All right, I think we're definitely LIVE this
time. We're definitely live. Live -o. Live -o.
All right, BOW. Every word from Mikel Arteta's
pre -Club Brugge Presser. Let me run that back.
Hello and welcome to HYBR1D Powered by chinkseyMEDIA.
We are back again for every word from
Mikel Arteta's pre -Club Brugge Presser. We travelled
to Belgium to take on Club Brugge in the UEFA
Champions League. But before our clash, Mikel
Arteta has been speaking to the press. We head
to Brugge looking to maintain our perfect start
to the league campaign, Champions League that
is. And during his press conference, Mikel gave
a team news update, assessed our opponents and
much more. Here's every word he had to say. On
the reaction to the defeat at the weekend, it
was strange because we haven't lost that many.
That is a moment as well to reflect and have
some perspective about what we are doing. First
of all, when you look at the reaction of the
players when they are on the floor and in pain,
and what I felt in that moment, in the end, you
don't know how much they put in and how much
they wanted. It is difficult, but as well, it
is a reflection of who we are. and what we want
to get. And this has to help us to be a better
team, to learn the lesson, to value what we are
doing. First of all, all the difficulties that
we have been at. First of all, all the difficulties
that we have at the start of the season, where
we are in both the Champions League and in the
Premier League, is where we want to be. And it
is time that we have to learn every single day
that the margins are very, very small. All right,
let me start with the margins statement. Yeah,
the margins are very, very small, but I mean,
the team you put out on Saturday contributed
to our downfall. I felt like with that defence
you put out, the defensive structure wasn't at
its usual standard. I mean, also, you mentioned
that William Saliba was going to be out for days.
But those days have turned into at least a week.
So now it's a week in counting. He ain't going
to play today. What's going on with Saliba? That's
the first question. The second thing I want to
reflect on is the fact that, yeah, you're right,
we haven't lost that many. And it's funny how
we lose two games all season and that's all you
ever hear. A lot of the fan base coming out of
the woodwork, you know, a lot of the naysayers
coming out of the woodwork, calling for your
head again. A lot of the haters, the Man U fans,
the Chelsea fans, you know, teams that have lost
over five times this season, seem to have a lot
to say. Not to mention the fact we're still on
top of the Champions League group, despite the
fact that Bayern Munich won yesterday. They're
still underneath us. We're still top, having
played a game less. We're still top of the Premier
League, ahead of Man City, who have a tough game
against Crystal Palace on Sunday. Well... interesting
interesting interesting but it's Arsenal you
know Arsenal always provoke conversation and
um and yeah on how good it is to have a game
so soon after absolutely especially when you
play a competition like the Champions League
and how much we want to continue to do the job
that we have started in the first five games
in which we've won all of them Tomorrow or today,
we are going to have our opening match against
an opponent that has been very, very good. They
have a new manager and a new manager always brings
new energy, new ideas. So we have prepared for
that as well. And today we have to show again
that we are right at the top and be better than
the opponents in this game. All right, we'll
start off with that point. Quite frankly, we
are better than Club Brugge. That is, if I was
sure about anything, it's that statement. Secondly,
I feel like we need to make changes to the side
and still win the game. I think it's important
we do win. Not essential, but important because
we want to just get that bitter feeling of losing
in the last dying embers of the game against
Aston Villa. A game that we probably deserve
to lose. We were at our best. but we want to
get that winning feeling back. Preferably with
a clean sheet, but I mean, I'm probably being
selfish saying make changes, win the game, clean
sheet. If we can do the first two, that would
be great. With regards to Club Brugge changing
the manager, the fact that they changed the manager
shows that they're not performing at how they
should or feel that they should be performing.
So obviously they're kind of underperforming.
They're third in the Belgian league. Behind L
'Union Saint -Gilloise, who are top. But I can't
remember who's second. I think it's Standard
Liège. But in essence, let's have it right. It's
a game we should really win. If we play anything
to our potential, I think we'll be fine. And
then obviously that brings us to the game against
Wolves on Saturday. On Gabriel Jesus replacing
Max Dallman in the squad. Yes. So first of all,
unfortunately, Max Darman picked up an injury
last weekend and had to come off. So he did some
scans and he is going to be out for weeks. Weeks,
keyword. And then we have the situation of Gabby
Jesus, who we are expecting to be training with
us, who we were expecting to be training with
us by the end of December, when Max Darman will
be 16. Gabby has been pushing every single day.
And he kept telling everybody, I am going to
be earlier, earlier, earlier. And yeah, he's
done it. So he was right. So thanks to his work
and all the work that the medical staff have
done in these months, in all these months, and
we had the possibility to make a swap there and
we have done it. Yes, on one side, you see Max
and the situation and then on the other. You
see the joy and how happy Gabi is to be back
in the Champions League. Well, Gabriel Jesus
was in a squad. He was in two of our last three
squads. And I thought he would get on. I'm slightly
disappointed that he didn't get on the pitch.
But I'm expecting him to play some game, some
amount of the fixture today. I don't think he'll
start because I think the front three would be
Maduweke. Jokeres and Martinelli. But what I
do think will happen is he'll probably share
the game with Jokeres. Jokeres will probably
get 60, 70 minutes and Jesus will probably replace
him. So that brings him into some form of match
fitness because I hope that he can get some substantial
minutes in the Carabao semi -final against Crystal
Palace, in which he actually flourished this
time last season. Regarding Max Darman, it's
a shame that he's got injured at the time he
has because this was a game that I would have
thought he could potentially star in, whether
start or not is another thing, but he could get
some substantial minutes in this game. So, yeah,
it's a bit unfortunate, but obviously it's character
building, you know? Right, on Declan Rice, William
Saliba and Leandro Trossard. No. So Declan was
ill. He was quite sick after the game and he
hasn't travelled with us. William is still not
available and Leo again picked up another knock
in an area where he had the issue. And I don't
expect that it's going to be long, but unfortunately,
he cannot be here. OK, at least you didn't give
us the day's malarkey or the week's malarkey.
You just said it's not going to be long, which
is fair. Regarding William Saliba, you said last
week, you said over a week ago that he's going
to be out for days. So I've been reporting that
he's out for days. So I've basically made a fool
out of myself. But then again, I'm just going
by what you've said. So he's been out for at
least a week now. So those days have turned into
a week and counting. So we know that he's not
going to be available for today. And if he's
not available against Wolves, that becomes weeks.
So the days that you initially said has become
weeks. Regarding Leandro Trossard, like I said
in the last episode, he came on, got himself
a goal, and then off he went again. So, yeah,
whether he aggravated the injury is another thing,
but that's something I don't think I've ever
seen a player to... Come on, come off after scoring
and get injured again. On Club Brugge having
a new manager. Obviously, you look at all the
games and analyse the manager and their identity.
And obviously, the last performance they had
was in the Champions League and a domestic competition.
In the afternoon, we got the news that they have
a new manager. So you have to adapt. It's not
the first time that we are facing this situation.
So, OK. We have to think about what the possibilities
are and look at his past. And we have to focus
much more on what we have to do. We have to be
able to adapt in relation to what they do, as
we said, in terms of their formation and the
players that they're going to pick. Then we have
to focus on ourselves, what we have to do to
be better than them. Well, what we have to do
to be better than them is to be good. If we're
good, we will be better than them. But we have
to give them the respect that they deserve. I
remember last season, they actually was vying
with Manchester City to qualify for the next
round. I'm not 100 % sure if it was for the last,
I think it was for the top eight, or was it just
to qualify? But Man City managed to win that
game to scrape through to the next round. So
knowing that knows that they're not going to
be total pushovers. But I still believe that
if we can rotate and rotate with Saturday in
mind, I do think we can kind of juggle this game
and Saturday by winning both and by giving numerous
amount of players minutes without having to play
the same team twice to get two wins, if that
makes sense. On how frustrating the injuries
are. Yeah, a big one. I mean, losing Max again,
it's obviously not ideal with Leo, who is just
coming back, that we have to manage the minutes.
Willie Irm, I'm not going to call him that, is
still not there. We've got Big Gabby and we have
other players that could play only certain minutes,
like, for example, Ricky the other day. But it's
a situation that we have managed since the beginning
of the season. We are in December now. So it's
been almost five months in a remarkable way and
we're going to continue. Yeah, I mean, it's an
interesting one regarding Riccardo Calafiori
because he had a shocker on Saturday, got himself
a yellow card. He's been getting a lot of yellow
cards where he's pulling the player back due
to being out of position. But I've actually been
a big advocate for his improvement this season
where I felt he started the season really well.
Maybe he's tired, maybe he's gone off the boil
a bit, but he's going to be suspended for Saturday
against Wolves. So with that in mind, I think
he should play this game tonight because it gives
an opportunity for him to have a rest. So what
I'll do is I'll probably put Ben White right
back, Timber centre back alongside Calafiori
with Myles Lewis -Skelly coming in at left back.
I also would play... I also would start Lewis
Skelly against Wolves on Saturday so it gives
him an opportunity to play two games in a week
in the space of three days wherein before that
he wasn't getting a look in but obviously Mikel
did maintain that all players will get their
opportunity and this is an opportunity for Lewis
Skelly to come in now stake his claim at left
fullback on the reasons behind it Not training,
no, because we don't have time to train. So training
is not there. But obviously the fact that you
are missing players, you are loading other players
more, that's a consequence of that. And it's
a really dangerous situation. The fact that we
have other players who have long -term contracts
that haven't been with us since the beginning
of the season. But yeah, it's a test for the
team. And so far we have reacted. Very, very
well to that. Yeah, I mean, the long -term absentees
with long -term contracts could only mean probably
Havertz. Obviously, Odegaard's been in and out
of the team through injury. And then, obviously,
you've got people like Gabi Jesus, who I believe
has about 18 months left on his contract. You
could say is on the cusp of being back, just
needs match fitness and hopefully he can get
some game time today. On how worrying Max Darman's
injury is, it's part of the journey. I mean,
at some point when you play at this level, when
you play in the position that he plays, the manner
that he plays, it was going to happen and it
happened. One, that OK, it's not ideal. It will
be weeks. That phrase weeks again. It could have
been worse. Learn from it and use this time now
to continue improving in his education, in everything
related to professional football, his habits,
the way he needs to develop his physicality and
his understanding of the game. Sometimes when
you're away from the game, you say, I cannot
really live without it and how important it is.
So use those moments as well to get a reflection
of where you are as well. And if you are better,
of course, go forward. Well, it's a good thing
that Max Dahmer got his Champions League debut
against Slavia Prague. So while he was 15, because
it's a record that may never be beaten because
he's not going to play a game for Arsenal again
while he's 15. Because obviously his birthday
is next time on New Year's Eve. And by the time
he's back fit, he'll be 16, which will be next
year. It's also character building in a sense
that, yeah, he's kind of first major setback
in his early career. Opportunity to get himself
in the gym, get himself physically stronger.
He's got a good physique for his age, though,
to be fair. He's quite tall. If I'm not wrong,
he's either 5 '11 or 6 '0. He's got a lot of
growing to do. So by the time he's finished growing,
he'll be a lot stronger for it. And obviously,
the way he plays, he kind of induces and provokes
defenders into challenging him. For instance,
in pre -season, Joe Linton, one of the strongest
players in the Premier League, was him, you know,
nabbing at his heels, fouling him. But I feel
like that kind of interaction will only just
be beneficial for him going forward. Don't forget,
he's a young boy. He's a small child in year
11. Yeah, I think everything he can take in his
stride, all experience, whether good or bad,
and it will help him going forward in his career.
On whether he will look to buy players in January.
At the moment, we're just focusing on bringing
the players back and hopefully it will be a matter
of weeks. We know how important those weeks are
going to be. We're going to come into the period
where a lot of things start to get defined in
that period and hopefully we're going to have
them. Yeah, the festive period is always a period
where there's friction congestion. There's going
to be injuries. There's going to be a lot of
rotations. There's going to be games coming thick
and fast every two, three days like we have been
doing so up until this point. In saying that,
though, after these two games against Club Brugge
and Wolves, we're going to have a seven -day
break where we can try and get some players back
because we have... Games coming thick and fast
where we've got to play Crystal Palace, Aston
Villa, Brighton, all coming up in no particular
order. So I think it's a matter of regrouping,
getting as many players back from injury as possible.
And I think in regards to whether or not we sign
players in January, whether it be a midfielder
or a defender, it will just be in reference to
how long the players we have are out injured
for. because you don't want to have a situation
where you have 25 players in the squad they're
all fit and every every match week or match day
five or six players are in the stands because
the squad's too big that benefits no one on christian
norgaard's involvement Yes, but I'm really happy
with how he's come to the club, especially with
him and everything that we need to do in many
areas. Not only in the pitch, but what he has
to do. He excels in the manner that we expect
him. I think it's similar to Ben White or Myles
Lewis Skelly. They haven't played as much as
expected, but they're very positive. Well, I
think those two aforementioned players will play
today. They'll start today. Certainly Myles Lewis
Skelly will. I'm confident with that. Sticking
my neck out with that one. But Norgaard probably
will start because obviously Declan Rice is out
and gets a much needed rest through illness in
the manager's words. So it'll be a good opportunity
to see if someone like Christian Norgaard can
start and play well today because he will just
kind of be filling in the gaps, you know. gives
an opportunity for a Rice to have a breather,
maybe someone like Zubimendi to have a breather
from time to time, bringing in his experience
and know -how. And yeah, hopefully he gets a
start in the substantial minutes today. And if
he would choose one player to never get injured,
I'll leave that to you. I think you guys will
enjoy that conversation. Well, I think it's between
the likes of Timba, Saliba, Gabriel, Declan Rice.
and sucker my money's on rice however this is
a set of fixtures where he can rotate we'll try
the players in the best conditions to perform
at the highest level for example victor joker
as his injury we're missing two games without
victor every time he's come back without a pre
-season and at some point he gets injured Mikel
Moreno had to do that role because Leo wasn't
fit or Martinelli wasn't fit. You could see Mikel
on the weekend. He needed some help because he
was out of gas. So that's the consequence of
not having another player. The good thing again
is the way we have managed so far to do that.
We have now after this a clean week. which we
haven't had for many weeks. Yeah, I mean, Joe
Correz, I'm sure, is going to start tonight.
For sure has to start tonight. And I think Madaweke
starts on the right with Martinelli on the left.
Martinelli definitely needs to start. The fact
that Trussard's out makes Mikel's decision a
foregone conclusion. Victor Jokeres now needs
a kind of run of games where he can just play,
play, play. Now that he's back match fit, played
45 minutes on Saturday. Hopefully he can start
and get a goal today. On having the second most
injuries in the Premier League. Yay! Wow, what
a record to have. I think you have to separate
the kinds of injuries that they have. Some of
them have been long -term and acute injuries,
especially with some of the key players who give
you a lot of days out. It's something that we
have constantly been looking at. As I said, we
have played a lot of games with a lot of players
missing. That gives a lot of stress and then
more injuries. We are on it. And I'm really happy
with what we are doing in terms of the medical
stuff and everything that we are trying to do
together. Sometimes as well, we need some people
to go in our time. Yeah, the injuries is definitely
an issue we need to look at every season. It's
almost perennially every season we get five or
six major injuries to players in our squad. And
yeah, something that definitely needs to be looked
at. But one thing I will say is that We did our
best to cater for what was to come during the
season in the summer where we strengthened the
squad and brought in top players. So that's the
reason we're not kind of scraping at the bottom
of the barrel in terms of picking up the youth
team players. However, I do suspect that we might
have one or two youth team players in the squad
tonight. With people like Marley Salmon maybe
getting onto the bench, people like Anous as
well. But yeah, I do think hopefully when our
injured players do come back, we're going to
have a strong second half of the season. On what
he's seen when analysing the injuries, it's not
only one season, it's about some of the players
that have played. It starts to get overloaded
and you start to ask them again and again to
play. Others, because as well, the moment that
you have an injury, the more likely to have another
injury. That's been a consequence of some of
the states as well. We're on it. Yeah, I mean,
we've got a lot of players who have now become
injury prone. So I think namely Odegaard, Saka,
Saliba, Gabriel, they've been picking up a lot
of injuries in the last six months or so, let's
say. Obviously, those players have been at the
core of our team for the last four or five years.
So it's essential we keep them fit because they're
our key players. But it's been good that we've
actually built the squad around those players
so we know that we can give players like that
a rest of their time. People like Timber, Kyler
Fury can be chopped and changed with people like
Ben White and Hinkapie or Lewis Skelly, for instance.
So obviously there's a lot of strength and depth,
but it's been put to the test now with this injury
crisis that we're in and whether players are
overtrained. No, because we don't train. Today
we've done 20 minutes, so it's probably not because
we're overtraining players. Okay, he didn't like
that question, clearly. Even if you've done 20
minutes, you have trained. Let's get that right.
And also you have trained before today. So you
have trained. No, but I've always said that I
feel like a contribution to the injury crisis
is the fact that we've had players overplaying
in recent years, let's say, maybe not so much
now. And I also think it's something to do with
training, whether they're being overworked in
training or whether it's the training regime.
I'm not privy to the goings on at the Soberality
Training Centre, although I know it quite well.
But I do think there's something in that. So,
yeah, that's one thing that I'm going to be keeping
an eye out on for sure. And whether it's an opportunity
for Victor Jokeres. Yeah, we have to continue
to manage his minutes. He played 45 minutes the
other day. Let's see how it goes tonight. Yeah,
I'm confident he's going to play a substantial
amount of the game today. Don't think he'll play
the whole game, but I think he'll play like 70,
75 minutes. And I think, and I'm suspecting that
he's going to share the game with Gabriel Jesus,
who I do think and expect and envision and anticipate
he'll get onto the pitch and try to build up
his match fitness ahead of the game that I'm
hoping he'll play in the start in the Crystal
Palace game. So, yeah, if you're going to ask
me, I think. Jocker has played 70 -75 minutes
and Gabi Jesus plays 20 -25 minutes of the game
tonight. And finally, on Declan Rice's recovery,
I think that he needed more of a bed than sunshine
because he wasn't feeling good at all. So yeah,
he will have a couple of days to rest and to
get his body right. But today, already, he was
very keen to be able to play. But unfortunately,
he's not. Well, going back to the earlier question,
who's the one player you don't want to be injured?
It's him because when someone like Rice comes
out of the team, someone like Christian Norgard,
and obviously there's a chasm in terms of quality
between them, not to say that Christian Norgard
isn't a good player. It's just the fact that
Declan Rice is the best midfielder in the world.
But on the bright side of things, it gives him
a game, a breather, something he's needed for
a number of weeks now. So he can focus on getting
back fit for the Wolves game, in which it's going
to be top to bottom. And then obviously after
the Wolves game, he has another seven days to
recover before we go into a very, very congested
fixture pile -up in the festive period.