Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta discuss' PSV, playing Merino as a striker and chasing Liverpool
21/02/2025
Sobha Realty Training Ground, London, UK
21/02/2025
Sobha Realty Training Ground, London, UK
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00:00Good afternoon, good to see you.
00:02A lot of team news, first of all, for Saturday.
00:05No real news, to be fair.
00:08The ones that are long-term, they remained not available,
00:11and the rest, no other news.
00:14Ben White was obviously on the bench on Saturday.
00:16Do you think he's ready to start, potentially?
00:19He's ready to play.
00:21Whether to start or not is a decision we'll make tomorrow,
00:23but he's certainly available now to be part of the group.
00:27A question on the Champions League.
00:29You've got PSV Eindhoven in the last 16.
00:32What's your reaction to it?
00:33Do you see it as a big opportunity to get to another quarter-final?
00:36Well, we played against them, they are a really good team.
00:39We know that, we have experienced it,
00:41and it will be very difficult like any other Champions League result
00:47that we could have got, or any team.
00:49So we know what we are facing.
00:51When you are at this stage, every team is really, really good.
00:55And when the time comes, we will be ready for it.
00:58Just on the title race, you've seen Liverpool drop points
01:02in two of their last three games now.
01:05If you can beat West Ham, it's a five-point gap
01:08ahead of their game against Manchester City.
01:11Is there a growing belief from you and your players
01:14that you can come back and claim this title?
01:17Well, we have to do our job, and it's going to be a tough one tomorrow
01:21against West Ham, and if we do that, obviously,
01:25we will be looking at that game on Sunday.
01:27But there are 13 games to go still, there's still a lot to play,
01:31and you can see how difficult it is for everybody to win football matches.
01:35So we really need to be there.
01:37I know you love watching those big games,
01:39but will you be glued to your TV on Sunday,
01:42hoping your friend Pep can do you a favour?
01:44I'm glued to tomorrow's game, that's what I'm glued to,
01:47and my full focus is just there.
01:49Generally, though, when you do watch these other games,
01:52are you a good spectator?
01:54What does that mean?
01:56Do you just watch it and can you relax?
01:59No, relax, no.
02:01Especially when you are playing for this team,
02:03you obviously cannot relax.
02:05I relax watching games that don't interfere with our ability
02:08to win big trophies.
02:10This is the third season now that you've been involved,
02:13and really involved in a title race on your own.
02:17What experiences do you think you can draw
02:19from what's happened in the past two seasons
02:22to maybe get you over the line this time?
02:24The margins are so small and everything counts,
02:27and we had numbers that any other Premier League title
02:31probably you could have won it, and we didn't,
02:34so that shows you the level and the difficulty of it.
02:37But the fact that we have experienced it obviously helps
02:40because we know what it's going to take to do it.
02:42Just a final one from Mikel,
02:44I spoke to Mikel Mourinho yesterday,
02:46and he was saying that it might be a good thing
02:48that he only knew on the morning of the game
02:51that he might be used up front.
02:53I'm guessing that you might have given him more of a warning
02:56this time ahead of this game, have you?
02:59No.
03:01Not to him or to other players,
03:03especially because I want the players,
03:05when they are on that pitch, that they are feeling what they are doing,
03:08and they are taking the initiative,
03:10and I don't want players thinking about
03:12that tomorrow I have to do certain things,
03:14that's why I did it.
03:16Thanks, I'll have to go to Alice from the Premier League.
03:18Hi, Mikel, that decision to play Mourinho
03:20as a mainstay striker against Leicester
03:22was labelled by some as an experiment that paid off,
03:24I just wonder, is that how you describe it too,
03:26or is there more to it than that?
03:28Well, if there's something that we haven't done,
03:30or he hasn't done in his career,
03:32is to try it, it's called experiment,
03:34that's it then.
03:36At the end he's trying to fit the qualities that we have
03:39within the squad, within the players,
03:41that we actually want to deliver,
03:43and what the game is requiring,
03:45or the opposition is requiring,
03:47I would take it more into that aspect than the other one,
03:50but after it has to work,
03:52if not it's not the right call.
03:54Given you're essentially challenging for the title
03:57without a recognised striker now,
03:59are there any young forwards or perhaps hidden gems
04:01that you're paying particularly close attention to right now
04:04with a view to fast-tracking into the senior centre?
04:06Yes, we are obviously,
04:08some of the players are training with us now regularly,
04:10and they're in our system,
04:12they've been in our system for a while,
04:14but they've been very, very close,
04:16and obviously we might have to use them.
04:18And they look ready as well, which is a good thing.
04:21So is a situation like this an opportunity then for some?
04:24Yes, for sure, and it can happen at any moment,
04:26and I spoke about them, so they are ready for it.
04:29So West Ham up next week, of course, on Saturday,
04:32many will be looking at this as an opportunity
04:35to put more pressure on Liverpool,
04:37do you see it that way too?
04:39I see an opportunity for us to keep winning
04:41and to keep making our journey to the goal
04:45that we want at the end of the season,
04:47which is to win it.
04:48And that's the only thing that we can focus on.
04:50On wanting to win the league, of course,
04:52since their defeat to Finland,
04:54Liverpool have won just one of their last three league games,
04:57they travel to Man City this weekend,
04:59we know all ifs and buts of course,
05:01but if you beat West Ham and Liverpool lose,
05:03come Sunday night the gap between you is five points,
05:05plus you have a game in hand,
05:07just how big a week could this be in terms of the title?
05:10Yeah, I know, but ifs in football and in sport,
05:12I don't like them, let's do what we have to do,
05:15and then the if comes, great,
05:17but let's make sure that what is in our hands, we do it.
05:21And as for what's in your hands,
05:23you yourselves are unbeaten in 15 league games,
05:26given that form, do you sense the momentum
05:28kind of swinging back your way a little at just the right time?
05:31That's what we need, and that's a very important thing,
05:34because when your energy and your belief increases,
05:37results are behind you, performances are good,
05:40and everybody is having that shift in energy and belief,
05:45I think anything can happen.
05:50Hi, Miguel, how are you?
05:51Good, thank you.
05:52Can I ask, are you obsessed by winning the title now this season,
05:56because you've got close the last two years?
05:58I'm obsessed with doing everything that I possibly can
06:01every single day to achieve it,
06:03that's my obsession.
06:04But, I mean, does it literally dominate your thinking
06:07from the minute you get up in the morning
06:09to when you go to bed at night?
06:10No.
06:11So you're not that obsessed by it?
06:13I'm very obsessed by the process of it,
06:15that one, yeah, it consumes my whole day,
06:17yes, I guarantee you that.
06:19But it's the process how you get there.
06:21The actual outcome, I cannot control it.
06:24How difficult is it when you take on a team like West Ham,
06:27who most people would say,
06:29if you played this game ten times,
06:31your last goal would be neither of them,
06:33i.e. a game you should win.
06:35How much more difficult is your team to keep your team focused on?
06:39I don't think that anybody's thinking that way,
06:41because we are very experienced in the Premier League
06:43and how difficult every opponent is.
06:45We have a history of what happened last year
06:47here at home against them,
06:49we have the history of what happened with Graham
06:51against us at the Emirates,
06:53so a very different feeling.
06:56And one on Miquel Moreno,
06:58last week, obviously,
07:00was it a gamble to put him on as a striker?
07:03It did pay off.
07:05Would you be prepared to gamble on that for longer,
07:07i.e. start against West Ham,
07:09start with someone who isn't an out-and-out striker?
07:12Well, I think, obviously, every time you play a player,
07:15you are betting on that player.
07:17What is that bet?
07:20I'm prepared to bet a certain amount of money to earn a lot,
07:24and not to bet a lot to earn very little.
07:27And at the end, that's by putting players in positions
07:30and in roles and surrounded by players
07:33that we believe it makes sense and it can work,
07:35and they are comfortable doing it.
07:37One last one on Pekka Osaka,
07:39apparently his rehab is coming along well.
07:41A couple of months ago, you said you were going to send him away on holiday.
07:46You almost forced him to go and have a holiday
07:48because he needed a break.
07:50Did he go? Where did you tell him to go?
07:52Where did you recommend he went on holiday?
07:54Oh, that question is for him if he wants to answer that.
07:57OK, we'll go to Simon from The Standard.
07:59On Mourinho, have you trained with him as a striker this week?
08:03We trained the last few weeks with different players, to be fair.
08:08He's been one of them, but with other players as well,
08:11because it's not only how you can finish a game,
08:14how you start a game, how you change if the opponent does something different,
08:18and every three days as well we're going to need different options.
08:21Can I just ask you about Raheem Sterling?
08:24He's had some difficult performances.
08:27How is his confidence at the moment,
08:30and how much are you trying to build him for what feels like a big period for him?
08:35Into the next one, but Rash is so experienced,
08:38and like many other players, we know that what you did yesterday
08:41is not whether it was really good or not,
08:44that could be relevant to the next game, to the next action.
08:47He's fully focused, he trained really well this week, and ready to go again.
08:51Do you still feel like you can have a big impact here?
08:53Yeah, and he has to have it because we really need it.
08:56Tom, Purple London.
08:58A player comes off the bench, so there's two goals naturally,
09:00that leads to a lot of questions about whether he should start the next game,
09:03but the fact that he came off the bench in that particular game state,
09:07how heavy does that weigh on your mind,
09:09and then potentially starting a player again?
09:12What's the difference between that decision that has been made?
09:14Yeah, we believe he was right for that context, but then he made it right.
09:18And then starting a game is very different,
09:22especially against a team that obviously they have the ability to play in different ways,
09:27with very different behaviours,
09:29within different structures that they can use as well,
09:32and that's what we have prepared.
09:34And just with the Champions League games in March,
09:36is there any hope that either of the two players in Marseille
09:40could be a strong back for either leg of those games?
09:44I'm not sure, that's a question for the doctor.
09:46Both have been really well,
09:48probably Guy Martinelli is a bit ahead of Bukayo,
09:51as well for the extent of that injury,
09:53but then we'll have to see the next step in the previous weeks before that,
09:58how the boys are feeling and what we are prepared to do.
10:01James, Athletic.
10:03Hi, Mikel.
10:04We had some news this week about Takehiro Tomiyasu having a second surgery.
10:09It's an interesting situation,
10:10he obviously had a procedure at the start of the season,
10:12it's been a long time since then, he's had another one now.
10:14Can you tell us a bit about what's been going on with him
10:17and why that decision was taken?
10:19Well, he's been trying everything that he possibly could to try to avoid it,
10:25we did that as well with the department,
10:27but at some stage then he wasn't reacting as good and as rapidly as we needed to,
10:33and between all parties we decided the best thing to do
10:35was to have that surgery again.
10:37Unfortunately, it's going to keep him out for a long period again,
10:41and it's very sad because he's a player who lives for the game,
10:46he's really, really keen to play and be consistent,
10:52and when he's at his level it's an incredible place for us.
10:55Something he's spoken about is how mentally challenging
10:58this period has been for him, as well as physically.
11:01What can you do as a manager,
11:02what can the club do to support him through this process?
11:06That's what we have to try and we try to do,
11:09and we are constantly trying to do,
11:11but being a foreign person, you don't have your family here,
11:14no relatives, you are on your own and you are on the sidelines for many, many months,
11:18and especially him, his life is football,
11:22and when you understand what he does during the day,
11:25it's just preparation for the next day and being in the best possible condition,
11:29and when injuries are denying you that ability to play
11:33and fulfil the purpose that you have in your career,
11:37it's very, very tough.
11:39He knows, hopefully, that we are all here,
11:41we've all been trying to help him,
11:43but it's tough and he needs to go through that and a lot of moments,
11:47because that is a very lonely process.
11:50OK, last couple in the live section.
11:52Hi.
11:53Hi.
11:54Just talking about the mental and self-belief,
11:57obviously losing Kai was another big blow you had to deal with this season.
12:01Do you sense that the players have recovered from that
12:04and they're regaining the sense of accountability
12:06that they actually believe they can go and do it?
12:08Yeah, it's just, I don't know, recover or flick the switch
12:11and see, OK, what is the opportunity now to do something, again, different,
12:16special for him, for the teammates,
12:19for all the effort that we have put in for so long again
12:22and everything that happened,
12:24and then it's been very re-energising as well to say,
12:27OK, let's see if we can do that together again
12:30and whatever gaps we have or hold within the team,
12:34we're going to fill them in a different way,
12:36with different players in different ways.
12:38Obviously you've gone up against City the last couple of years,
12:40but the fact that Liverpool are out there in front at the moment,
12:43does it feel any different this year to the last two years?
12:48No, well, we've been in different situations,
12:50sometimes we've been leading, sometimes at this stage we're a bit behind
12:53and then we took the lead.
12:55Every year feels a little bit different,
12:58but the ambition, the hope, the willingness, the energy is always there
13:02because the prize is so big.
13:04I'm asking from the point of view that,
13:06if you talk to players about maybe reminding them
13:08that they're not up against a machine,
13:10City have gone and done it year after year, 90-plus points,
13:13they're all obviously a very good side,
13:15but we don't know if they can do that.
13:18Yeah, we don't know.
13:20What you're saying is basically because they've done it for six, seven years, Man City,
13:24it is different, but to be fair they've been very consistent,
13:27with the exception of what they've been doing.
13:29But it's a long journey for everybody and we have to be there.
13:35Do you think that he's struggling with it?
13:41Hopefully not, because we try to give him as much as possible,
13:44but that's a question for him.
13:46We are all behind him, we want the best for him
13:49and it's going to be really important and we need his best.
13:53We need the players only with that mindset,
13:56and we need to be here to impact the team.
13:58In terms of what you've seen today,
14:00he seems pretty happy with himself.
14:03Yeah, I don't see anything in there.
14:05He's a player that is so experienced
14:07and he knows about the next action, the next action and the next action.
14:10Apart from that, there is nothing else to live
14:13and he's doing everything that he possibly can to make it work.