Arteta on Gabby’s Injury and Evolving Squad Sizes

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Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta on Gabby’s Injury and Evolving Squad Sizes  04/04/2025  Sobha Realty Training Ground, London, UK

Transcript

00:00Who wants to kick off?

00:02We'll go there.

00:03Hi, Michael.

00:04Just on the injuries, you mentioned

00:07that it's only going to get worse and worse

00:09if you're going to play more and more games as time goes on.

00:12Can you see a day where you're going

00:14to need much, much bigger squads?

00:16Because obviously you have a lot of injuries this season.

00:19I'm not going to be able to help you for whatever reason,

00:21but do you think the squad size is just not

00:23able to cope at the moment?

00:26Logically, if we demand the players to play more games,

00:31in more competitions, more travel, to more intensity,

00:35the only solution to do it is with more players.

00:37I don't see any other solution.

00:40In your case this season, it's a little bit of misfortune,

00:43I suppose.

00:44But is it difficult for you to try and work out

00:47what you're going to do this summer based on what's

00:49happened this season?

00:50Because it might have been, you know,

00:52the season before you didn't have so many injuries,

00:54so it might be harder for you to...

00:55It makes it harder because there are some players

00:57that they're going to start the season

00:59after surgical interventions,

01:02and that's always a big question mark.

01:04And there are areas where we have acquired a bunch

01:08of those players, and that brings uncertainty

01:11because you don't really know how capable those players

01:14are going to be to sustain congested periods.

01:17So that's something that we are very busy with.

01:21And do you think this problem is coming to the head

01:24in the last couple of seasons, or has it been

01:26building up for a long time?

01:27Or is it more of a recent problem?

01:29I think it's building for a while,

01:31and the fact that then, yeah, during the summer

01:34there are always competitions, you know,

01:36the African Cup, we're going to have a new competition

01:38coming up now this summer as well.

01:40So this is all adding up.

01:42And then the demands, the intensity, the quality,

01:47the pressure, everything is increasing.

01:50And it's great because we are making the game

01:53and the sport known in the world.

01:56And the quality that we can deliver is high,

01:58but I think we have to be very conscious

02:00that there are certain limits as well,

02:02what the players can do.

02:05In terms of the scores, do you have a number

02:07in your head of actually how many you think

02:09right now would be, is it another five players,

02:12another ten players, in terms of making it

02:14more suitable for a product game?

02:16Yeah, the number is important, but it's just a number.

02:19And then who is within that number.

02:21So you can have 23 players, but six of them

02:24are coming post-injury, to go to post-surgical injury

02:28to the next season.

02:30Or you can have 22 that they are all fit

02:33and they play 45 to 60 games and over 3,000 minutes.

02:37And they have a really high availability

02:39in the last three years.

02:41The number is the same.

02:43The squad's quality to cope with the load

02:45is very, very different.

02:47So the number is ideal, yeah.

02:50But tell me which profiles do you have within the team

02:53and can they play in one position

02:55or can they have the versatility to play

02:57in other positions as well?

02:59And in terms of White and Tim Brown,

03:01are they going to make a decision tomorrow

03:03to put you in Brisbane?

03:05Is it just too big of a risk to put them out

03:07if they're not 80, 90, 100 percent,

03:10if they're kind of 50 percent?

03:12Yeah, well, with 80 percent a player

03:14to play in the Premier League,

03:16it's already very tricky to do.

03:18And we know the history of him.

03:20But yesterday, again, he was much better

03:22than we all expected.

03:23And the next day as well, today he was OK.

03:25So, let's see, yeah.

03:27And White?

03:28And White was much better as well.

03:32Some players may not be able to finish the game.

03:35Could that be linked to Brown?

03:37If one of the staff can't finish the game?

03:40I cannot tell you who is able to do it.

03:43Oh, come on, we're two friends.

03:45LAUGHTER

03:50Tomorrow, is it the implication

03:52that your team tomorrow,

03:54you will have to look ahead to Monday

03:56in terms of, A, your starting team,

03:58but also the changes you make within the game?

04:01Yeah.

04:02Well, we always plan.

04:04We cannot just look ahead of one game

04:06in terms of the load that the players

04:08are going to be absorbing.

04:10And this context is not different.

04:12But not because it's Real Madrid,

04:14we always do, and understanding as well

04:16that we have some tricky situations

04:18in the last week or so.

04:20When you said to Jordan about the number of players

04:22and you said about the next season

04:24that Gabi and Kai will come off serious injuries,

04:28you don't know how they're going to react.

04:30Does that mean this affects what you do

04:32in the summer transfer market?

04:35Let's see if it affects,

04:37but we have to be very conscious of that.

04:39Because there are a lot of uncertainties

04:42in relation to what some of those players

04:44are going to be able to cope with,

04:46especially for the first five or six months of the season.

04:49OK, last couple of questions.

04:51Hi, Lucas.

04:52Hi.

04:53Pumpting injuries across the league

04:54is a common occurrence this season.

04:56Going forward, particularly next season,

04:58could it mean players like the Kyocera,

05:00players like Kylbert, who are very crucial in the outfit,

05:02might have to not play a major game

05:04as players have been doing this season?

05:07Not because of your goals,

05:09but because of the injury risk?

05:12Yeah, but I don't know.

05:14We have those discussions.

05:16I don't know how we're going to do it.

05:18For example, we have a situation with Gary Magalhaes.

05:21During the West Ham game,

05:23he felt something in his hamstring.

05:25We played three days later,

05:27six days later, and nine days later.

05:30Three days later, he said he was ready to play

05:32with a grey 1B.

05:35He said, I'm not feeling anything,

05:37I want to play.

05:38We had a massive fight not to play.

05:40Day six, this one definitely I have to play.

05:43Everybody's like, there is still a chance of a risk to play.

05:46We decided after a big fight, don't play.

05:49Day nine, another game.

05:51This one for sure.

05:53The dogs, there is a slight risk.

05:55He can miss five, six, seven weeks

05:57if he has an injury after that.

05:59We decided not to play.

06:00On day 12, he played.

06:02But I was very tempted on day six to play.

06:05If I would have played on day six,

06:07and he has the injury that he sustained now

06:09against Fulham,

06:11and he misses four weeks, four months,

06:14I would be hammered.

06:16So sometimes you protect the player

06:19for this to happen,

06:20and when the player is totally protected,

06:22then this happens as well.

06:23There is an element, guys,

06:25that we cannot control.

06:26So we try to do our best.

06:28The medical staff, I suffer for them as well,

06:30for everything that they do,

06:31because I know that they feel very responsible for that.

06:35It is difficult to put just something into something

06:39when there is a lot of thought about

06:41how we make decisions.

06:43How tricky is that for you

06:44when you have to make that decision?

06:46You want to play,

06:47because the player is coming to your office.

06:48I want to play, I want to play, I want to play.

06:50I'm ready.

06:51I know my body.

06:52Don't listen to the scan, you know.

06:55But then those things happen.

06:56That's why we have a really good team

06:58that we have to listen to,

07:00and you try to protect the players.

07:01But sometimes when you feel that they are very protected

07:03in the first half, this happens.

07:05If it happens after 80 minutes, 85 minutes,

07:08I can understand more.

07:09In the first half, it's a bit trickier.

07:11There is something else.

07:13On a human level,

07:14do you ever sit there and actually worry about

07:16the potential long-term effects

07:17that these guys will get?

07:21Yeah, I know myself.

07:22My knee, my hip, these, my ankles, you know.

07:24They are the consequence of playing

07:26at the highest level in the sport.

07:29But you have many other things in your life as well.

07:33OK, finally to Alan.

07:34You've said the only solution is bigger spots,

07:37but if that increased rotation,

07:39how much more difficult does it take

07:40to build relationships between players

07:42like William and Gabriel, for instance,

07:45if you aren't changed at the start of the season?

07:48Yeah, I mean, but that's our job as well, you know.

07:51And that's why we have,

07:52well, not now a lot of time to train,

07:54but to build those.

07:56And as well, when you're recruiting

07:57or when you are making those connections,

08:00make sure that probably without a lot of training,

08:02just their qualities fit in to generate those connections

08:06and that cohesion between the units.

08:09In your view, what would be the best way

08:10of putting that case forward

08:12to whether Premier League or the FA

08:14or to FIBA to have bigger spots?

08:17The club, the people at the club

08:19that they deal with all those organisations

08:22are the best ones with much more experience

08:24than me to put the right plan forward.

08:27Do you have a favourite memory of being that good as a player?

08:30Sorry?

08:31Do you have a favourite memory of being that good as a player?

08:35I have a lot, I have a lot.

08:37We have a European game against Fiorentina

08:39that it was after many years that the team wasn't in Europe

08:42that we had a beautiful night.

08:44But I have many.

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