Press conference

Every word from Mikel's post-Wolves presser

Mikel Arteta post-wolves

Mikel Arteta addressed the media for the final team this season, fresh from overseeing a 5-0 win over Wolves.

The win consolidated our second position with our second best points tally of 84, and the highest scoring season (88) of the Premier League era.

After the game the boss was asked about the win, the supporters’ reception for Granit Xhaka, his plans for the summer and player recruitment.

Here’s a full transcript of what he said. 

 

On being emotional in the address on the pitch at the end of the game…

I’m a human being, I have feelings! It was really nice the way they transmitted that love to the team, to every player and obviously towards me as well. It’s been a really emotional year, a very special season and the team deserves, and our people deserve to end it in a good way so I’m really happy.

On Granit Xhaka leaving the club…

You know that? That’s news for me.

On what the summer holds for Mikel…

I need to get away and spend a few days with my family, bring the emotions and everything down. And reflect, think and I need to visualise. And I need to feel it, what is going to be the best way with how we are going to get this group of players to a different level.  Today I cannot do that because I’m still in the moment.

On the emotional connection with the supporters….

It was one of my dreams, probably the biggest dream that I had, to connect again with the soul of this football club and our people. We have done that, there is no discussion about that. That makes me really proud and grateful to be part of that journey together. We want to deliver success, and the destination has to be trophy success and enjoyment for this club. But we have to enjoy the journey together. Especially you have to enjoy the company. I said that today because we have a special group of people in this club, an incredible group of players and amazing support. That has to be enjoyed. In the end winning can be about the margins but you cannot under estimate the rest because if we don’t do that, we are going to regret it.

On the reception Granit Xhaka received….

Well deserved. He’s had an incredible season. One year back I told him there is a question mark on you, you have to deliver more, you have to be better. He went back and trained the next day, then came back in pre-season four kilos lighter, fit and in his face you could see he was determined to do it. He’s been exceptional, a key part of the success of the team and I’m so happy that everybody is appreciating what he’s done.

On if this motivates him more for next season…

For sure, it has to give us more energy and belief. We are all together on this journey. We want to become better and be the best, in order to do that we’re going to have to improve. We know the level is going to raise again and we’re going to have to be up for it.

On making changes at full back lately…

We had to adapt. Obviously we had some important injuries. In our backline we had three players out and we had seven players in the backline this season and obviously that’s a concern. There were certain things I wanted to adapt, certain things I wanted to try because I’ve been thinking for a long time about those options. If not we are very, very exposed and I’m very happy with how they’ve done.

On how we finished the season compared to the pre-season expectations…

I don’t know, we wanted to bring the club back to the Champions League, that was the main target. That was already a big demand, especially in the summer before we did certain things and before we managed to keep some of our players, and then the journey started by day we started to have a feeling the team is moving in the right direction, the spirit, the energy is good. You start to win a game two, three, and you start to generate some belief, obviously we didn’t expect to finish where we are, the third best ever record in the history of the club in terms of points, most wins ever. It’s a lot but it’s still not enough to win it, we understand where the level is, and we really want to be the real deal, we don’t have to be happy with what we have and we have to be next season, much, much better.

On looking to get recruitment done early in the summer…

I’m really interested in understand and reflect and analysis what we have in the house, the resources we have already and how we can improve, how we maximise and take players to a different level, the ones that we haven’t got everything from, do it and the bonus will be make those decisions and improve the team. We don’t want to lose that cohesion that exists around the team and that understand, hopefully we will make the right decision.

On whether the club has good foundations now…

I think we have some great foundations, that is true, in sport you have to prove it again, you have to be back first day in pre-season, look at each other and I don’t want to see any complacency, we’re going to have to be much better and it’s going to be a challenging season but a season with plenty of opportunities and one of those opportunities is to be consistent and do it again and do it better, and this is what we have to demand to each other.

On where the season tailed off…

For sure, when we get to that stage if we are in the same position, we need everybody healthy and at his best, that’s crucial, but there are specific moments that cut certain momentum that we had, that in my opinion was crucial, and maybe it wasn’t enough, because I think we need some other game it wasn’t enough because they could’ve done 92 or 93 or 95 points, that’s the reality as well, we don’t know. Fore sure we are going to take some learnings from that experience.

On the fine margins….

As well we have won a lot games by fine margins, we have to be honest and clear with ourselves as well, this is football, in this level, in this league winning five zero, it doesn’t happen too often for all the managers.

On the changing financial landscape in the Premier League…

There are a lot of conversations around it, it’s not my expertise, but I understand what is happening, we have to understand the context, we have to look at ourselves, and within the context what is our best possibility to be where we want to be and that’s the only thing that we can control, and make sure that we are smart and do things the right way.