Interview

'I felt energised, like vitamins through my veins'

As Mikel Arteta approaches his 100th match of his reign, he can still clearly remember some of the challenges when he took over back in December 2019.

But did the scale of the job scare him - and when was the moment when he felt things were moving in the right direction?

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"Probably yes [it was brave for this to be my first job in management], but it’s such a beautiful job, and the project and the people that are involved…it’s worth it, it’s not a risk," Arteta told Arsenal Media. 

"I think it’s a situation where you have no choice. When you have such feelings like this, and you want to become a manager - and you want to manage Arsenal - do it! And then don’t find any excuses about momentum, about this structure, and the context…just do it. There has to be a way, you have to find a way to do it, and we have to find a way to do it. 

 

|Talking personally, the moment [in my first season] when I felt energised - like vitamins through my veins - is when I saw the people around me convinced. When you look at them and they say, ‘I buy into what you’re saying, I want to do it, I’m right behind you’. When you see the players really trying. 

"It can work or not, but if they are really trying, and they are really engaged with what we are trying to do - that’s when it gives you the energy and the conviction to say, 'We’re going to get there'. I don’t know when it’s physically going to be - in two weeks, in three months - but we are going are going to get there because they are convinced. When they have that feeling, it’s going to happen."

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