The Arsenal boss has spoken to the press ahead of the Gunners’ FA Cup third round clash with Liverpool at Emirates Stadium on Sunday
Mikel Arteta has spoken to the press ahead of Arsenal’s FA Cup third round clash with Liverpool at Emirates Stadium on Sunday. The Gunners go into the game off the back of consecutive losses to West Ham and Fulham, but much of the focus has been elsewhere this week.
Instead there have been question marks over what Arsenal do in the transfer market this month. There has also been discussion over the defensive situation given the injury concerns over Oleksandr Zinchenko who missed the defeat to Fulham with a calf problem.
On top of that there has been debate over reports that Arsenal made a complaint to the PGMOL about the treatment of Bukayo Saka. You can read everything Arteta had to say on all that and much more in the transcript below.
How’s Zinchenko?
He’s progressing well. We have another training session tomorrow. We’ll evaluate if he’s available to play and ready to start the game. The rest there is no news.
Why didn’t Partey go to AFCON?
It was about common sense. He had a long term injury. He was trying to push his rehab because he really wanted to be with his national team, but he’s still far from training with the team and it didn’t make sense for him to be involved.
How does Timber’s interview impact your chances of bringing in a defender?
Unfortunately that’s a very long term injury. He’s doing really well but he’s still far from being fit to train with the team. That’s something to compete with the team. We don’t expect him any time soon. It’s what we have. The situation that we have now with Tomi having to leave we’ll have to cope with that.
Will you be signing a left-back?
We are open for the transfer market but, again, the emphasis is on making the most of what we have. We will work with the club to see if we have any possibilities or good options. First of all we will focus on the players that we have.
Is it equally likely that you’ll do no business at all?
That’s a possibility
Is the Saka chat just part of the constant dialogue you have with referees?
That’s daily communication, or weekly communication about topics. But nothing specific about that one.
Is there a trend for refs to ignore early tackles in the game?
I think the refs know. They know the tactics of the opponents and that some players are more targeted and that some players invite more tackles in the way they play. But I think they’re aware of that.
So it’s not a specific request to refs to go easy?
No.
Are you surprised by the reaction it’s provoked?
I think that’s been going on for two years no? We have wingers that provoke a lot of fouls and attention. That’s something normal.
Do you want to win the FA Cup again?
A real feeling again. It was a great experience to win the first title the way we did it. There’s a big history between this competition and our club. We have a big opportunity to start again and make a beautiful journey.
How much of a miss is Salah?
Both teams are missing very important players. We knew that. We have to adapt to that and win matches.
What are your thoughts on the continuation of the No More Red campaign?
I think it’s a great initiative from the club. I think giving support and creating a safer environment with the power and capacity that we have to help people and transform certain areas of London. I think it started three years ago and it has helped a lot people already and brought a lot of attention. If we can make the streets safer around our city, especially for people who have kids, we will sleep better.
Is this an ideal tie for you or is Liverpool worse after the results you’ve had?
It’s the draw. We played two weeks ago and it was an incredible match. I hope it will be a very good match again.
Would you rather a tough opponent or an easier one?
We don’t have a choice. If you ask both teams probably in the draw we were expecting something different, but we have this incredible clash in the third round and we have to go for it.
Do you know what went wrong against West Ham and Fulham?
Yes, I do.
What went wrong?
We weren’t at the level. We weren’t good enough. I don’t think we deserved to lose the match but we weren’t good enough to win it.
Are you worried that will continue into 2024?
Hopefully not because it was a one off. I haven’t seen the team do what we did in certain periods of the matches. So hopefully not.
Does it affect confidence?
It affects momentum because we were top on Christmas and now we are fourth. You can be very tempted to look with the microscope or with the telescope and have a bit more perspective. My job, big time, is to look with the telescope and have perspective and analyse things in the broader way and not get affected by one performance. Not result, one performance.
You love the FA Cup…
It’s a great competition. It’s very attached to the club. We have won it more times than anyone else and we expect a great game and a good run.
Do you think it needs to be VAR in all games or no games in the FA Cup?
Ideally yes. I would support that idea 100% yeah.
Do you think the Emirates can ever have the same atmosphere as Anfield?
It will be our own one. We are really happy with the atmosphere that we have created at the Emirates. It has been really supportive. Can we tweak it and make it even more hostile? I think we can. That’s the next step in my opinion. We have to be so grateful for what we’re achieving in our home ground. Sunday is going to be another big one.
How do you take that next step?
I think the team has to give more. It has to transmit that bite, that aggression, that intimidation and that dominance to the opponent. Certain games this season, and Champions League games are going to create that next step. That’s my feeling.
How important was the FA Cup win in 2020 to your journey at Arsenal?
Yeah winning always gives you more credit. It attaches you emotionally towards people because winning creates a special feeling. Those moments are really important when you want to evolve relationships and have and have a certain attachment to the team and players. I think that really helps.
Do you think there was a chance you may have lost your job in the difficult months after if you hadn’t won it?
Ping *motions a coin toss*. Maybe yes, maybe no. We won it for a reason. We deserved to win it. We did it against big teams as well. Not only the FA Cup but the Community Shield later as well. We are here for a reason.
Do you ever reflect on it as being a big moment for you as a manager?
I think it helps but after a month gone by, look at now – we’ve lost two matches and look at it now. Six days ago we were top of the league which means we were the most consistent and best team in the Premier League. You have to put things into perspective.
Need to look at winter break given a replay could be in yours?
That break would be minimal [if we have a replay] and we have planned with both the scenarios obviously, because it is a possibility always in football. We want to win the game, we will try to win the game, but that (a replay) has to be considered because it is there.
Need to look at replays coming out of calendar in FA Cup given expanded CL next season?
I think so, but we will see what happens because with the new format of the Champions League as well there will be more games. So I don’t know where we are going to fit them.
Will Ramsdale play on Sunday?
We will see on Sunday. I cannot give you the line-up right now.
Partey – weeks or months for comeback?
Hopefully it is weeks. When and how many weeks is going to depend a little bit on how [long] the next step, training with the team, will take him. But he is progressing well.
How’s Fabio Vieira coming along?
He’s doing well again. It was a surgery that required two different things to get resolved. The first signs are good. Obviously it’s still a bit far from where we want him. He needs to keep working and hopefully in the next few weeks we can have him.
In the summer there were some links to Smith Rowe leaving. How close was that?
It was never part of our plans.
If he comes to you and says I need to leave to get more minutes, will you accept that?
This is a two way conversation all the time with players. I love listening to understand what they’re thinking and how they want go, because you really have to be aligned with them and how they’re feeling and they have to feel important. There’s still the biggest part of the season to play now and he will have his chances.
If a player more generally comes to you and says ‘I want to leave to get more minutes’ will you stand in their way?
It depends on the situation in the squad. I want to help the players to fulfil their feelings but as well they need to understand that they’re in a team and a squad that has been assembled and planned with them in the squad. You don’t always get what you and maybe they wanted something different six months ago – whether it was a new contract or another individual target. It doesn’t always go your way.
Is finishing an area where you have less control as a coach?
Well I think overall the execution is in every part of the field, but when it comes to those spaces, the timing and the definition of an action, [it] becomes trickier to coach and certainly to replicate an action in the game. That’s probably the hardest thing to replicate in football — the timing, the behaviour of the opponent, the distance between the ball and the feet of the opponent, the exact location of that shot, the position of the keeper, the game state — so it’s very tricky. But it’s something that we have to improve, especially recently, in the way that we have transformed those chances into goals.
Are you working on that on the training ground?
For sure. We have to. It’s our job, and the thing that puts them in the most concrete, reliable scenarios is going to help them to do it better.
Do you expect the good form in front of goal last season to return?
Well I think what they did last year is exceptional, and we knew that to maintain those numbers was going to be extremely difficult, because it was a “one-off” — and not a “one-off” for us, a one-off in the league. So we know that we need other resources and other kinds of goals to maintain the levels that we want.