Having added three players to his squad this summer, Mikel Arteta feels that the improved flexibility in our squad is already paying dividends.
Sunday’s Community Shield win over Manchester City saw substitute Leandro Trossard score the all-important equaliser, before fellow replacement Fabio Vieira smacked home the winning penalty in the shootout to clinch the silverware.
And Mikel was delighted that his “finishers” made the impact he desired when he introduced them at Wembley, and hopes it inspires other members of our squad who may be disappointed not to be starting matches that they can still regularly make an impact and be the heroes of the hour when called upon.
On the intensified competition for places in his squad, he reflected: “That’s what we’ve been trying to do, increase the depth of the squad and the quality as well, and the ability to be more flexible.
“Having that ability is something that as a coach you really want. You saw that in the game [against Manchester City] and the moment we changed the game with the formation, we put some quality players on the pitch with a different freshness and a lot of creativity and all the things started to happen in the game.
“Leo scored the goal, Fabio scored the winner and those finishers are going to be really really important.”
The boss though admits that it is tricky juggling so many fantastic players with our squad, and trying to give them all enough minutes to keep them satisfied - not just in matches but in training at the moment too.
However, he has praised the mentality of our players for wanting to collectively win, whether they got on the pitch or not, especially with us fighting on four fronts to win trophies this season and everyone getting a chance.
“I think you have to treat everybody the same,” he mused. “You have to make them important and in order to do that, they have to play football matches. Football is a collective sport and only 11 players play, and then there are another 11 players most of the time that are not happy with the situation. It’s how we deal with that.
“Every three days we’ll have a game, and it’ll tell you a lot about the human being and the professional - when you are playing and when you are not, what is your actual contribution to the team? We want players that have that feeling that they are happy when the team wins, because it is a team sport.”
Discussing the difficulties of having some players at the club who may not be here by the time the transfer window closes, the boss added: “They are our players and we have to look after them in the best possible way.
“It’s true that in certain exercises you have too many players but you have to adapt. It always happens in this window and it’s part of the plan to be flexible and understanding of the situation.”
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