Not long after touching down in Germany before our Champions League round of 16 first leg at Bayer Leverkusen, Mikel Arteta was whisked to the BayArena to meet with the media.
He answered questions on injuries and team selection, Kai Havertz’s return to his former club, talk of the quadruple, gaining experience in the competition and much more.
Here is everything he had to say:
on if the messaging to the players changes now we’re in the knockouts:
Yes, you start the second part of the campaign and you know what is at stake. We start to play games where you are in or you are out, there is no margin for manoeuvre, and we’re going to face a very difficult contest tomorrow against a really good team.
on if Martin Odegaard is out:
He’s out.
on if Riccardo Calafiori and Leandro Trossard are available:
Those two are a possibility that they are available, and we’ll see tomorrow how we use them.
on whether Gabriel and William Saliba are back:
Yes.
on if Declan Rice and Martin Zubimendi will also return:
Yes.
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on if he challenges the players to win every game in the Champions League:
The only thing you can take is game by game and try tomorrow to be better than the opposition and earn the right to win. We always talk about that. Obviously we play so many games in different competitions – in the next three games we’re going to play in three different competitions, against completely different opponents. You have to adapt to that. You have to, very early in the match, understand what the game is going to require, adapt to it and be better than them.
on why Myles Lewis-Skelly has played more in Europe than the Premier League:
Every season is different. He’s had very good moments in the season, he’s had other moments when he hasn’t played that much. Obviously a few days ago in the FA Cup he was suspended and he could not play so there are various reasons. Sometimes as well, the good form of your teammates is another factor that contribute to that, but he’s doing well.
on if we have established ourselves in the knockout phase of this competition:
I believe so, but this is football and you have to show it tomorrow night. I know that you have to be so clear what the game is going to demand, you need to perform on the day. The Champions League is about the day and within that day there are moments, and you have to be better than the opponent.
on if the players are better prepared:
They certainly have more experience in the competition. When I joined, they was a big part of the team that hadn’t played in this competition. That’s obviously something that is necessary like in any other competition and they understand it better. Now we have to perform.
on if we’ve learnt more from last season’s semi-final run:
Yes, you learn about the things that you did well and the reason why you are there, and the things that you can improve. But then every game and every time will be so specific that it’s so difficult to replicate. You can have certain memories but actually you have to apply your learnings in that momentum and that window is very small so you have to be efficient.
on if he encourages the players to think about a potential quadruple:
No, I don’t use that phrase. I don’t know why they talk about when I’m not there. But we all know the difficulty of every competition. Starting tomorrow, we are changing from competition to competition every three days, and so far we’ve done so well and we need to continue to do that.
on how much he saw of Kai Havertz at Bayer Leverkusen:
Not too much to be fair because in our league and with the amount of games that we play we don’t have much time to analyse an individual player in a different country. But I did speak to him, he spent 10 incredible years here. The way he talks about the club, the people here, the culture, what he’s learned and how hard this journey was for him to continue his next chapter in England was capital. A lot of learnings and I’m glad to see how people are receiving him the moment he’s walking around the building, and I’m not surprised.
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on how confident we are with his fitness:
Now it’s been three weeks that he’s had total consistency in terms of training, preparation and gametime, and we’re going to continue to roll that because we know how Kai can impact this team.
on what it’s been like to manage this period of injuries for Kai:
It’s been something new for him. When you look at his injury record, it’s just blank. He never had a muscle injury and last year he had his hamstring injury that required surgery and then the knee injury, so it’s been a tough period. But as well a lot of great things happened in his private life as well. When you talk about a 15-20 year career, you’re going to have to go unfortunately, most likely, through these moments. If there is a person that has the right combination of humbleness, patience and love for the game and a competitive edge, that’s certain Kai. He had difficult moments but that’s why we are here and all his teammates and family are there. Now he needs to really enjoy all the work that he’s put in to see the results at the end of the season.
on the viral clip of Mikel and Declan Rice in training earlier today:
They very gently suggested that we have to go through (the tunnel) because of something that happened a few days ago. It was a bit of banter, a bit of fun and they were right to do it.
on the impact of fun within training sessions:
It’s the interaction that we have with the players. We as staff love working with them. I think that feeling is from both sides because they know how much we care about them. The level of demand goes very closely with the level of support that they get. I think the better that connection is, the bigger the chance is to achieve what we want.
on if that shows the camaraderie and togetherness in this team:
That’s a part that you probably can see, but there is so much that is going on every single day. Some beautiful moments, some others that are very tough as well. The objective that we have is clear. We have a fantastic group of people to do it and obviously a fantastic group of players.
on if he believes we can go the distance:
I live in the present and I prepare for what I expect and what I feel every single day with optimism. Putting everything that I have in, and trying to transmit and inspire those players to feel the same way. And then this is football. We have to do it. There is so much to do. There is a lot that we have done, but the important part is coming now and it starts tomorrow.
on if he’s spoken to his friend Xabi Alonso about what to expect:
I didn’t want to put him in that position, I don’t think it would have been fair. Obviously I have spoken a lot and I admire incredibly what he did for this football club and the group of players because it was something historic and unique. But no, I haven’t had the courage to speak to him and put him in that situation because I know how he is feeling about the club, and as well because I think we have two players as well that have been with this club recently, with this team and they’ve given us quite a lot of information.
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