Following our Emirates Cup win against Monaco, Mikel Arteta tackled a number of questions from the media in the Emirates Stadium press room.
He tackled queries about injuries in the squad, especially after the news Gabriel Jesus is set for a short spell on the sidelines, as well as transfer updates and how his team is gelling with the new season looming.
Here is everything he had to say:
on how useful the test was for us:
Yes, very good. Especially for a lot of players that haven't had many minutes in pre-season and as well, for the new players to play for the first time at Emirates Stadium it was special, you could feel the atmosphere and how excited the fans were. In terms of the game, we struggled a little bit to dominate completely and have the game that we want, we had much better periods in the second half.
I think we were still a bit leggy and jet legged from when we came, we trained really hard the last three days to be fair and we wanted that task for us, when we are not fresh enough to play, how can we compete. So, it was a good test for us and we're happy with the outcome.
on Gabriel Jesus’ injury:
Unfortunately, he has had a little procedure this morning, he had some discomfort in his knee that has been causing some issues and they had to go in and resolve it. It's not something major, but he's going to be out for a few weeks I think.
on how big a blow Jesus’ injury is:
Yeah, it's a big blow because we had him back to his best, especially with the way he played against Barcelona, and he was in good condition, and we've lost him. He's been feeling some discomfort in the last few weeks, we had to look at it and we had to make a decision and the best one is to protect the player and get him back as quickly as possible, so we decided to do it.
on if it’s a new injury for Jesus:
No, it's something related to the previous injury that he had and the surgery. He had some irritation in the knee and we had to get it resolved.
on our fluid tactics and system:
Yeah, there are certain rotations that we want, especially to adapt to the quality of the players that we have and make sure that they are comfortable occupying certain spaces. There were a lot of changes and you could see sometimes in the dynamic and in the timing that we were arriving that it wasn't perfect, we were allowing certain spaces especially when they had time on the ball and then we had to defend open spaces, but these are things that we will adjust.
on if he thought Declan Rice would score and his performance:
Yes, I thought so because I didn't see a defender coming so quick, so I thought he was in and he can finish when he's in those positions. He played more advanced today, he played more as an attacking midfielder today, it was the first time that he's played there. He's on the journey to get back to his best and adapt to the team.
on why Bukayo Saka didn’t feature:
He was fine, but afterwards he wasn't feeling great on the bench, and we didn't want to use him. I think he had some sickness or some illness, so we could not use him
on if Jesus’ injury changes any transfer plans with Folarin Balogun:
The plan with Flo doesn't change at all, but unfortunately, with Gabby, we not going to have him. We have other options to play with different qualities of players, so we will adapt.
on transfer links with David Raya:
You know that I'm not going to talk about any player that is not here, I'm sorry.
on Oleksandr Zinchenko’s injury:
I think he's close. I think he's going to start training with the team and hopefully we'll have him back very soon.
on Rice’s versatility:
I think he has the versatility to play different roles and it's something that we want to do, especially to maximise the qualities that we have with other players, and they have the ability to play together, and in certain games, we'll use him in other positions.
on Aaron Ramsdale’s performance:
He was really good. I think he was really composed in the game, I think he didn't have to intervene too much, I think the two actions, one was a goal that was very close range, one is the action where they have the cutback and they hit the post, and there was not much more to do. Everything he did in ball possession was really good.
on if Ramsdale is still in his plans:
Yes, it's still the same.
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