In the second half of his pre-Bournemouth press conference, Mikel Arteta addressed questions about the playing time of Eberechi Eze, Noni Madueke and Ethan Nwaneri, all of whom have found themselves on the fringes in recent weeks.
He also spoke about the importance of learning from recent title races as the season moves into its second half, and the need to manage Bukayo Saka’s game time after analysing the player’s recent hamstring issues.
Here’s what he had to say…
On whether he’s spoken to Eberechi Eze about his game time…
Yes, I speak to every player. And the players always need to understand, and the manager needs to understand, how each one is feeling, assess games, assess their emotional state. Ebs has played more games, more minutes than ever at this time. He’s played 22 out of 28 games or something like this. So he’s never played that much football. So we’re on a good track.
On whether Eze and Madueke have to do anything to get into the side, and whether he can understand concerns in a World Cup year…
No, I think what they need to do is be prepared like they’ve been, and when they have the opportunity to play, perform like any other player. It’s no different. There have been periods that they have played every three days, sometimes they played too much. Noni has been injured for a while, and we have to manage and monitor obviously, his load. And with Ebs, the first few months, we have some great moments with him. We have some other moments that there are things that we need to improve. We are on that journey.
On the players needing to be patient…
Well, to be patient, to be demanding, to be supportive is a bit of everything. With both of them, the good thing is they want it so badly. The way they come in every single day and how much they want to give to the team and impact the games, it’s great to witness, and that’s the mentality that I need to maintain.
On Nwaneri’s status in the squad and plans for him…
It’s part of the journey, part of the journey for any player at this level, that’s it. Befor,e he was the youngest player ever to come in this football club, and now he’s going through that patch. Face it, challenge it and go for it, that’s it.
On what Arsenal need to do differently this season to keep Manchester City at bay…
Win more games, that’s it. I think from January to January we won more points again in the last three years than any other team in this league, yeah? So winning more points, that’s it. We need to win more games and be better; that’s the only way.
On whether his players have pressure at the back of their mind…
That’s a privilege, to be here and be where we are; that’s an absolute privilege. That’s where we want to be, and that’s what we want to face.
On having a chance to go seven points clear of City with a win over Bournemouth…
The important thing is go to Bournemouth, be better than them and beat them. After that, it’s not in our control, and it will be like this for the following match and the following one, and that’s where we are. It sounds very simple [but it’s] very difficult to do, and we are so willing to achieve it.
On not focusing on the past, only what he and the team can control…
Yeah, but learn. I think learning from the past is very important, and we have a lot to learn from the last few games that we played against Bournemouth as well. So that’s part of it. We have another chance now against them tomorrow, and we have to learn and be better.
On whether his squad are more mature these days, specifically when it comes to on-pitch discipline…
If maturity is related to age or games played, yes. But maturity in one action, that you have to make an action, and the player goes through or not, and the referee has to make a decision. I don’t know how much is that through maturity. There is another element, that the more games we play, the more experiences that you have. Probably you can handle the situation better, supposedly, but it’s not always like that in football.
On how long it takes new players, like Madueke and Eze, to learn Arsenal’s ‘more disciplined’ style…
Disciplined in what sense? That’s your duty [to do the defensive side of things], I don’t think it’s related to discipline. You have to defend like any other player, and you have to do that to help the team and to play in the manner that we want and the areas that we want to do. I think they are both of them so willing, they bring different things. They all have their own qualities. They all have their own education in different styles of play.
Noni, immediately, he clicked, and he did that. Ebs already had some great moments in the season. [Cristhian] Mosquera is coming new, Kepa is coming new, Piero [Hincapie] is coming new, [Martin] Zubimendi is coming new. Immediate impact. So that’s it. But there are going to be moments where they have to adapt. We have to adapt to their qualities. Yes, but that’s something natural.
On investigating injuries and whether they ever figured out why Bukayo suffered his hamstring issues…
Well, there are a lot of factors. Obviously, the amount of games that he’s played minutes is just incredible. So at that age in Europe in the last 30 years, there are very few that has played that many. So we need to maintain that consistency of protecting him as much as we possibly can in certain areas. He needs to change our protocols. We need to change certain habits as well in training to do that. And then, yes, sometimes you need a bit of luck.
On whether there’s anything he specifically wants the team to improve in the second half of the season…
Things that I want to improve? In every area. I don’t know. I want to be better in the high press. I want to be better on phase one in the build-up. We have to be more prolific when we have the chances. Attacking the box, we have margins when we have situations to run in open spaces. As well, when we have to have periods in deep, especially recently as well, we have to improve in those areas. The last minutes. There are a lot of things as a team that we can improve.
