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Media. Eberechi Eze and Leandro Trossard helped
us beat Portovel to reach the fourth round of
the Carabao Cup and Mikel Arteta addressed the
press after our win at Vail Park. Our number
10 opened the scoring after eight minutes before
Leo came off the bench to add a second with five
minutes to go. Here's everything Mikel said after
the match at Vail Park. On his summary of our
performance. Something that was discussed before
the game. I think what was at stake in this game
is your reputation as a club, as a team, as an
individual. And we play these type of games.
I've been here long enough to understand it's
going to be very tricky. I think we started the
game really well, very dominant, scored a goal,
have another three or four chances that we didn't
manage to score the goal. And in the second half,
we lost a little bit of grip on the game. especially
with the direct play, with all the throw -ins
to the sidelines and winning territory and then
again. And we lacked a bit of dominance and control.
With a few adjustments, we got back to that.
And we scored a beautiful goal, the second goal.
The ball from Willy. I don't do pauses, but yeah,
bun that, bun up. And the quality of Leo on the
finish is top drawer. And in general, happy with
the win, the clean sheet and the debut of Kepa
for us today. Ebbs' goal, his first for the club.
And then the fact... that even making nine changes,
the team can still perform really well. Yeah,
I mean, props to Port Vale for a very spirited,
good performance from them. They gave it their
all, came up short in the end. We put out a strong
side today. One or two players missing from injury
and Kapier would have allowed to have started
this game as would Noni Madweke. It was nice
to see Max Dahlman come on and get some substantial
minutes. Looked good. Some good turns and twists.
But... I just find it funny that Mikel Arteta
is basically calling out Darren Moore, support
Velside for direct long throws and things like
that, when we've been adopting that approach
for much of this season and a bit of last. And,
you know, I'm an Arteta fan, you know, I'm an
Arteta backer, but I have to call it as I see
it. On the quality of the English football pyramid,
unbelievable how tough it is. And when you look
at last night, Liverpool and Chelsea and how
long it took them to actually win the game, you
know that you have to expect that if something
different happens, great. But you know that you're
going to have to really earn the right to win
games here. Yeah, I mean, all the sides that
should have won, won really. Let's just say that.
I mean, obviously, to different extents, Newcastle.
Had a comprehensive win as did Tottenham. But,
I mean, if you look at it, eight or nine of the
sides that were clear favourites all came through
it, albeit some tougher than others. On if it
was his intention to play Bukayo Saka for an
hour. No, it was planned. 60 minutes was the
maximum. We had four, almost five players already
in the line -up that we had to get. him out for
different reasons especially for load and coming
from long periods out so we planned for that
the good thing is that nobody got injured so
he has no muscular issues so that's a very positive
thing again yeah so obviously i'm gonna presume
it's people like norguard saka had issues and
then ben white i think they're the main ones
really and then the rest were just kind of giving
minutes to players who needed it on the fact
we can make lots of changes yes And what we need
to do as well, apart from that, is generate the
performances that we want with the players that
haven't really played together. With a completely
different midfield that never played together
before. With a front line that is different as
well. Max coming in as well and connecting immediately
with the team. It's a lot of positives to take
from the game. I think the main and only real
positive that we want to take from the game is
the fact that we won, kept another clean sheet.
emerge unscathed i think that's the main thing
we go to st james's park now on the back of a
few wins well on the back of one win and after
the disappointing result of the weekend but it's
a chance to get our season well and truly back
on track at a site at a stadium where we've struggled
in recent years on the competition ahead of this
weekend's game with newcastle united yeah just
touched on that as well and that's exactly what
we want that they're giving us and me those headaches
because I mean that they are so connected with
the team that they really want to help the team
and deserve to play, and everybody will play
a lot of minutes. Yeah, as I said a few press
conference analyses ago, I think during the summer,
Mikel sat down with the squad and said, right,
we're expected, anticipating 55 to 60 games this
season. We've got a squad of about 25 top players.
It's about sharing a workload out. There's going
to be injuries as we're enduring currently. We've
got about five or six top players out already.
So the squad's been, you know, tested to an extent.
I think Max Darman is the kind of bonus player,
if you like, because his position will probably
be the right stroke centre mid. But I think you'll
see him predominantly come off the right. But
obviously you've got Saka Maduweke there. But
because Maduweke has gone down now, Downman is
the immediate kind of, you know, he's the immediate
substitution for Saka as we saw today. So yeah,
the competition for places is really heating
up. Trossard's come on and got himself another
goal. Martinelli seems to be back in form. And
yeah, it looks good so far. On Eberre Eze's performance,
he played very sensually against a team that's
obviously with a 5 -4 -1. They are super compact
inside. It's not easy to find spaces, but he's
very capable with the ball. You've seen that
at another three or four actions that he's completely
through people playing through. He needs to still
play a little more time with those guys to understand
the timings, especially the things that he needs
to do. and then actions like that will be more
consistent and better for us. In general, very
good. Here is still a lot more to give, I think.
Yeah, I mean, Eze had a good performance. I think
he's starting to get into his rhythm now. Didn't
have the greatest of games in Bilbao last week,
but the last two games, he's got himself a goal
and assist, and I think... He will start against
Newcastle for sure. The question is where, whether
it will be centrally or on the left. But I'm
confident he will start that game. And if he's
one of our most versatile attackers, yes, probably
yes. And at the end, what we want to do with
him is to get him in positions and spaces that
he can create his magic moments and a difference
in a team. And some that will be from the wide
area. some that will be from the right or left
in relation to the opponent. Eze being versatile,
for me, depends what you class as versatile.
For me, he can play in two positions at a high
level, which is centrally or on the left. I don't
really see him playing off the right, but in
terms of the other attackers that we have, yeah,
Maduike is pretty much only one position, as
is Saka. And then Trossard, one stroke two, can
play as a false nine off the left. And Martinelli,
I think, can play centrally and off the left.
So, yeah, you could say that in a way. Because
I think in terms of playing multitude of positions,
well, two, he can play both of them at a very
high standard. And the drop -off from him playing
from centrally to the left isn't as much as,
let's say, our other attackers. And lastly, I'm
facing Brighton and Hove Albion in the next round.
No, a tough one. At least we're at home. So that's
obvious. So that's always a positive thing. But
we know they are topside and it will be a difficult
night. Yeah, Brighton is probably... One of the
worst draws we could get because there's such
a sticky, chewing gummy side. You know, we've
struggled with Brighton in the last, let's say,
five, six years. For me, Brighton could gatecrash
that top six, seven. They really should with
the players that they've got. There's something
going on at Brighton this season. They've steamrolled
both teams that they faced in the Carabao Cup.
Second and third round, 6 -0. Both away. They
come to the Emirates, a place that they've had
some joy over the last few years. And they knocked
us out of the Carabao Cup about three years ago
as well. I was there when Danny Welbeck scored
a penalty against us. So, yeah, as I reiterate,
I think that's one of the toughest draws we could
have got. I was actually hoping that we got Liverpool
away because I'm still smarting from the Anfield
defeat earlier on. Was it early this month? Late
last month? Whenever it was, a couple of weeks
ago. But hopefully we can get them at some point.
in both cups, or maybe in all the cups, including
the Champions League.