Arteta: We need monsters to cope with football schedule

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Mikel Arteta says turning players into physical “monsters” is the only way to stave off injuries given the fixture pile-up top-level players are facing in the coming years.

After confirming Bukayo Saka was facing “many weeks” on the sidelines with a torn hamstring, the Spaniard said player conditioning was front of mind for his staff while pointing out it’s easier said than done when the team plays every few days.

Arsenal aren’t the only side with key men sidelined and Arteta was keen to point out that it’s not necessarily the addition of extra games to this campaign that was taking a toll.

“It’s probably more the accumulation of seasons,” he told the press ahead of Friday’s clash with Ipswich.

“For example, Bukayo and Declan they played over 130 games in two seasons. So what’s gonna happen in the second one, the third one or the fourth one, if that continues the same way? Probably it’s unsustainable, unless we find ways to physically turn them into monsters that can cope with anything.

“The fact that you play and recover is not a good pattern. Because that means that you don’t train and the body needs to train, the muscle needs to train.

“You just play and recover, you start to lose a lot of factors, a lot of qualities within your body, the physical aspects that are key to performance.

“Not just to play, not to get injured, but to become a better athlete, which is very different and keep evolving as an athlete, and that’s a challenge, but okay, we’re trying to find ways to do it.”

One thing is for certain, Arteta doesn’t think the workload for elite players will be reduced anytime soon given the high-profile tournaments that have already been confirmed. While Arsenal aren’t involved, next summer’s expanded FIFA Club World Cup is a prime example of more matches being added to an already-packed calendar.

“I don’t think that will happen, I throw that through the window immediately,” he said.

“Improve the athletes and have bigger squads, the other option, I don’t see it on the table.”

As for whether the authorities are listening to the debate about player welfare, he continued: “Listening? I hope they are listening. Whoever is in charge cannot actually do something right now with the commitments that are already in place in the next three or four seasons. Very challenging, very difficult I think.

“There is always a ‘but’, we have this competition in January, the other one is going to be in June, then we have this one, then we have the World Cup. So, yes [they are listening], but no [also].”

In the short-term, Arteta’s team are examining if there’s anything else that could have been done to stop Saka suffering the injury that could derail his side’s title ambitions.

“Probably there are ways to prevent the injury,” lamented the Spaniard. “It happened very early in the match, so the fatigue element is not that important. There are other factors.

“Obviously we are looking at everything that we could have done better, differently. But there is a lot of uncontrollables as well. The action [kicking the ball] produces so much force because it’s the moment that he puts the cross in. So all the force is in the standing leg and those actions happen in football.
So, I don’t know.”

As for how Arsenal cope without Saka, that’s anyones guess. Even without Raheem Sterling, who is also injured, the Gunners have enough versatile players to plug the gap on the right flank. On Saturday, Martinelli’s audition went pretty well with the Brazilian helping himself to an assist and a goal after Saka was substituted off.

“He did really well,” agreed Arteta. “I think he did really well again the other day. He scored a goal, he created an assist and it’s a good option to have.

“We’re going to have the option to inverted footed if we need to. Another kind of profile in relation to the opposition. So, we are on it.

Gabby [Jesus] has played there, Ethan [Nwaneri] has played there, Leo [Trossard] can play there in relation to how that unit moves. Kai [Havertz] can play there, asking him different things.

“So, We’ll see, try to speak to them as well and understand how they feel about it.”

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