players it makes it much easier
03:47but I think it was just a matter
03:49of time that I was
03:51going to show what type
03:53of goalie I was
03:55With the start you've had this season
03:57what is it like as a goalkeeper and as a player
03:59for it to go so well
04:01because obviously you've had your ups and your downs but for it
04:03to go so well so quickly this year
04:05what's that like?
04:07It's nice but it's past
04:09now, it's gone
04:11it doesn't matter anymore
04:13We're here now, we're thinking
04:15in the present, we're thinking about tomorrow
04:17and to try to help
04:19the team as much as possible with
04:21performance like that, like the past
04:23you learn from your good things
04:25and from your bad things so
04:27there's going to be a moment that's going to
04:29everybody makes mistakes and
04:31everything but obviously it's nice
04:33to hear that and to see that
04:35I'm helping the team
04:37With how well you're doing now, how much of it
04:39is it down to confidence and how much of it
04:41is it down to an improvement in skill
04:43I would say it's hard
04:45work, I think hard work
04:47pays off and hard work beats everything
04:49so I try to
04:51work as hard as possible
04:53every day in training
04:55and try to look after myself as much as possible
04:57so it's a little bit of everything
04:59but I would put it down to hard work
05:01David, you've prepared
05:03well, we've seen in training images and
05:05it looks really good that you're confident
05:07ahead of this game, have you spoken about
05:09the previous result that Sporting
05:11had here in this competition
05:13and what has Mikel said to you
05:15with that result that happened against Man City
05:17Well, we know
05:19we know what
05:21to expect tomorrow
05:23we know they're in form, we know they're a really
05:25good team, scoring a lot of goals
05:27but we're
05:29here to win the game, to get the three
05:31points and to move forward
05:33we're not here to see things out
05:35we're very, very confident
05:37in ourselves to come here and get the three points
05:39and wary of the new manager
05:41who's coming here as well
05:43and you're wary of the new manager
05:45Yeah, we know
05:47they're very similar and they're trying to do the same things
05:49but obviously we expect
05:51it's a new manager and we'll see what happens tomorrow
05:53James
05:55Firstly, can I just ask you
05:57who do you consider to be the best goalkeeper
05:59in the world right now?
06:01Right now?
06:03That's a tough question
06:05I would say
06:07Ruben Courtois for me
06:09obviously now he's injured
06:11but I would still pick him
06:13Is it a personal target of yours
06:15to kind of be in that conversation
06:17you're a Premier League Golden Glove winner
06:19you're in a team going for the title
06:21is that an aspiration of yours to be talked of
06:23with those big names?
06:25Well, I have different aspirations
06:27but
06:29that's I think a conversation for you guys
06:31to have that talk
06:33but of course it's nice to be in that talk
06:35it's nice to be there
06:37but my aspiration is to play football
06:39to be the best version I am
06:41and be better tomorrow and the day after
06:43so that's what I'm thinking right now
06:45What do you think you need to do then to get there
06:47do you need to win a Champions League
06:49do you need to win a Premier League?
06:51Time will tell
06:53Jordan
06:55Hi David
06:57coming up against a striker
06:59in form in Jocares tomorrow
07:01just how much analysis have you done on him
07:03and what makes him special
07:05compared to other strikers
07:07and how you approach to play him?
07:09Well we know his strengths
07:11we know he runs a lot in behind
07:13he scores a lot of goals in 1v1
07:15and of course he's a top player
07:17he's in form
07:19we're going to try to keep him very quiet tomorrow
07:21to not give him many chances
07:23I think we have stepped up defensively
07:25so hopefully we can do a great job
07:27and keep a clean sheet tomorrow
07:29so that will be the best thing for us
07:31I know you're obviously always motivated to keep clean sheets
07:33but when you come up against a striker
07:35who's that good and that in form
07:37is it that extra bit of motivation
07:39to prove yourself against one of the best strikers
07:41in the world right now?
07:43Well I think it's a motivation for everybody
07:45to keep a clean sheet
07:47because if you keep a clean sheet
07:49you've got a better chance to win the game
07:51and we know how strong we are
07:53in that aspect because we defend
07:55with all 11 players
07:57and we know what we're capable of
07:59so hopefully we can keep a clean sheet tomorrow
08:01and it'll be nice to keep him quiet
08:03so that'll be really good for tomorrow
08:05Last couple, go up here
08:07Hello David, Miguel Custodio from Sporting TV
08:09You weren't on the two
08:112023 games
08:13you were in Brentford back then
08:15do you think that games
08:17made you more aware of what
08:19sporting can do
08:21the quality of sporting
08:23do you think you are going to have
08:25more respect tomorrow because of
08:27what happened?
08:29Like I said, we know it's a tough
08:31opponent, they're really
08:33in form in both competitions
08:35as you know obviously
08:37they score a lot of goals
08:39and all that but we are
08:41focused on ourselves
08:43we want to be ourselves tomorrow to play the football
08:45that we want to play and that we know how to
08:47play it and to make it very
08:49difficult for them to
08:51create chances and make it
08:53very difficult for
08:55them to win the game
08:57so we know what we're expecting tomorrow
08:59and we're going to go everything
09:01to win
09:03Hi David
09:05we're halfway through the
09:07big new group stage of the Champions League
09:09I was just wondering what the players think of it
09:11there's obviously more games
09:13it's a bit hard to know what each result means
09:15because you can be top one minute, lower down
09:17the next, it's all very tight together
09:19are you enjoying it?
09:21does it feel different to you?
09:23I only had one season
09:25in the Champions League, it was last season
09:27and this season is obviously a little bit different
09:29because you play against
09:31a lot of clubs
09:33a lot of games
09:35but every three points
09:37every point is important in this competition
09:39and we know what we
09:41want, we want to get
09:43as many points as we can and qualify
09:45straight away
09:47to have less games to play as well
09:49that would be a really good thing
09:51but now obviously the Champions League
09:53is so good to play and is the best
09:55competition so we're really really
09:57happy to be here
09:59how important is it to avoid those extra couple of games
10:01in February?
10:03it's really important
10:05if you get through to the next round straight away
10:07that's two games less that you're going to
10:09play so you can rest up
10:11and you can prepare the games even better
10:13so it's really really important
10:15sorry guys we're going to have to end it there
10:17because Mikel's on his way but thank you all so much
10:19thank you very much
10:49we start now with the coach
11:19hi everyone
11:21hope everyone's ok
11:23if you have a question raise your hand
11:25and we'll come to you
11:27I think we can recognise a few faces on the front here
11:29we'll come to John Cross from the Mirror
11:31oh with a microphone
11:33sorry
11:35thank you
11:37hello Mikel
11:39can I just do a health check
11:41is everyone fit and available
11:43that is in good health
11:45and is everyone
11:47is everyone fit and available
11:49that is in the squad
11:51everyone sort of
11:53yeah everybody's fit
11:55we have Kieran Tierney with us
11:57hello
11:59hello
12:01let's ask the question again
12:03everyone in the squad
12:05there's no doubts over fitness
12:07everyone that is here
12:09will be fit and available to start
12:11yeah everybody that is in the squad is fully fit
12:13to start the game
12:15we have Kieran Tierney
12:17after a long injury
12:19great news that he's back
12:21he's been training with the team
12:23and he's available to participate
12:25how important would it be to make a real statement
12:27with an away win
12:29because in the Champions League
12:31maybe away performances haven't yielded the goals
12:33potentially a big week
12:35isn't it
12:37you've already enjoyed a fantastic home win on Saturday
12:39it's certainly something that
12:41we have to improve
12:43we have made the right steps
12:45and looking back the way we played against
12:47Inter and against a team that has been so dominant
12:49in the league and having the Champions League
12:51final that they should have won
12:53and play
12:55and dominate the game like we should have done
12:57but the reality is that after
12:59you have to make it happen and we didn't
13:01and making that
13:03steps is what we have to do next
13:05be ruthless, be much more efficient
13:07in the opposition box
13:09and when we get there actually
13:11that's what we have to do to take the three points away
13:13from here
13:15Hi Mikel, two questions
13:17one, how good is
13:19Victor Llores and two, how do you stop him
13:21well I would like to talk about
13:23the team, about the coaches
13:25and how phenomenal they've been
13:27the run that they are in is incredible
13:29that tells you
13:31that it's not only the qualities
13:33the set up as well as the ambition
13:35it's something about the team energy
13:37that they have and that's a great
13:39challenge that we have, tomorrow to come here
13:41and make a statement and show that we are capable
13:43against this kind of opponent
13:45be ourselves and win the game
13:47Hi Mikel
13:49I know you're focused on sporting the team
13:51but you're coming up against a very informed
13:53striker, he seems to have
13:55the pace, the power, the height
13:57is he in your eyes what a modern day
13:59centre forward looks like now
14:01like an Erling Haaland kind of mould
14:03I understand the question
14:05obviously they have a lot of individual qualities
14:07that's why they are able as well to win
14:09games in various ways
14:11and yes in a specific position
14:13they have tremendous players
14:15Hi Mikel
14:17obviously it's a new format this season in the Champions League
14:19and we're all kind of struggling to work out
14:21a little bit what each result means
14:23because there's more games
14:25is there any concern for you
14:27about where you are in the table
14:29at the moment
14:31well we wanted to be higher that's for sure
14:33this is the position that we are right now
14:35and we have to face it
14:37and control what we can
14:39which is to play in a way that's going to give us
14:41every chance to win the game
14:43and fight to do it
14:45as quick as possible and tomorrow we have a great opportunity
14:47to do that
14:49Hi Mikel
14:51I'm just on the away form
14:53in Europe, I think it is now
14:55only one win in the last eight away
14:57and I know some of them have been good performances
14:59like Inter, we know you were unlucky
15:01but is it a pattern that you can explain
15:03not all the games
15:05they've been the same
15:07it's true that within those games
15:09there were games when we were already qualified
15:11but something is very true
15:13we have to improve those results
15:15and we have to find the ways to understand
15:17what has been missing
15:19sometimes it's been performance
15:21sometimes it's been when the performance has been there
15:23other aspects and that's the next step
15:25that we have to make as a team
15:27Mikel just on that point
15:29I think it's four away games in a row
15:31in the Champions League
15:33is that because the players are still new
15:35to this Champions League, people forget that
15:37it's only last season in this season
15:39and they maybe forget that yourself is still adjusting
15:41to getting the right balance
15:45I wouldn't say that this is probably the most important thing
15:47but the efficiency
15:49that we have shown inside the box
15:51at this level with the chances that you normally
15:53able to generate in Champions League
15:55is not at the level that requires to win
15:57consistently and that's something
15:59that I always say in Champions League
16:01it's about boxes, small margins and details
16:03and you have to get all those right
16:05to win especially away from home
16:07Hi Mikel, David was just talking
16:09just now about how he's feeling a lot more
16:11comfortable in his second season
16:13that he's adapted a little bit
16:15I was wondering if you've noticed that in his
16:17body language, his demeanor, his personality
16:19as well as his performances
16:21Well yes, it's something natural as well
16:23I think it takes time
16:25to adapt to a new club, to a huge club
16:27like ours
16:29even though I thought that last season he had a really good season
16:31obviously now he's more confident
16:33he understands the system
16:35he's got his space in the right way
16:37you know, you can tell
16:39that he's much more composed
16:41he's got better links with his teammates
16:43and yeah, he's been in great form
16:47You mentioned about wanting to focus on your players
16:49and not on the specific opposition players
16:51so in terms of William Schlieber and Gabriel
16:53what kind of tasks do they have tomorrow
16:55I'm sure you're hoping for them to step up
16:57as ever against an informed striker
16:59Yeah, for the whole team
17:01because obviously when you look at the numbers they produced
17:03in the domestic league
17:05and in the Champions League at home
17:07where they have won every game and scored
17:09always at least a goal
17:11it's something that we have to really avoid
17:13so we're going to have to be really consistent
17:15and efficient to try to prevent that happening
17:17Mikel
17:19so many people will be coming to you
17:21at the club, players and other staff
17:23members and say
17:25Mr. Coach, there's issues here
17:27they're relying on you for feedback, for information
17:29to help them, to support them
17:31and you give that support and you give that guidance
17:33because you're a leader
17:35who do you turn to for your support?
17:37For my support?
17:39When you're feeling maybe the pressure
17:41it's so odd in this intense season
17:43not this side of Christmas
17:45but are there pressure moments
17:47and who do you turn to?
17:49At home, the first one at home
17:51my family, my lovely wife, my kids
17:53all the loved ones and then
17:55everybody, all the staff
17:57that's why my coaches are so important
17:59all the staff that is around it
18:01upstairs, same support, same energy
18:03it's vital
18:05because as you said, there are always bombs
18:07there are always feelings, there are always issues
18:09at football club, there are always things
18:11that are very urgent, have to be resolved right now
18:13and
18:15I'm very lucky to have that environment
18:17thank you
18:19we'll take two more from the UK and then we'll go to some Portuguese questions
18:21Ian from BBC
18:23Mikel, good evening
18:25this time last year you embarked on a winning run
18:27after the international break
18:29I'm just thinking, how important
18:31is it now? I know it's a challenge to play every
18:33three or four days, but this time
18:35between now and March, the next international
18:37break, to be able just to focus
18:39purely from your point of view
18:41and can you do what you did last year?
18:43Yeah, when you look at, I think it's
18:4532 games to the next international
18:47break, so that tells you the story
18:49every three days, we're going to need everybody
18:51everybody at his best
18:53and be very well prepared
18:55I think the team is
18:57back of having almost
18:59the full squad available, I noticed a huge
19:01difference already in training
19:03and in the end years in the team
19:05I sensed that already on Saturday
19:07against Forest, and it's about
19:09the consistency that you are talking about now
19:11to build some momentum, some results, some big
19:13performances and go in a big run
19:15Hi Mikel,
19:17your second trip to this stadium
19:19in actually quite a short period of time
19:21it feels like a lot longer ago
19:23that we were here last, but I wonder
19:25have you had a chance to pause since you've come here
19:27and take stock and look at
19:29how your team's progressed and what you think is
19:31different now from when the last time
19:33you were here in Lisbon? That's a good question, it's always
19:35a good exercise to see
19:37the team a few years back, and I
19:39watched both games obviously just to have an understanding
19:41how we prepared them and what it worked, what it
19:43didn't, and it's difficult
19:45to recognize a team two years later
19:47you know, because you tend to see and look
19:49at the game and other stuff in
19:51a different way, but it was
19:53good, it seems longer ago to be
19:55fair, in a way
19:57but here we are again, the good news
19:59is we are in a different competition
20:01a competition that we really want
20:03to be, and be dominant and be important
20:05and this is what we are looking for
20:09Hello Mikel, welcome again
20:11in Portugal, Miguel Custodio
20:13from Sporting TV, not that much
20:15not that much has changed
20:17between the 2023 games
20:19you have a lot of the same players
20:21Sporting too, you have new players of course
20:23but do you think
20:25both teams are stronger right now
20:27than that
20:29results? I think so
20:31I think
20:33so because I think every team evolved
20:35and talking about Sporting
20:37and what they've done has been unbelievable
20:39and we have
20:41as well progressed very much
20:43from what we were two years ago
20:45so it's going to be a good test
20:47Gentleman here
20:55JoĆ£o Ribeiro from Newspaper Record
20:57I'm asking you, Sporting has
20:59lost his coach last week
21:01what do you think, it can be
21:03a surprise for you tomorrow or you are
21:05expecting the same Sporting that
21:07gets
21:09the best results in the
21:11last rounds of the Champions League
21:13Well I don't expect the same
21:15because I think every coach and the coaching staff
21:17behind him would have his own ideas
21:19we have obviously analysed what is done
21:21the things that he can tweak
21:23and he's done in the past to be prepared
21:25and try to understand as much as possible
21:27what he can try to do
21:29and especially how we can hurt them
21:31and I'm looking forward to that
21:33Ok everyone, I think that's it
21:35Thank you
21:43Hello, Cristiana
21:45Three games ago
21:47Sporting beat Manchester City
21:49in a big way here in Alvalade
21:51so was that game like
21:53a base for you to prepare
21:55the game for tomorrow?
21:57Well it was one of those, obviously they have played other games
21:59in the Champions League and domestic
22:01so we had to try to understand as well
22:03how they behave about
22:05all the kind of opposition
22:07because preparing for Manchester City
22:09is a really specific game
22:11I'm telling you, we have experienced that
22:13so I think you need
22:15a much broader picture to understand
22:17certain behaviours
22:19and understand why they do certain things
22:21obviously we have analysed that
22:23but yeah, it was a remarkable game
22:25Thank you
22:31Thank you
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