Wolves arrive in north London on Saturday for our latest Premier League clash, and as usual Mikel Arteta held his pre-match press conference at London Colney the day before.
The boss was asked about various issues including Kai Havertz's form, VAR and other potential rule changes and what he can expect from our opponents, as well as much more.
Here is everything he had to say:
on having the squad depth needed to compete in Europe and the Premier League:
Time will tell. We have another big one to play against Wolves, a very difficult team to play against. They have shown against the top teams what they are capable of. Our preparation has been focussed on understanding what we have to do to win the game.
on Kai Havertz’s confidence growing and what we’ve been doing with him:
First of all support him, like with any other player, and give him the tools and the time to show his qualities. I think that’s what he’s doing. Everything is starting to come together. A lot of the things he was doing right, he’s continued to do and now obviously in front of goal, he’s being very efficient.
on wanting to keep our key players at the club:
Yes, that’s what we’ve been doing in the past few years. Apart from strengthening the squad as well, rewards and having stability in the squad. Those decisions are very important obviously.
on Gary O’Neil’s comments about decisions that have gone against Wolves:
I have sympathy with all my colleagues because I know how beautiful but at the same time how challenging our job is. The exposure that we have and those moments in front of the cameras are not easy ones, and you see that in many, many situations this season, and last season, and we are here to make the game better, and our clubs better, and we all need to win to do that.
on trials for sin bins in football:
I don’t know, but I said it has to be tried. It’s a long shot still and we’ll see what we get from that.
on if there are fresh injury concerns:
No, I don’t think we are going to get anybody back still, and we didn’t have any incidents, so all good.
on if we’re approaching our peak performance or there are more levels:
I think there is more levels to come. I hope so, and we have to continue to do a lot of the things we are doing well in games to earn the right to win, but I think we can still improve and be more consistent.
on the chance to be four points clear on Saturday night:
We can control what we can do. I’ve learnt that ‘ifs’ in this league are not a very positive thing to have in mind. We are very hungry to play in front of our crowd tomorrow and win the game. That’s what we are going to try to do.
on what to expect from Wolves:
They have a lot of quality. It’s not a coincidence, what they are doing. They perform really well, especially against the top sides. That speaks highly about the quality of the coaching staff - what Gary is doing, the way they prepare and control opponents, especially when they play at home. We’re going to have to try to break them down tomorrow.
on how to approach matches against teams that set up defensively:
Giving players tools, ideas and understanding what we have to do with the game we have to play. As I mentioned before, it’s about the efficiency in the last part of the park that dictates the outcome of the game. The other night, we were very efficient in that.
on managing the challenge of three games in a week:
That’s the beauty of it. We wanted to be in that position. We are playing in big games every three days and the squad is ready. The players are hungry to play every single game. They are disappointed when we have to rest them to manage minutes. That’s a really good sign.
on VAR controversy:
I have enough in my garden.
on how the organisation of contracts helps us plan for performances on the pitch:
It does [help], because those players have deserved the new deals with the performances and the way they’ve behaved. It also gives us stability as well – they are at a brilliant age as well and there is still much more to come from them, and that was the initial plan. But it’s something that they have earned, it has made the squad much stronger and credit as well to Edu, the board and everybody that planned those sequences as well, to get them at the right time to compete evolving the squad in the right way.
on how that infrastructure leads to fighting for trophies:
For sure, without top players, without a top quality squad in this league and the demands that we have, it’s impossible to do it and that’s what we’re trying to build and evolve, and be better and more precise with what we need to make a big impact with those decisions.
on if he has talked to other coaches about VAR:
Yeah, it’s a topic that comes up for sure. We talk about many things but that’s one of those for sure. At the end, it has a huge impact on the result and our job depends on that.
on what they talk about:
Very positive [things].
on if fans should hope for similar fluidity in the attack this weekend:
It will be different, it won’t be the same, and we cannot expect the same. This team is going to be different to last season and hopefully very different to next season, and that’s part of the evolution by leaving some things in the past to [make way for] the new things, it’s a transition. We want to still be competitive and win matches and I think the team is competing really well.
on if there has been a difference in Kai’s mood lately:
Not really. He’s been very positive and he’s been so influential in a good way to his teammates and the team, but obviously his confidence grows. He’s really looking forward to something. When you feel loved, when you feel respected and when you feel admired, things are much easier. Your energy is better, your body language is better and I think that’s the way he’s felt in the last few days.
on if he has a shy character:
He’s very respectful you know. He’s not someone that wants to be there in the frontline or at least he doesn’t show it in that way, but then if you ask him to go to war, he will be the first one down there but he doesn’t want to take that credit and I think he deserved that credit on the day.
on if Tomiyasu can be more of an attacking outlet going forward:
I think so but the priority for defenders is to defend and to defend well. Anything that they can add on top of that is excellent and we are looking to develop but especially in the defensive phase the behaviour and consistency we are showing is what we need to maintain, that’s for sure.
on the midfield trio of Havertz, Odegaard and Rice:
Well I think time will help and the more minutes that they play together the chemistry will get better and better as well, but we have many options with different qualities. We played as well with two players, not as offensive as the three that we are talking about right now, and it depends as well on the opponent, game state and what we are trying to do.
on if football should improve or remove VAR:
I think we can improve and we are trying to do. All the things that are happening are probably necessary to improve it and we have to take it that way. It’s been a big change, technology is taking a huge responsibility in games and it needs time. If we use it the right way and are listening to people, we are open and we are humble and we are trying to be constructive, I think we will get to a really really good place.
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