Press conference

'Torreira is young... but he is doing very well'

Torreira

Aaron Ramsey, Alex Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang may get the headlines after our win at Fulham, but how good was Lucas Torreira?

The Uruguayan International was superb in midfield, and after Unai Emery reflected on his start to life in the Premier League.

This is what he said:

on how impressed he has been by Torreira's form…

He’s very young, it's his first season here at this level but he was playing in Italy which is a very hard competition also. He is playing also with his national team, against big teams. And here, I think with his process he's doing very well. The first is his humility to work every day, to listen, to learn. He is playing today in the middle, then right in the 4-4-2 and his performance is the same. I think his career is just starting and we want to do it with him, he can do it with us, giving us and giving him the best performances at the best level.

on Mesut Ozil’s back spasm…

Yesterday he came in with pain and he cannot train yesterday or play today.

on whether he’s worried that players will pick up injuries with all the travelling…

Each training also he can [do it]. For example [we had players playing today who played on Thursday] like Nacho Monreal, Holding, Iwobi and Danny Welbeck. I think with preparation they have the capacity to play a lot of matches. They are at a big level in the matches and every player wants to play. They’re preparing for that.

on the relationship between Auba and Laca…

It is one process, to know better after training, after every match, after every decision, how we are better on the pitch, between the players, in our tactical system and impose our timing on the pitch in possession with the ball. Today is the first we played more clearly 4-4-2 with Danny and Lacazette first, and then Laca with Auba. Then Aaron is like a 10 player, but he can play near the attack and he can score or do an assist like today.

on whether the international break is coming at the wrong time…

Every international break is important also for international team and for the players because they want to stay with their national team and defend the team. For us it’s also about continuing our work but with (more calmness) because we have two weeks, but my idea and focus is Leicester. Two weeks is more time to prepare for this match and rest some week like this week Saturday and Sunday, but for us it’s time for continuing our work everyday with [calmness].

on whether he was worried about returning late from the Europa League…

No, because I think our players have the habits to play a lot of matches in the week and we want it. We arrived very late but Friday we had off to rest the players and Saturday in the morning the first competition for us is speaking about the match today and we worked 24 hours very concentrated to win against Fulham in this match. For us and the players in the international break they are going to play Wednesday, Thursday and travel. Lucas I think is travelling to Asia, so it’s a very long travel, but the players are at a high level and can play like that.