"I will do that one day..." Arteta on telling the team news early

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Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta: "I will do that one day..." on telling the team news early  05/12/2025  Sobha Realty Training Ground, London, UK

Transcript

00:00He named his team. He sort of said,

00:04I don't care. Here's my line-up. We're going to win anyway.

00:08Have you ever considered... I will do that one day.

00:12So Mourinho has been in the game for how long? 25 years?

00:16So that will happen at some point. It sends a message, though, doesn't it?

00:20It sends a message, I think, to your team. Yeah, yeah.

00:24And knowing Jose very well, the message is very clear and with a very clear purpose

00:28as well. So, yeah.

00:30Obviously, you're quite guarded on your team moves.

00:34I presume that's because you don't want the opposition to know too much.

00:38Yes.

00:40And sometimes, and the reality as well, sometimes,

00:44because I haven't decided the line-up.

00:46They're doing rugby, for example, don't they?

00:50And you know the rugby coaches very well.

00:52They named the team like three or four days before.

00:54It would be interesting to see someone try it.

00:56Yeah, we can try.

00:58I will encourage the other managers in the league

01:00to do that when we play against them.

01:02So the day before, two days before, if possible,

01:04that they tell us who plays.

01:05That would be great.

01:06Ask that question to them and if we get that done,

01:08I'll get you at dinner.

01:10That would be a dinner.

01:11Okay.

01:12So, thank you for the first question.

01:13Okay, go ahead.

01:14Yes

01:15Riker.

01:16On your face and Ricky charged forward

01:18and did a fat kill in the air.

01:19And then Gabby shot over.

01:20Is Gaby sort of your reason controlled havoc,

01:27or was he just havoc?

01:28Is there any...

01:29Controlled?

01:30Yeah.

01:31That word and Ricky, especially, in the attacking phase,

01:35Like in phase, it doesn't match too much, but it's something that we want, you know,

01:39because he has this intuition, his capacity to smell danger,

01:44to attack spaces that are very difficult for the opponent to defend,

01:48and he does this in a way that for him is natural, which is always good.

01:51So, yeah, we encourage him to do that.

02:05Is that something that's just completely natural to him, or have you worked with him on that?

02:11No, on the height that he's doing that, probably he's never done it before

02:14because he used to do it as a centre-back, especially coming to the midfield line.

02:19Further than that normally he doesn't do, but he has the ability to do that,

02:22and in pre-season, last pre-season we started to say, and you have the feeling that he flows,

02:28you know, and things happen naturally, and he's comfortable there,

02:31and he's more comfortable that playing probably in the midfield line,

02:34and he's very comfortable every time he's stepping into the position box,

02:38and it gets better there. We have to use that his quality.

02:41One colleague once asked about the depth of pressing.

02:43He said that the teams are pressing less, including Arsenal this season,

02:46and he wondered whether it was fatigue or whether teams are now going longer,

02:50so therefore the pressing is less.

02:53Is there a reason you think that teams are pressing less this season?

02:57Well, we had periods, and as well it goes to the fact that certain managers

03:03and certain things have certain place to do it.

03:05After last week we played three games the week before,

03:09which was very man-orientated and a lot of pressing.

03:12The Chelsea game was insane in terms of that.

03:15The Bayern Munich won as well.

03:17Let's see tomorrow what is the approach that Villa has,

03:20and we will adapt in relation to that.

03:22Last question.

03:23What was the thinking and rationale behind this?

03:24Is this a new approach by Arsenal to go overseas and get young kids over and try and obviously

03:30play them into the academy? Is it a new approach under Andrea Berta?

03:32Well, there is certainly something that I think is very positive.

03:49I mean, we can recruit the best talent that there is out there.

03:53Obviously the rules and the limitation that the league provides in relation to using them

03:58before a certain age, it is a challenge.

04:00But we saw that as a good opportunity for us and if we are ahead,

04:06I think that's something very positive.

04:08When did you start seeing this potential path?

04:10Was it other clubs, maybe like Chelsea, where you saw them bring young kids from abroad?

04:14Or was it something else?

04:16Yeah, there's always been.

04:17I think for many years we have talked about that.

04:19The last week you asked me about the multi-club possibilities as well.

04:24So it's something that is emerging there for many clubs.

04:27They've been doing it for years, which is, in my opinion, a big advantage if you do it correctly.

04:32And we need to start somewhere and that's what we did.

04:36The fact that London and the surrounding areas have already produced massive talents,

04:40obviously Manchester United is one of them.

04:42Now, obviously, internationally, do you think on a more wider scale

04:45there could be bigger times for them to see further afield?

04:48Yeah.

04:49For me, the first intention obviously has to be to develop our own players in-house,

04:54but that doesn't mean that you have to close any doors for any talent that we have.

04:58That goes for players and it goes as well to staff, I think.

05:02Okay, finally we go to Jack.

05:03How was the talk about the depth that you now have this season after work

05:07and in the summer of something you spoke about needing at the end of last season?

05:11Did you think you'd need to use quite as many of them quite so soon into the season given all the injuries you've had?

05:17Sorry, sorry.

05:18Did you think you'd need to rely on that depth quite as much as you have?

05:21Well, I think we have already used it in a great way.

05:25And not only the depth as well, but the versatility of the squad

05:28and the players that we have in certain positions to fulfil roles for periods of time

05:33that has been challenging in one specific line now is another specific line as well.

05:38But to navigate in the way that we've done, I think it tells a lot about the character and the quality of the players.

05:43After what happened to Chelsea on Wednesday night at Leeds, I heard Roy King saying somewhere

05:49that he thinks the title is over and that you will be the champions.

05:54How dangerous is it for anyone to listen to comments like that?

05:58I don't know. We know the reality. We know the reality that we played every three days,

06:04the quality of position that we have and how tough it is to win a football match.

06:07And we sense it three days before, the week before, and that's the reality in the league.

06:12So, just try to be as good as we can every day and they go day by day.

06:17Is this game maybe an example of that?

06:19I think if you look over the last ten games, Villa have got one point more than your team in the Premier League.

06:26They don't maybe have the level in terms of the Champions League.

06:29They've got Europa League games. Is that a reminder of the level that everyone's got?

06:34Yeah, exactly that. I think I fully agree with that.

06:37There is the level and then there is as well the schedule that each team has had.

06:41And we again have the players at home and away and I guess it's an opposition.

06:46There are a lot of factors and we are still very early in the season.

06:50OK guys, thanks very much.

06:51Yeah, thank you.

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