Mikel Arteta had lots to smile about after we ran out convincing winners against Burnley on Saturday.
We followed up last weekend’s record-breaking win at West Ham with a thumping 5-0 win at Turf Moor, and afterwards in his post-match press conference the manager was asked about the win, Martin Odegaard’s form, killing games early, Bukayo Saka’s goals and facing Porto on Wednesday.
Here’s a full transcript…
On today's impressive victory...
Yeah, really happy obviously with the performance and the result, with the individual and collective as well. The contribution of every single player has been very, very good and the fact that the team looked like it wanted more. They weren’t satisfied, they wanted to score more and didn’t want to concede a goal, so I’m really pleased to see that consistency.
On whether our domination is pleasing the boss more than our goals...
Yes, obviously we want to dominate the game and play in the opponents’ half as much as possible. I think the threat, the purpose, the activity and the connections of the players at the moment is flowing and they really want it. We have momentum now and we have to maintain it. Now we leave the Premier League and go to Porto, we know it’s going to be a really tough environment and game to play again, and we just need to prepare well to go again and be ourselves.
On Martin Odegaard's impact in a different role...
I think confidence-wise he’s in a really good moment, and physically as well with the way he applies himself; defending, attacking, the connection, the movement that he gave us on the right-hand side, it’s really good. He’s hitting form.
On how important it is to kill games off early...
We are showing a high efficiency at the moment in front of goal, and you see especially the purpose, the way we’re playing at. We always want to play forward and be a threat, and the players up front, they feel really connected at the moment. That’s a different story because it gives us much more tranquillity, especially to finish the games off.
On if we can switch off when we control games so well..
We cannot think about that, we have to think about playing with an energy, with an enthusiasm and an aggression in every game. There’s still so far [to go] – the only thing is to maintain this momentum, to earn the right to win games and the focus is there. What is coming afterwards, we’ll see.
On working with Bukayo Saka on his finishing...
We tried with our players to make them unpredictable and I’m sure the opponents are looking at us a lot, and we have to find ways to create them problems. He’s got this ability and he trains a lot in many different situations in and around the box, and today he had two brilliant finishes again.
On whether recent speculation motivated Saka…
I have no clue, that’s a question for him, but I don’t think Bukayo needs much more motivation.
On Saka's maturity at such a young age...
We already see him (as a senior player) especially forward players, wingers with a level of consistency and numbers (he has) is something really strange to find, but it’s not a coincidence, that’s for sure. When you look at him every single day, the way he trains, the way he applies himself, the qualities that he has, and he can do more.
On if Martin Odegaard's goal celebration was down to remarks regarding our celebrations the other week...
I don’t know, I didn’t notice that he made that gesture. But he was really happy in the dressing room. The way he played again today, he was exceptional. I don’t think he needs to send any message, he needs to be himself. He needs to do what he thinks, and if he thinks to do something, do it and deal with the consequences, because some people are going to like it, and some people won’t, but we really like him.
On how hungry we are this season...
We want more and we know how important the goal difference is to be up there. Every player, whether he plays one minute or 30 minutes, the contribution they are willing to give to the team is really positive, so let’s keep doing it.
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