Unai Emery took plenty of positives from Sunday’s win over Cardiff City - and you can find out exactly what he said right here.
The head coach fielded questions on Mesut Ozil, our strikers, Lucas Torreira and the tactic of playing the ball out from the back. Here’s a transcript:
- Read our match report from an entertaining game
- 'Friendship with Auba helps us on the pitch'
- 'I love coming back here... it's emotional'
- 'Ozil worked every minute he was on the pitch'
on Arsenal’s character…
The reaction was very important. We have done it in each match, and today it was the same. It was the same [reaction] when we needed to win [this game] after they equalised twice. I think the reaction was very good for continuing with our personality. The most important was to be calm and continue working. They found chances and options in the match to score with their attacking movements, and we need to continue to improve in our defensive movements. Also in our box, not conceding these chances to the opposition. Cardiff had strong moments but before that, I think we controlled the match. With this way, we won.
on how good the Lacazette and Aubameyang partnership can be…
They are playing in the position, they are playing minutes in each match and today they started. We are continuing working on the combination on the pitch between the players, and also keeping our mentality and our ideas. Today I think the performance of the two players, with their goals, helped us. We can continue to work to find the best individual performance and quality from each player.
on Lacazette’s performance…
I spoke with him because I knew him at Lyon. I know he has a great capacity to score when he’s in the box and when the team give him good chances. He has very good scoring data and today he showed us. It’s good for his confidence, this match and this goal, plus this victory for the team. Many important things happened today on the pitch.
on Torreira - and what he needs to do to start…
He’s improving and getting to know his teammates. For me, all the minutes he’s playing are very important for the performance. [He needs] to continue working. Every minute they are playing, they are [improving] their performances. It’s very important also for me to have another [option] in midfield. Matteo has started very well in the Premier League. Xhaka is very important for us and Elneny is working well every day. We need good players and good commitment when they are on the pitch. Lucas is like that.
on whether he’s still confident that Cech can play out from the back…
He’s progressing. He has experience and he is intelligent and he is doing what we want to do to win with our jobs and work on the pitch. It’s very important for me to continue doing this and improving. If you play every time long balls, you lose possession and momentum. We take risks in moments of the match, but when you break their pressing on the pitch you can find space for attacking the opposition. It is for that it’s clear you can maybe do one mistake like today and one action, but we need to continue with this personality. We need to continue also then to do the mix, to [play a] long ball with the space for the first action, and the second action to win possession on the pitch and then continue going forward to the opposition goal.
on conceding to a set-piece…
For us it’s also very important today for the first goal from the corner for Mustafi and I think we are creating chances from every free-kick and corner chances for us to score. And also, their strongest moments are in free-kicks, in throw-ins and long balls into our box. It’s for that we know and we are working and we want today to do better in these situations of defending moments. Morrison is very important for them in these actions and his performance is good for them, but I think we can work to improve that.
on Mesut Ozil coming back into the side…
I want to give every player the same condition and every player is very important, but with Ozil and his quality I think we need to give us his moment in the match with his quality for the team. I think today in the second half he played a good match because he worked every minute that he was on the pitch. And maybe with the control and possession in the second half and the positions on the pitch, he feels better on the pitch.
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