‘We have to maintain and improve’

Mikel Arteta was proud of the performance from his side on the final day of the season, saying the players wanted to give something back to the fans for their level of support throughout the season.

The manager said that the supporters’ attachment to the side has grown all season, and that link will be important as the team look to push on again next season.

After the 5-1 win the manager spoke to Arsenal Media, here’s what he said…

on the win…

Yes, great. I think the team tried to give back what the supporters in this stadium, the away fans are giving us all season. Which is some emotion, goals, play the way we want to play, and then yeah, we came short for a few points, and the way it happened it’s painful. 

on getting our job done…

We just said we needed to do what we had to do and I think we accomplished that, we won the game, we won the game comfortably, and today is difficult to see at least from my side, everything that we have done and with the resources that we have done it, and I need some holidays.

on earning 69 points this season…

Well with 67 points last year, Chelsea was in the Champions League. That tells you everything, that tells you where the league is going. And we have come very far, because it’s not only how many points we have made, it’s how we have made it. And the team that we had to make those points, that assessment has to be done in the right way, today is not the way to do it. We have, I have tried to squeeze that lemon as hard as I possibly could. There wasn’t one more drop and I have done it with the passion and the love I have for this football club, because these guys deserve it. Because I believe in them and because I think it’s the only way to try and compete with the teams that we have in front of us. Now we have to be more clever, quicker than them and catch some ground.

on when he’s thinking about next season…

Now, because I cannot stop now. We have a very important week to make some decisions as well and start to set the platforms for what we’re going to do in the summer. We are ready to do that and we need to start to go.

on the relationship with the fans…

Looking back how this stadium was, the atmosphere that we playing right now, the connection, how they come to the stadium, you can sense the emotion, the motivation, the support, the real attachment to the team. That’s there and that’s a great foundation and something really, really important and we have to maintain and improve that now, into the next season, and in order to do that we have to be what we are, try to represent this club and their values in the right way on and off the pitch, be honest, be clear, be transparent, explain things the way we want to do them and all together, go again.