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Every word from Mikel Arteta's post -Fulham
presser. Mikel Arteta had plenty to discuss after
we made it five consecutive wins with a 1 -0
victory away to Fulham on Saturday. Leandro Trossard
scored the only goal of the game in the first
half and the defence stood firm once again to
close out the win. After the game, he conducted
his post -match press conference where he was
asked about the win, the defensive performance,
VAR decisions, our set -piece power and more.
On yesterday's win, the recent history wasn't
in our favour and we wanted to change that like
we did against Newcastle and West Ham at home
and that's another step. Having that mindset
and that ability to win these kind of matches
against a really good opposition. A really difficult
place to come and especially the first 15 minutes.
It took us a while to get into the game with
some very unusual giveaways that has caused some
transitions and after that we started to dominate
the game throughout the rest of the game much
better. We talked about knocking on the door
against this team. They are really well organised,
especially with the context of the result. The
more it dragged on, I think we were better and
better and managed to win the game and another
clean sheet. Yes, good. I mean, a lot of people
are throwing this term bogey side around. I won't
go that far. What I will say is teams like Fulham
have kind of, they've jabbed us over the years.
You know, they've taken a few points here and
there. I feel like a bogey side is a real, you
know, three wins or draws in five games type
of team. Like a Newcastle, that is... That is
the epitome of Arsenal's bogey side. And I feel
like if you get two or three consecutive results
against them, you dispel that tag. So with regards
to Fulham, yeah, we hadn't won in our previous
two occasions. We put pay to that yesterday.
But if you actually look before that, you have
a phenomenal record against Fulham. So now that's
two consecutive victories against Fulham following
up our win against them last season. I think
it was in March or April because I was there.
It was a gritty performance. I do feel like Fulham...
They gave it to us in the first half an hour,
but they're a good side. They did the same to
Liverpool. In fact, they beat Liverpool there
at Craven Cottage last season. So they are a
very good side at home. We inflicted their first
home defeat of the season. So that shows that
it was not an easy place to go. But it's good
to get our first win in three occasions there.
And we move on, woods and upwards, to face Atletico
Madrid on Tuesday. On not conceding a shot on
target in two consecutive games for the first
time since November 2003. Damn. No. Not comfortably
because as well it feels in this pitch like it's
smaller and they are straight away onto you in
the box. They didn't generate any big chances.
It was more the feeling sometimes, especially
in the first half with the giveaways. And because
there are a lot of players of a lot of quality
in the final third and Jimenez in the box who
is a real threat. And one goal is not enough.
Yeah, I mean, we relatively kept him at arm's
length. Our defence is really solid. Our shape
is very good, rigid. regimented, structured.
But we've also got players that are very good
at winning the ball back. People like Timber.
Calafiori has improved immensely defensively
as I've been banging on all season about. He's
been phenomenal, him and Timber. And if you had
two form players in Calafiori and Timber, I don't
need to mention how good William Saliba and Gabriel
Magalhaes are already. So that is a phenomenal
back four. Not to mention our immensely talented
goalkeeper, David Raya, who's been a phenomenon
again this season and is arguably, you could
make a case for him being the best keeper in
the league, but let's say he's amongst the top
three with Donnarumma and Alisson. On the importance
of grinding out wins like today. You have to
play the best in relation to the opponent and
the place that you have to play. That's what
we have to play. The best against Atletico Madrid
is going to be different to the best of today
and make sure that we are able to take the game
into those areas that is going to favour our
possibility to win the game and continue to try
and improve. So effectively he's saying we played
as well as we needed to to win today and effectively
on Tuesday we're going to have to go up a notch
or two. against Atletico Madrid, who played yesterday
evening, and I believe they won. But in a sense
that I feel like we didn't play as bad as people
are making out, but we didn't have to play too
good. We didn't have to overexert ourselves,
which is good going forward. Obviously, Atletico
Madrid beat Osasuna 1 -0, so they're going to
be a level above, and we're going to obviously
have to raise our levels, and I'm sure we're
going to do so accordingly. On Ebereche Eze's
performance. He's more used to probably attacking
open spaces and breaks and facing and carrying
the ball with the space in front of him. But
he's so good and comfortable doing that. I think
he had his moments today. He put Victor once
or twice through in really good spaces. And maybe
if that would have finished in a goal, it would
have looked a bit different. But I'm very happy
with what he's doing and we can use him in different
positions. And today we used him in that one
and we carry on trying to improve. So yeah, obviously
Mikel is not going to criticise him. I want to
give him some constructive criticism because
I know what he's capable of. He didn't have his
best game, especially in the first half. I felt
like he was starting to get on the ball more
in the second half. Obviously, I feel like the
more he plays, the more he's going to get used
to his teammates. And I think he's going to improve
over time. I have no doubts in Eberich as his
ability as a footballer. And I'm sure he's going
to improve, hopefully, for Tuesday. And if we're
now a team that wins ugly... I don't like looking
back, but if you ask me how I would describe
the team, the players, they're tough and very,
very willing. Well, I mean, would you want to
win, in quotation marks, ugly? Or do you want
to not win, playing beautifully? Because in 22,
23, we were playing football out of this world
and we came up short. In the following season,
second half of that season, 23, 24... we were
romping to victories and still came up short.
Last season, okay, it was probably a step backwards,
but we did get to the Champions League semifinals.
We made a lot of improvements in different ways.
We became more solid as a team, as a unit. But
also we gained and garnered more experience in
addition to the previous two years. So I feel
like all encompassing, we're going to take all
of those experiences and put it towards our surge
this season to try and win not just one, not
just two. But as many trophies as we can. On
our winner coming from a set piece. Great. Because
obviously we generate so many set pieces. So
you have to start from there. And we generate
so many. We have to understand. And against these
low blocks. When they don't really want to drop
and commit that many players there. We have another
opportunity to put players that we want in the
position. That we want with the role that we
want. And we need to exploit that. We could have
exploited it today in different ways. At the
end, it was a set piece, so more than welcome.
Yeah, I mean, Victor Xhoka has had about two
or three chances, and I feel he could have done
better with it. He's snatching out a few chances,
but hopefully it will come. I'm starting to get
worried about him, though, but I feel he just
needs to continue to put himself in the position
to miss those chances. With Ebreche Eze, he's
getting used to the team. He didn't get on the
ball much, obviously. As Arteta already said,
he's not used to coming up against low blocks.
Well, he's going to become very used to it as
the season goes on because probably 80 % to 90
% of teams we come up against will have all their
players behind the ball looking to be disciplined,
regimented, structured, hard to beat, hard to
break down because no one wants to be on the
end of a hiding. So it's going to be difficult.
It's not going to be easy. But nothing good comes
easy. And Gabriel having to acclimatise after
an international break full of long travel. That's
exactly the part that I loved about it because
when everything goes well in the first few minutes
for a player and he's confident and things are
flowing for you, it's easy to continue. But Gabi
had two difficult moments, probably not at his
standards, but the way he reacted to that and
the sense of security that he transmitted, that's
maturity and that's the mindset that we need
in a team. So that's a really good example to
use and that I would use for sure. Yeah, I mean,
Gabriel Magales didn't, start off the game well,
but any small mistakes he made, he rectified
it. We weren't punished for it. That's the main
thing. Yeah, I think the whole team looked a
bit leggy. They looked a bit, you know, jet -lagged.
They weren't at it at the first, let's say, 20
to 30 minutes. However, after that, we got a
foothold in the game. We started the second half
really well and you could smell the goal coming
and we got the goal and we kind of... did what
we needed to do to see out the game. I feel like
we could have went up a few gears if necessary,
but I feel like it's a case of win the game,
get out of there, focus on Tuesday, then Sunday,
then the following Wednesday and so on and so
forth. On if he's worried about the upcoming
schedule with Atletico Madrid on Tuesday. Yes,
we know the schedule. You could see some of the
players, not only ours, their players as well.
And there have been a lot of injuries as well.
The load is where it is. That's why we need it.
And the game's now and the context demands you
a bigger squad. I think all the top teams, we
are in the same boat. We're going to have to
manage that really well to look after them and
especially to get the best out of them. Yeah,
I mean, Atletico Madrid obviously played later
than us. They played in the evening yesterday.
They won, like I mentioned already. And they
also got the Spanish Cup and things like that
coming up. Our rivals, Liverpool. They play later
on today and they're going to play next week
and then on the weekend and then on midweek again
against Crystal Palace. So like Arteta said,
it's not just us. But what we've got to do is
use the squad really well. So I think I was actually
surprised, pleasantly surprised that... Martin
Zubamendi started that game yesterday because
I thought he'll probably give him a rest, bring
him in on Tuesday. Also, Calafiori as well started.
Myles Lewis -Skelly didn't get on the pitch,
so it'll be interesting to see if he starts on
Tuesday. I wouldn't be surprised if he does.
I think he'll bring in, if you're going to ask
me to predict, I think Myles Lewis -Skelly probably
comes in, gives Calafiori a little rest, a breather,
and then Mourinho could potentially start a midfield.
So I think it will tweak it a little bit. I think
also Trossard might be given a rest and someone
like Eze will go on the wing with Mourinho coming
into midfield. That's my prediction for the Tuesday
game. On our penalty being overturned by VAR,
regarding the penalty, I was getting a bit animated
because obviously if it's clear and obvious or
not, that's where VAR has to intervene. It was
taking so long and then Anthony as well was taking
so long. Then he explained the reason why it
took so long on the screen. It was nothing to
do with the process. It was the screen that wasn't
working. So that's fine. I think what I heard
is that probably it wasn't a penalty. So probably
they made the right decision and I was just animated
because of the process. That's it. Well, OK,
two things. One, I think Arteta doesn't want
to die on this hill. He probably wants to use
his complaint about a non -giving penalty. later
on down the line. However, on the subject of
the penalty, I could see why it wasn't given.
However, I think the crucial element of this
was the fact that Kevin's knee made contact with
Bukayo Saka's knee, which is a foul because it
was in the box. Then after Kevin's knee makes
contact with Bukayo's knee, he then wins the
ball. However, the key point is Kevin fouled
Bukayo because his knee made contact with his
knee inside the box before he won the ball. But
I'm not really mad about it not being given.
But I do think, yeah, like Arteta said, if it
was a clear and obvious decision, why does it
take so long? Leandro Trossard popping up with
an important goal again. He has the quality to
create these magic moments when the team needs
it the most. and that intuition, and he's in
the right place in the right moment, and that's
a huge quality for the team and a massive weapon
for us. So I'm really happy. I think he's been
very, very good in recent weeks, and now we have
a lot of players in a really high emotional state
and performance level, which is really good to
see. I'll be real. Trossard had a stinker yesterday,
but he scored the winner, so his performance
was not a stinker. The aroma was... Magnificento.
And so was the result. But no, all jokes aside,
I think we played within ourselves. We played
how we needed to to make sure we won the game
without really exerting ourselves. But the main
thing is another three points on the board. Top
of the league. Roll on Tuesday against Atletico
Madrid in the Champions League.