Arteta on Saka's optimism, Ramsdale mind games and nice guy Kai
Today at 03:32 AM
In the second half of his pre-Southampton press conference, Mikel Arteta touched on Bukayo Saka’s title optimism, Kai Havertz’s transformation, the advice his father has given him, playing mind games with Aaron Ramsdale and his thoughts on England’s interim manager Lee Carsley.
Here’s what he had to say…
On Bukayo Saka saying this is Arsenal's year to win the Premier League…
They are free to express their feelings and if they believe that’s the case, it’s great because belief is the first thing that you need to achieve any dream or whatever you want to achieve in life. What I can say is that we just played six games and we are very far from it.
On whether he talks about winning the title with his team….
No. We talk about game by game, the training sessions, what we demand to ourselves, evaluate what we do every single day and how we can continue to improve and be the team that we want to be daily, in a consistent way, and that’s it. And the rest we’ll take care of. If we are good enough to do that at the end of the season, we’ll have chances to achieve it.
On Mikel Merino saying Arsenal's training is like "nothing he's ever seen"…
I don’t know what he’s referring to. I don’t know, we train a certain way that we believe is the best one to get the best out of players and to try to elevate players to different levels, but I don’t know what he’s referring to in that case.
On Kai Havertz's transformation in the last year and what he puts it down to…
Love. He’s a player that needs a lot of love. He needs to feel protected, he needs to feel the chemistry around him. He’s one of the most likeable guys I’ve met in football in my life. He gives so much to everybody, so he needs that connection with the people. He got that from ourselves and the moment he started to get it from our supporters, I think that gave him a different dimension, different confidence and now we see the player that he is.
On Ramsdale knowing Arsenal's set-piece routines and whether they'll need to adapt…
Probably. Maybe we’re going to tell him that we’re going to adapt something, but do the same because he’s going to be thinking that we’re going to adapt it. So there are going to be maybe some mind games. I’m sure that they have this because it’s not the first time that we play against a player that was in our camp. He’s not sure that it happened, so we need to have the capacity to understand and continue to do our things.
On the departure of Aaron Ramsdale…
I don’t know. Obviously, he decided that he wanted to take another step in his career. We were really happy with him, we wanted that competition and that level because we need a lot of competition in the position but that’s it, we wish him all the best and he’s already doing really well.
On Arsenal having a patchy record against Southampton in recent years…
We have conceded some very sloppy goals, first of all. And we haven’t been consistent enough throughout the game to dominate the game like we should have. I think we deserve some of those results. Probably not all of them, but certainly some of them.
On Arsenal paying a price for dropping points against less fancied sides in the last two years…
This is what my Dad says! "This one you have to win, this one, because…" Yeah, Dad, if we win every game, then we’ll be champions. But we have an opposition and the level of this league is so high. We’re going to try our best for sure tomorrow to perform and compete in the way that we want and try to earn the right to win it.
On Arteta's former teammate Lee Carsley and whether he thought he'd make a good manager one day…
I didn’t know about that probably, I wasn’t thinking about it. I had the sense that if I want to be a part of a team, I would like to have someone like Lee next to me. He was a joy as a person, as a professional, someone who makes your profession and your life enjoyable. Obviously, what he’s done already, is unbelievable, he takes it with such leadership and in a really organic and natural way. Yeah, great guy.
On England's under-21 side under Carsley playing fluid football and how that has influenced the FA…
Yeah, because he’s able to create that energy and that togetherness around the team, and that’s the foundation. And then he’s a guy that has been preparing himself in in the right way, really smart, really good connecting with people and then these things happen.
On Raya being akin to a playmaker with his passing range…
Yes, certainly when your goalkeeper has the capacity to combine and look short and find free players, and has the capacity to threaten the opponent’s last line, obviously, it gives much bigger worries and it generates much bigger spaces and that’s a weapon that we have with David. Whether the ball is on the floor, in his hands, in any circumstance, and that’s something very positive for the team.
On Arsenal going longer with their goal-kicks this season…
The plan depends on the behaviour of the opponent, where the space is, what intention they have, and, as well, if it fits the qualities of our players.
On what exactly has impressed him about Saints boss Russell Martin…
Because I think I understand what he wants to do, what he does, why he does it. It’s very difficult to coach it and at the level that he’s done it, to perform and dominate games and win the amount of games that he’s done at that level, it’s extremely difficult to do it. First of all, because you need a lot of courage, because when he was winning a lot of games, nobody was talking about that. It’s all beauty and in YouTube. The moment you lose it, then it’s too much. So you need a lot of courage to do that, and I love that.
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