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Alright, every word from Arteta's pre -Port Vale
presser. Our Carabao Cup journey begins against
Port Vale in the third round, and Mikel Arteta
has been facing the press before our trip to
Vale Park. During his press conference at the
Sober Realty Training Center, Mikel spoke about
his desire to win the competition after we reached
the semifinals in 2024 -25, as well as providing
an injury update on his squad. On Noni Madweke's
injury, yes, it looks like he's going to be out
for a few weeks. We don't know yet. We're probably
going to have a scan next week again. He felt
something at the beginning of the match. He tried
to carry on, and at halftime, he was too sore.
So let's see. Well, you know, I want to hold
my hands up and say that I didn't believe that
Madweke was injured. I thought it was a tactical
decision. But in a very timely manner, we have
a lot of options on the right flank now, especially
for tomorrow. But personally, I think he'll opt
with Bukayo Saka, considering he's missed quite
a big chunk of the last few weeks in terms of
matches. and the England fixture. What I think
will happen is he will play a half -stroke 60
minutes, and then I think someone like a Max
Dallman will feature. Yeah, I'm sure a lot of
you are thinking Ethan Wanyeri. I'm sure, almost
certain, that Ethan Wanyeri will feature, if
not start. but it may not necessarily be off
that right flank. On if it's weeks rather than
months, we hope so. As I said, we need to scan
him again to see the real extent of the injury,
but it doesn't look too bad. Well, I mean, earlier
on I heard two months, but you know the kind
of thing with wording, the thing with words and
technicality is that weeks could be months. So
it could be five weeks. That's a month. Do you
get what I'm saying? It could be 10 weeks, a
couple months. So that's a very cheeky way of
wording things. On how disappointing it is for
him. He was gutted, obviously. Very disappointing
to see because he was in such a good state. He
looks like a real threat. He was getting some
consistency, some flow into the team, and he
looked like a real threat. So it's a big miss
for us. Yeah, it's a crazy shame because he was
in his momentum. He was getting into his rhythm.
He was a real threat, as Arteta rightly said.
You know, it's an opportunity for someone else.
Someone like Ethan Waniere now to take his opportunity
that he's been waiting patiently for and to make
sure he performs so that when people like Odegaard
and Maduike come back into the side or back to
fitness and form, he's consolidated his position
in the team. And I believe he can do that. Piero
Hincapia's injury. Oh no, I didn't know about
that. He picked up a little groin injury. We'll
have to assess him. But, yeah, that's obviously
ruled out hincapié for tomorrow. Bro, let me
get some water, mate. Trust me, dog. Can't even
breathe, let alone talk, bro. What's all this?
What is all this, mate? I'm doing a recording,
mate. I'm so unprofessional, mate. You know what
I mean? Damn. Can't breathe. Gonna have to edit
all that crap out. On if there's a time frame
on it. No, I think it will be a short time. Yeah,
once again, Hinkapie is out for tomorrow. On
Kai Havertz's injury. With Kai, we know it will
be months with him. I don't know if it can be
weeks. You never know because this is Kai and
he's a different specimen. We really miss him.
Hopefully he will be back. And back for the long
term as well. So it is very important to look
after that knee. So far, he's progressing pretty
well. Okay, my view is it'll be interesting to
see who comes back first, actually, between Kai
Havertz and Gabriel Jesus, the forgotten man
at the club. With regards to Jesus, I did allude
a couple press conference analysis ago that I
thought he would be back around October. Definitely
not. I think November at the earliest because
we're effectively in October. We're days away
from October. But with regards to Kai, I think
it will be a similar kind of time frame. Probably
looking at the end of the year as well. November,
December time. On if the injuries are just down
to bad luck. We looked at everything. The one
with Noni is bad luck. It's a very unfortunate
incident. With Kai... Something similar. With
Ben White, it was similar. With Odegaard, same
as all the guys that have been out. Very similar.
Because he damaged his shoulder twice during
the same action on the floor. Which is very unlikely
to happen. With Bukayo, it was more of a muscular
injury with the hamstring. Maybe something to
look at more in depth. And we absolutely did
that. We try to keep it as low as possible. That's
what we are trying to do. Well, I've spoken to
a number of fans in recent weeks and some of
them, no names, have blamed Arteta's training
regime for a spate of injuries that we've had,
which the manager has worded as very unfortunate
injuries. So basically bad luck. Well, I'm not
at the training session. I mean, I know the training
ground inside out because of whatever, but I've
never actually been privy to seeing the players
train. at the sober royalty but there might be
something in that but I can't really comment
because I've never been present on being able
to give minutes to different players in the Carabao
Cup tomorrow yes it's a lot of players that are
going to take part in that and they fully deserve
the minutes Kepa for sure is one of them he's
been with us his attitude the way he supports
us in every aspect of his role is the best possible
manner All this as well. They deserve more minutes
than what they're getting. Yay! We have one of
the squad members in the lineup. So, yeah, so
Kepa will be starting in goal. So it's a question
of predicting the other 10. But, I mean, yeah,
we knew Kepa was going to be in goal. I think
a quick one. Well, it'll be difficult now because
of a few injuries. But just assuming that these
players are fit, I think it'll be Kepa, White,
Mosquera, Saliba, Lewis Skelly, and then Norgard
if fit. Then Wanyeri, Marino. On the right, he
may go down. No, I think Saka, Trossard, Martinelli.
That's my predicted 11 for tomorrow. On if he's
surprised by the reaction to our approach against
Man City. In football, surprised? I'm not surprised
about anything, no. Because I don't read the
reaction, lads. But I do get told a little bit
what the narrative is around it. Yeah, because
you can't escape it. If you tell me that this
is the main one, If I'm surprised, I will be
extremely surprised. With my knowledge and my
know -how and how I analyse a football game,
it was impossible for anybody to predict such
a dominance from Arsenal throughout 96 minutes
because it never happened in 17 years of Pep
Guardiola as a manager. So if the narrative goes
somewhere else and we talk about dominance, about
something else, how you can be dominant against
such a team if you have a handbrake. Dominance
and handbrake are two different words, but I
accept everything. I will learn more to have
a different vision. You know, I would like to
battle Mikel Arteta in an analysis this off.
analysis of like we'll see who the bigger analysis
is me or my car tell no but all jokes aside yeah
it's all well and good saying you dominated Pep
Guardiola for 90 minutes or whatever but two
things with that Pep Guardiola is evolving, so
he's not that same Pep Guardiola that we imagine
from maybe five years ago, 10, 15 years ago,
where he created some of the best sides in football
history. That's one. And two, in football, as
Arsenal fans would know more than most, or if
not anyone, nobody remembers second place. Nobody
remembers the team that doesn't win. History
only remembers... The winners write history.
So to say that, yeah, we dominated Pep Guardiola
or we used to dominate Man United back in the
day when they won leagues. But, you know, Ferguson
was playing counter -attack with Ronaldo and
Rooney and but would lose and things like that.
No one remembers all that. So at the end of the
day, that's a hard luck story. It's just about
winning. To summarize that waffle, history only
remembers the winners. And why Myles Lewis Skelly
hasn't played as much. this season so far yes
and sometimes performances of other players as
well you can be at a really good level but somebody
can be at a different level or it's just that
I have the perception at the moment that it's
better to play or start somebody else in the
team it doesn't mean Myles has done something
wrong at all completely the opposite so when
he has the chance he has to try to show the level
that he's at elevate it and make the decision
even harder I like the way Mikel Arteta is trying
to avoid saying Riccardo Calfluori name when
he says a different player, the performances
of other players and things like that, as if
it's code. I mean, yeah, no, but all jokes aside,
Riccardo Calafiori has been exceptional this
season and warrants his position in the team
based on his performances. So when Myles, yeah,
I agree with everything Arteta said, apart from
not naming Calafiori, who we all know he's referring
to. So when Myles does get the opportunity, he
has to take it and then make it a real battle.
for that left flank position, left back position,
which, you know, they're two top exceptional
players, and it would be a phenomenal battle
if Myles can really grow and keep improving,
and I expect him to play tomorrow, start tomorrow,
and have a fantastic performance. On if it's
a fluid situation regarding where Myles can play,
yes, fluid, especially because if you look at
the amount of time that Myles defends and attacks
in certain spaces, he's much more a midfielder
than a fullback. But there are moments that he
needs to be in that position. He can absolutely
do it. He's shown it. He's shown that and done
it at the highest level in the Champions League.
So there's no question about that. Yeah, I think
it goes over a lot of people's head how strong
that boy is. Like, put it this way. Myles Lewis
Skelly is in the top five strongest players in
the Arsenal team. And the boys, I'm pretty sure
he just turned 19 last month or this month. I'm
pretty sure. But yeah, he is a real physical
specimen, you know? Fast, strong, athletic, fast
twitch fibers. But on top of all of that, he's
technically superb. Like, I'm a big Miles Lewis
Skelly fan. I like his mentality, his personality,
his hunger, his desire, his lion mentality. But...
All that encompassed, for me, Riccardo Califiori
warrants his place in that starting XI as we
speak in this moment in time. So it's up to Miles
to take that opportunity with both hands. On
when Martin Odegaard might be back and if he
needs surgery. No surgery, he's totally fine.
He's already been training and it will be a matter
of days, I think. Okay, that's interesting. So
that... Like I said earlier, I go by wording.
So if it's a matter of days with an S, that's
a plural, that puts him out of tomorrow, but
puts him on contention for Newcastle. Interesting.
On how to find the balance of getting maxed out
in minutes while being around the first team
squad. Well, learning from him probably. First
of all, preparing and having a very good understanding
of his new situation and all the things that
are different in his life. So we need to change
his times. We need to change his education, probably
his allocation and where he is with his family.
His diet is different. His sleep patterns become
different. The training load is different. The
amount of information pressure. and exposure
is different so we have to manage a lot of factors
into that a lot of factors you add a lot of minutes
with very different teams as well we need to
be cautious and that's what we are trying to
do in the best possible way to find that balance
to keep max as connected as possible with the
first team because he's undoubtedly a player
that we can help with and join the first team
But that's why we need the right mixture of minutes
like he did the other day with the under -23s
and with England. To have that exposure when
he needs to play with us, he's ready to do that.
Okay, that was a very wordy paragraph. But from
what I'm gauging from that, Max isn't going to
start tomorrow. But hopefully, fingers crossed,
he gets... onto the pitch at some point, get
some minutes. We have to remember that Max is
a young boy, a child, you know, one of exceptional
ability. I've never seen anything like that.
But we have to remember he is a child. He's a
little boy. He's just gone into year 11, due
to be 16 in a couple of months. So we have to
take care of him. His welfare comes first, you
know. I've never even heard Max speak, to be
honest, but he just seems he's got that footballers,
that new school footballers mentality where you've
got that poker face. You don't show nothing.
You know, you're just focused, job at hand, you
know, kind of unassuming. And I love that about
him. So obviously the Halen kind of, you know,
school of thought is really thriving right now.
I know Halen quite well, actually, because. yeah
but yeah max darman needs to be looked after
but yeah i did say actually in some of the interviews
i did on the weekend that i would like to see
max darman featuring 20 fixtures across the season
so i think he's currently on about three or four
so hopefully he gets another one tomorrow on
how all the players react to getting nutmegged
by him at the beginning they responded immediately
kick him that was the first one and max to be
fair he was excellent stood up and got to the
next one. You can really take it personally of
someone who was 14 last year at some point when
he was doing certain things to players and now
everybody loves him. You just want to hug him,
help him. He's such a nice boy as well and he's
very much liked by everybody here. It brings
responsibility to look after someone with that
talent and make sure we just do. What we have
to do to make sure we're given the best chance
to exploit his talent, that's all. Yeah, I mean,
I've noticed that I've seen obviously a number
of kind of, I don't want to say cliques because
that's got negative connotations, but I've seen
a number of groups within the Arsenal squad.
So you've obviously got, you've got the, you've
got players that can kind of flit in within the
different, let's just use the word cliques. So,
and I think that guy is Declan Rice where he
can go with the... you know the british lads
or the black british lads or the hey lemboys
in ethan and miles then you've got the spanish
contingent with marino raya zubamendi then obviously
and then probably you've got someone like mascara
that will go there and then obviously you've
got saliba and gabriel who seem quite close i
think jokeres is an interesting one it looks
like he's kind of mates with trossard who's close
with Declan Rice, but as I said, Declan Rice
flits into all of those groups. With Bakayo,
so obviously you've got Kai Havertz and Odegaard
who are close. I think Bakayo, similar to Declan
Rice, is kind of very fluid in the kind of groups
he mixes with, but yeah, it's a very interesting
one. And yeah, so Max Dahlman, I've noticed,
Lewis Skelly and Ethan kind of have taken to
him. Yeah, and Declan Rice too. We will do that
gradually because he's been out for a while,
but I like what I saw the other day when he came
on. Yeah, I mean, like I was saying earlier,
I would like to see Bakayo Saka get on the pitch.
I know a lot of you Arsenal fans will be like,
nah, don't let him play. You know, it's Port
Vale, he might get injured. But I think match
fitness will do him the world of good ahead of
the cauldron that is St. James' Park, a place
that we do awfully at. I think Newcastle are,
if not the only team... to have a favourable
record against us in the last five, six, seven,
eight fixtures as they've won five of eight,
which is amazing. I think Liverpool got a kind
of similar kind of, you know, similar kind of
record with us over that kind of spate of matches.
But other than that, I think we have a favourable
record against. pretty much everyone else in
the league. So it's a tough game coming up ahead.
So we need everyone firing on all cylinders.
And if we're looking to use Gabriel Martinelli
on the right after his goal against City, he
can, he won't. And a lot of the runs that he
makes sometimes as well are from a central position
in relation to what phase of play we are playing
and what his starting position is. And actually
his impact has been really good for the team.
Yeah, Gabriel Martinelli on the right? Nah, not
for me. I mean, to do a job, When there's injuries,
but we've got options there now, like I alluded
to earlier with Ethan Wanyeri and Max, young
Max. So we don't need to be fiddling around with
that kind of stuff. I don't want to see Trossard
or Martinelli on the right wing. I think Martinelli,
centre forward, coming on as a sub, stretching
the play, running, you know, I think that's his
role. I would like to see him start tomorrow,
albeit on the left flank, and I would like to
see Trossard start up top. And if he's frustrated
by the narrative of us not taking the handbrake
off, no. I was just surprised because when I
saw everything and watching it back and all the
stats, I was surprised. But I respect everybody's
opinion. And if I can see and learn something
that I haven't seen, I'm more than happy to do
so. So that's never an issue. I don't think that
one player makes that. When you see the behaviour
of our team, if you're going to define that with
one player playing one position, I understand
the collective sport in a completely different
way. Then we played Ebbs on the right -hand side.
Could he play 90 minutes? That's a question I
put to myself because none of you know the load
that he can do. So it's easy to say he could
have played from the start. Maybe not because
he already played two games from the start and
he's never played as a right attacking midfielder.
So that's another one, a new element for him,
but that's all good. Okay, two things with that.
One, I believe... You have to, in that kind of
competitive sport, I believe you have to always
believe in your source. Otherwise, there's no
point in being involved with it. It's like me.
I've got to believe that my channel can grow.
Otherwise, what's the point? So that's one thing.
And secondly, yeah, obviously, Mikel, we're not
privy to this information. So we're all assuming.
We can only assume and give our opinions because
you're not going to tell us. We're not there.
So for us to assume that Ebbs could have started,
well, what else could we do? One love.