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We progress to the quarter -finals of
the Carabao Cup with a 2 -0 win over Brighton
and Hove Albion. And following the victory, Mikel
Arteta faced the press at the Emirates Stadium.
Ethan Wanyeri and Bukayo Saka both found the
net in a victory in N5 and after the match, Mikel
gave his verdict on the victory. On progressing
to the quarterfinal, a very special evening to
be fair. Very happy for various reasons. Obviously,
we are in the quarterfinals. We won the game
against a really tough opponent. We made 10 changes.
We played players that never played together.
Yet we had two huge debuts for Max Darman and
Andre Harriman -Anus. That feeling of giving
the opportunity to somebody and fulfilling a
dream is unique. I'm very happy that things turned
out to be very positive and we managed to win
the game. Well, since pre -season, when he was
with us, I was really impressed with him. First
of all, his mentality, how much he wants it.
That's the first ingredient. He's desperate to
achieve his dream. I think he's been very consistent,
training with us and constantly giving us the
option to pick him. I believe today was the right
day for him, for the context, for the way he's
playing as well. He certainly proved that he's
got a chance. Well, Harriman Anoos, I'll be real
with you. Before yesterday, I hadn't heard of
him. I need to do better. But for me, I felt
he did well. He put himself about. He showed
a lot of endeavour. And to be honest, I'm sure
we're going to talk about Max Darman later on
in the podcast. But I didn't think he looked
tired. Obviously, Mikel made a lot of changes,
but one thing that was good was the first team
were on the bench and I saw them warming up towards
the end of the first half, which the game plan
was clearly to kind of stay in the game. 0 -0,
1 -0 down, possibly even 1 -0 up. towards the
second half 60 minutes 70 minutes bring on the
first team see out the game win the game if necessary
and that's what happens on if academy players
coming through at the same time is deliberate
no it's not That's what it is, and I'm very happy
with both of them today. Miles as well. Ethan
scoring a goal, Bukayo scoring a goal, so two
academy graduates taking us to the quarterfinals.
Again, it was special. Emotional evening, and
until the next one on Saturday. Yeah, it was
good. I mean, yeah, yesterday was a really important
night for Ethan Wanyeri. I mean, if there was
one player that needed that night, that needed
a performance that night. It was definitely him.
And he got himself a very good goal. I'm glad
he got a full 90 minutes in the game. He needed
that. I'm sure the goal would do him the world
of confidence, his first goal of the season.
And then, obviously, Bukayo Saka coming on as
a sub. He got himself a rest, came on, saw the
game out, got the finisher, got the winner. We're
back in the quarterfinals to play Crystal Palace
like we did last season. On Max, finding out
he was starting, a tiny smile. That's what you
get from him. For him, everything is natural.
For him, everything is okay. It's the way he
plays. I think that's the secret, that he doesn't
make a big fuss of it. He just does what he does
best, which is to play football. To play football
with a lot of courage and determination. Today,
again, he's shown some incredible skill, some
capacity to run past players at that level in
the Premier League at 15. It's definitely special.
Yeah, Max Dalman, obviously there's a... There's
an interview of him on my channel. He's just
so laid back. Nothing really fazes him at all.
Quite quiet, shy, reserved, I would say, but
confident, quietly confident. So for him to react
like that, a little smile, doesn't surprise me
because he just takes everything in his stride.
And at the age of 15, to do what he's doing,
it's never been seen before. It's unprecedented.
And long may it continue. on Dalman's hunger
to start more games. For sure, if you ask him,
for sure, that's what we have to manage. Not
only that, there are a lot of new things in his
life. We discussed that a few days ago. Make
sure that he does the right steps, that he behaves
and accepts because he's going to go with this
one, then he's going to play in a different team.
And he needs to cope with all that because it's
happening very, very fast. And we need to be
aware of that. Let's encourage him to keep going
that way. But let's protect him as well. Yeah,
I mean, some weeks Max is with the first team
squad on the bench and some weeks he's with the
under -21s. And don't forget, he's 15. So to
be with under -21s is unbelievable because usually
a 15 -year -old will be with under -16s or under
-18s. And then let alone under -21s, he's with
the first team squad. Every time Max is on the
bench for the first team squad, it means a top
first team player is in the stands. So that...
shows you how good and what a precocious talent
he is. On having the right role models around
the young players, yeah, it does. And the more
senior ones as well. They believe that they're
going to have a pathway. If they earn it, it
doesn't matter how you're called up, you're going
to get a chance. They know that. They believe
in that and they really want it, which is the
most important thing. Yeah, it's good that we've
got a good core of young players that have come
from the youth team. So obviously there's three
or four. There's Saka, Max Dahlman, Ethan Wanyeri
and Myles Lewis -Skelly. And, you know, there's
been times where all four of them have featured.
And obviously the young player that played yesterday
in Harriman Anous is another one. So it shows
that if you're good enough, if you show hunger,
spirit, determination, resilience, then you have
an opportunity to be in there. on why there were
no changes after a difficult first half. Because
it had nothing to do with them. It's some very
sloppy giveaways that we did give in very dangerous
areas. We didn't apply two or three rules that
we always have in second phases, for example,
and we could have been punished. Kepa made a
brilliant save. They made another big chance.
It was more a feeling that we were struggling
a bit. But to be fair, I expected that. When
you make 10 changes and you put out players that
have never played together before, some of them,
they haven't played much as well this season,
you have to gamble. But I was ready to take that
risk. And in the second half, I thought, OK,
we have to start the next 10, 15 minutes in a
different way. We certainly did that. And the
game shifted momentum. Yeah, I agree with that.
I would say, to summarise yesterday, Yesterday
was a game of two halves. In the first half,
I felt Brighton had chances, although we did
too, but Brighton had gilt -edged chances and
they could have literally been two or three up
and the game would have been done and dead and
buried. However, in the second half, I felt we
started it well. We set ourselves up to win the
game. We went 1 -0 up and then Arteta brought
the first team players out and then from then
on, we was never going to lose that game. On
Mosquera and Hincapia's partnership tonight,
very good. I think those two are going to complement
each other really, really well. I'm very happy
with that, with what I've seen. Again, they've
never played together. I think they've trained
two or three times together and that will keep
improving. But I'm very happy. Yeah, I mean,
Mosquera's got a lot of football. For me, he
was the best player in the first half, for sure.
And one of the best players in the pitch. He
may well have been our best player yesterday,
although you might want to give it to people
like Dalman or Wanyeri, who obviously Wanyeri
scored a good goal, and Max Dalman was just really
good, electric throughout the night. But Hinkapie,
obviously it's his first start for the football
club. Not match fit at this stage, but that's
normal considering that he's hardly played any
football. I believe he's made only three appearances.
But the more appearances he does make, I'm sure
the more the match fitness will come as a result.
On having the depth to play in a multiple of
competitions, it's going to make us stronger
because, again, the easy thing is to maybe make
some changes in that moment. I really believe
in them. We could adjust a few things and be
better, improve certain individuals with certain
positions as well. think it was important and
after that now they have a good feeling that
they can compete and beat a really good premier
league team overall we have to learn yeah i mean
as i said yesterday having a squad of players
you need to utilize the squad but at the same
time i think you need to kind of attune it to
the opponent so for instance we got lucky yesterday
because i didn't think that team was good enough
and sufficient enough to to come past the brighton
team who are a really good team However, we rode
our luck and then we kind of came through it
and won. Against Crystal Palace, it's going to
be something similar, if not more. I think we
need our first team to beat Crystal Palace. If
not, albeit probably two or three changes max,
as I said, against Brighton. But, yeah, I mean,
as we come closer to the time, context will change.
We may well be two points ahead in the league.
We may well be second. We might be ten points
ahead. So I think... According to the context
of the season would determine what we can do
in that game. But I mean, it's a quarterfinals
and a remarkable chance to get back to the semifinals
where we got to last season. So I don't think
we can waste this opportunity, especially that
we're at home again. And Kepa's performance,
he was really good today and I'm not surprised.
I said it a few days ago, the way he behaves,
trains, the way he's connected to the team at
all times, he's going to prepare. It's going
to prepare him for these moments. And today,
certainly he was ready. Yeah, Kepa played really
well. He made a few good saves in the game. He
looked sharp. But it's good to have a very, very
good number two. you know a better number two
than most keepers in the league i mean don't
forget he's the most expensive goalkeeper in
football history so that tells you all you need
to know so it's good to have him as backup to
raya that raya's a world -class goalkeeper but
he was able to have a rest and we didn't need
to worry about that on one year he getting on
a score sheet really good he came on the other
day as well and he's going to have those chances
and when he has He takes it. He needs to make
the most out of it. I think he took the goal
really well. Really, really well. He had some
actions. Some of them, they weren't that effective.
But what I like is that he kept trying and making
risks. And he didn't change that behaviour and
determination to make things happen. And at the
end, he got rewarded with a brilliant goal. Yeah,
that's the thing with Waniere. He's not scared
to try. And people like him and Eze and Dalman...
are kind of the flair players in the team, and
obviously we need them to try and try. It's not
always going to come off, but it's the intent
that matters. The goal he took was a really good
goal, not an easy finish, but he buried it really
well, and I'm sure that he's going to get more
chances coming up in the near future. On what
the full squad bring to the team, when we need
them, they are there and they are ready. Again,
we have a lot of injured players in the front
line, so we could see... We have the depth. But
today we were struggling with some positions
already and it's October. We're going to need
them. It was a great test for them and I take
a lot of learning from it. Yeah, I mean, as I
mentioned yesterday, if you've said that you
promised Ben White a lot of fixtures, people
like Wanyeri as well, Lewis Skelly, then you've
got to assume that those fixtures will come in
the Carabao Cup because people like Calafiori,
Timba, Zubimendi... they're the first -choice
players in their positions, and that's down to
their performances this season. So if you want
to utilise the squad, then people like Ben White,
Hinkapie, Lewis Skelly, Christian Norgard will
have to seize their opportunities in the Cups.
And so long as they play well, then we're almost
certainly going to win that particular game,
and then that gives them another game in the
next round, and then so on and so forth. On trusting
the starting 11, 100%, especially because it
was nothing to do with them. It was something
to do more with all of the stuff that we could
have done better. And I think in the second half,
they continue. It's a shame that Andre didn't
take the chance he had, 1v1, because it would
have been an incredible moment for him. But overall,
very positive. Yeah, to be honest, I was in the
stadium. I don't recall the 1v1. I remember,
or maybe it was that I didn't know it was him
that had the 1v1. But yeah, in the first half,
we did have a few chances. I just feel like Brighton
had more clear -cut chances and they definitely
should have been ahead. There definitely should
have been daylight between Arsenal and Brighton
in their favour. However, they didn't take it.
And in the second half, I felt like our quality
showed. Towards the end of the game, we coasted
to the victory. On whether there was any specific
instructions for Wanyeri, no to all of them,
that we have to be very aggressive when we have
the chance. They were going man to man as well.
They were very aggressive in our first phase.
Once we unlocked that, we had a lot of spaces
and we certainly exploited that much better in
the second half. Thank you. Yeah, I mean, to
be honest, I felt like obviously in the first
half it was an open game. Well, it was an open
game, period. And that's what you always get
with Brighton. They're not a side that kind of
sit in a low block. They're a side that kind
of come at you. So that's why they always have
successes against the top sides because it's
always an open game. And, you know, they've got
players that can hurt you. I feel like also in
terms of Brighton's squad, their squad is like
a base level. They're probably all a seven or
an eight. So when one player comes out, another
player on the same level will come in and there's
not much of a drop off.