Mikel Arteta on Arsenal's transfer window and trying to overturn Newcastle's 2-0 semi final lead
04/02/2025
Sobha Realty training centre, Hertfordshire, UK
04/02/2025
Sobha Realty training centre, Hertfordshire, UK
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00:00Good afternoon, everyone. Hope everyone's well. As usual, we'll kick off the live section
00:23and then we'll go into a 10.30 tonight, if we're all good at the back. All ready in the
00:27front, we'll kick off with Gael from Sky.
00:30Can we just do a little bit of team news? Did everyone come to OK? Can you give us a
00:40little update as well when we might see Ben White back in the squad and also Saka around
00:47when he might be available too?
00:49No news from the game against City and Ben is still out, hopefully after the break he
00:57will be available.
00:58And Saka?
00:59No, not yet.
01:00I know not yet, but you said mid-March?
01:03I don't know.
01:04Before we sat here on Friday, you talked about these big games meaning more than just the
01:14points. The boost, the emotion, the sense of momentum. As you arrived at training ahead
01:21of this game, how different is the feeling around the players and how much can you tap
01:26into that before you go ahead?
01:28Next stop is a final in Wembley, so we know how big that is and you can feel it. You can
01:33feel it straight away. The boost that the game gave us winning against City, the manner
01:38that we did it and the fact that it is a game that is the closest competition we are in
01:43to a final, so we are going to give it a real go.
01:46Were you close? And the work that you have done over the last few weeks, how much will
02:05that help going into the summer knowing exactly who you want?
02:13We had a clear intention, which is always there is a window open to explore the opportunities
02:18to improve our squad with players that can impact it. We haven't achieved it, so we are
02:24disappointed in that sense, but as well we are very aware that we only want to bring
02:30certain kind of players. We have to be very disciplined with that as well and I think
02:35that we were.
02:37Hi Mikel, how are you?
02:40Hi, hello.
02:41After having beaten Newcastle for the last four or five games, becoming a bit of a bogey
02:47team for you. Can you just talk about when you come up against a team you haven't beaten
02:51for a while and as a player did you ever have a bogey team?
02:56I didn't know that word, but it is another one. They are a very difficult team to play
03:02against. They have been different games. We beat them at home last year in a good way.
03:07Obviously this season has been different with two very different games as well I think.
03:13Another opportunity ahead of us, a big one that can take us to Wembley, so really looking
03:18forward to it.
03:19Did you ever have a team as a player you could never beat?
03:23Barcelona, never beat them. That was one.
03:28I was amazed by this, Arsenal haven't won the League Cup since 1993, they've only ever
03:35won it twice. Does that amaze you that this trophy Arsenal have got a great record?
03:41Yes, because with the domestic cup we have an unbelievable record. Historically it's
03:46been difficult and tough, so good opportunity again to make history.
03:51Idiots like me sat here in January telling you, you need a striker, you need a striker,
03:56but you score five against City, you've won your last four games scoring 11 goals in the
04:01process. You must be confident you can go to Newcastle and score the number of goals
04:08you need?
04:09Yes, there are two separate things. One obviously I think we talk very openly from my side of
04:14the club perspective about the intention to improve the squad if we have the capacity
04:18to do it and most importantly to keep improving the team, to keep improving the individuals
04:23within the team because it's the ones that we have and we love. That's it and from now
04:28there's no discussion about it and we focus on the things that we have continued to do
04:33even though the window was open.
04:35The players get nervous in the semi-final, does the manager get nervous in the semi-final?
04:41I don't know if that's the word, excited for sure. Willing, hungry, enthusiastic because
04:47we are very close to play a final and hopefully we can achieve it tomorrow.
04:54There's been lots of talk about strikers but obviously when you've got players contributing
04:57goals from all over the pitch that really, really does help. Miles Luis Kelly was great
05:01at the weekend, not just in his goal, not just in the celebration but overall. Could
05:06you just expand a little bit on how his right has gone down in the dressing room because
05:10William Saliba told us after the game that he's not surprised anymore by how well he's
05:15played?
05:16Probably the players are the best to express how they feel about them. In this particular
05:21case with Miles because they are sitting next to each other, they share the pitch which
05:25is the most important thing. It's how they feel about these young players when they come
05:30in. Do they trust them? Do they feel that they are stronger with them? That's the feeling
05:35that I get as well. We give them the opportunity because for me they are ready in our eyes
05:41but in the team's feeling as well they feel that they can be better with them.
05:49As a manager do you feel personally responsible for their development and making sure that
05:54that pathway is there for them and does that come into your thinking when you do go into
05:58the transfer market?
05:59Very much but with every player regardless of the age. Obviously the age has a different
06:04component especially when they are not even 18 years old and we have other cases as well
06:09in the team. As parents I imagine that they rely on us in educating them, in transmitting
06:17the right values to them, in looking after them, protecting them emotionally especially
06:21and physically. It's our responsibility but thankfully we share it with quite a lot of
06:28people and I think they are in good hands.
06:31After the first leg you said it was only half-time and there's been a big gap because it's been
06:37a very long half-time since that last game. A lot has happened since then as well including
06:41this huge win at the weekend. Does a win of such size give those players extra moments
06:46that you can turn around the deficit that you have to?
06:49Yeah, probably when you compare the emotional state of the team straight after the defeat
06:53and the manner that it happened and how we are today is very different because we come
06:58from very strong performances, some great wins and especially the last one at home against
07:03Man City. So it is momentum and after that game as well we have a break so it's a moment
07:09to go full gas, ready to go for it and try to approach it in the way that we believe
07:15is the best way to win that final.
07:18After the game at City I asked you whether you hoped Monday would be a good day. Obviously
07:23it maybe didn't go the way that we and you and the fans perhaps wanted. Have you been
07:28in any way frustrated that it wasn't able to go and bring in the reinforcements that
07:33you were very vocal about this week?
07:37No, because when you try your best and you do things with the right process and you see
07:46the people that we all share the same intentions and wills and after you don't achieve it,
07:51it's ok. For sure there are things to learn from it, there always are, but you have to
07:56move on and that's a piece that was important in the moment and now we have to move on and
08:03nobody knows whether it is better to have done it or not. We'll know probably at the
08:07end of the season.
08:10You talk about being disciplined now in terms of the window. Does that give you hope that
08:14in the summer you've got more room to get what you really want to do by not doing anything
08:19and waiting for who you really want?
08:22I don't know, what I mean about that is in everything, in the kind of profile, in the
08:28kind of play that we believe can really make us much better financially. There is in a
08:34lot of ways, a lot of things that we must stay in the lane that has taken us this far
08:41and from there try to improve.
08:43You touched on it before, you spoke a bit about Ethan's long-term, you saw him maybe
08:48playing as a number nine. I just wonder given the situation now in terms of options there,
08:52are you now kind of accelerating that and thinking maybe in these four or five months
08:55you might have to play him as a striker, is that something you're considering?
08:58We're going to have to be very flexible in the front line and now the ones that we have
09:02and are fit, make sure that they stay fit and they keep contributing. Leo can play in
09:06that position, Raheem has played in that position, Ethan I think can play in that position,
09:12Martinelli can play there. Let's see in relation to how everybody is, moment, opponent,
09:18but at some point I think we're going to have to try something different.
09:23You touched on the break that's coming up after the Newcastle game. Is the Dubai trip
09:28something that's coming up? Can you confirm that?
09:32I think it's coming, yes.
09:34Obviously last year wasn't the first time you went there, you went a few years before
09:40as well. I was wondering, do you keep it similar every time you go or do you change
09:45up how you do all the non-football stuff to keep people fresh?
09:50There's a lot of things that will be very similar. Location, where we are staying, what
09:55we trained, but then obviously we have to modify it. We're going to be in a different
09:59moment of the season, different numbers, probably the team needs other stimulus, other things,
10:05so we are preparing a few things. Hopefully it will work like it has worked in the last
10:09few times.
10:11Just on Ethan, he's getting close to a record that was set by Michael Owen and Wayne Lee
10:15for goals scored before 10 and 18. I was just wondering, with records, are those things
10:20you kind of encourage your players about? I remember you talking about Saka and legacy
10:26was a word you mentioned in relation to him. Would that be something you encourage going
10:32for records and stuff like that?
10:35No, I wasn't aware of that record. The only thing I want with him is that he continues
10:41to do what he's doing and play with that freedom, with that tenacity when he's on the pitch
10:48and with that confidence because he's got the ability to make it happen and whether
10:52he does that or not, it will be a matter of time.
10:56Can you just break it down for us? Was it a case that the right player simply wasn't
11:04available this month?
11:08I wouldn't like to go into too much detail. We couldn't do it for certain reasons and
11:14we have to accept it, that's it.
11:17Can you give me one of those reasons? What were those reasons? Was it money? Was it not
11:22the right thing?
11:23It's a combination of things.
11:25You've done so much in your five years here to change the culture in the dressing room
11:30and it's so positive here now. Is part of it that you don't want to gamble on a character
11:35you're not sure of? Was part of that thinking that you want to make sure you wait for the
11:40right person?
11:41No, that wasn't part of the process. That wasn't an issue with any player that we were
11:49trying to find.
11:51I was watching an interview that you gave with Sky last week and you talked about the
11:55size of the squad being very short last summer. You said you had 19 outfield players, three
11:59of them were coming back from serious injury. You kind of knew then there was a bit of a
12:02risk. Given that, how much of a gamble is it do you feel not to add numbers in this
12:09window?
12:10It's not a gamble, it's reality. I think we have to face the reality as well that we have.
12:14We have the players that we have, some of them are on loan. We never had a squad of
12:1835, 40, 45 players. So many other clubs have 45 players on their list. We don't have that
12:24size at the moment. It's our reality. We have to do so much in the last few years. That's
12:29where we are. We're going to have to evolve there as well and have more players from the
12:34academy and the ones that are here to be fitted longer. That's a job that is permanent and
12:40it keeps evolving and we need to win our toes.
12:44Will you be slightly worried until you don't have numbers to compete for the Premier League
12:53against a competing European team?
12:54No. Now I focus on the numbers that we have, how to maximise them, how to make the best
12:59out of them and listen with all the problems that we already had. We are in February and
13:05I think it's remarkable what the team has done. So I have full faith in them.
13:09Kai has had his critics but now he's the main man coming into the second half of the
13:14season. Do you think you'll thrive on that?
13:18Well I think Kai has played so many games and it's been so important when other players,
13:24some big players as well, were available. It's not because a player is not coming and
13:29his position is going to be more important. From my opinion there's nothing to do with
13:33that.
13:39I'm just going to ask you a couple of things.