Mikel Arteta was back in front of the media at Sobha Realty Training Centre for his pre-Monaco press conference on Tuesday.
Our manager shared the latest team news and looked ahead to the UEFA Champions League match at Arsenal Stadium.
Here’s what he had to say on the following subjects…
on players who were missing from training today:We have to manage a lot of the players, so they’re probably not going to be fit for tomorrow and are a doubt. I still have 24 hours to make those decisions and hopefully the right ones.
on dealing with several injuries:It is what it is. At the end if we have to accept the challenge and its opportunities for other players to do that. In the ideal scenario, we have to be in charge to make those decisions because it’s forcing us to make it for the wrong reasons, but as well, we need to accept the reality and move forwards.
on how difficult it is to play how we want to without a settled backline:I’m really happy with the way that we are playing, and the good thing is that it’s not conditioning the team in such a way that we have to become a different team. So, I’m very pleased with that, the way the team is adapting, the way players are making the effort to play in different positions and hopefully the ideal situation will come up very soon and we can do what we want.
on if we need to create more chances from open play:We want to create more from every angle and from set-pieces as well, we could have created more than we did and could have scored another one or two, so always trying to evolve and be better.
on if the feeling around the place after Fulham is different compared to previous setbacks:Yeah, the more I watch it. To concede what we conceded and how the hell we draw that game, it’s difficult to understand but that’s the beauty of football as well. We will adapt, obviously pull our heads up, it was disappointing, it was very emotional as well because scoring the second one and it being disallowed, it was tough. We have to move – every three games it’s another opportunity and we need to keep going.
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on what we learned from the Champions League last season:Yeah, we have to do a lot of the things that we do in the Premier League. The tendency always is to look at the Champions League like something else, so how big is the Premier League and how big is the Champions League? It’s not the Premier League is this size and the Champions League is this size, we’ve faced incredible difficult opposition every week and that’s the good thing. We’re coming up now against a very good team in Monaco, they’re doing incredibly well and they are so used to it because we play every three days against this kind of opposition, so yeah, it’s learning about certain things and scenarios because the Champions League in different in certain ways, but there are similarities in the way that we have to compete day in, day out in the league.
on if there is anything different about Martin Odegaard since he became a father:That’s for him probably to discuss, but I’m so proud to see them growing in our club and around our people and making them feel happy that this is the right environment for them to grow as a person, as a football player and as a father in this case, and I’m really happy to have this great news in the team.
on if Josh Nichols is available for Monaco:He’s been having some issues, we still don’t know if he’s available or not.
on how Gabriel Jesus is mentally at the moment:Like all strikers, they go on phases and moments and that gap is becoming big. It’s true that obviously a lot of things has happened, injuries, absences of not playing or starting games that much but his attitude has been really good, it always is, and we’re going to try to help him overcome the situation as soon as possible.
on if we are willing to let him go in January:No, no sense.
on if it’s a nightmare with the number of players missing:I was hoping to improve it and it did improve, but then very quickly after the first game we started to have issues and more issues than we expected, but honestly the good news is that the team still reacts and plays in the way that we want and becomes so dominant, and we want to do that regardless of who plays and I think that belief is within the team and it’s really positive.
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on if there’s an opportunity for Kieran Tierney to come back into the team:Yeah, he is ready and he’s training really well and he’s going to have an opportunity for sure with the way the team is looking at the moment. It’s for that reason and because he’s earned it as well with the way he’s behaved and the way he’s been with us because he’s willing to do it and when that happens you have to give opportunities to those kind of players.
on units, how they work together and how they impact Mikel’s team selections:Yes because if they haven’t played together enough you have to alter certain positions in relation to especially the outside players. You might have two, three, or zero left-footed players sometimes and that affects in certain ways our dynamics and the way we want to especially attack, but again we have to adapt, find ways to overcome that and still be very efficient and positive in the way we want to play. It’s been a good challenge.
on why injuries keep happening:Well it’s a knock-on effect. We have a lot of joint injuries that are very difficult to predict. We have some through tackles for example that again are quite difficult to predict. The other one probably is overload - the amount of minutes to play. The knock-on effect of not having one or two players available means it puts more strain and minutes on somebody else. That’s not a good change because the consequences and load of all the players starts to be too high, much higher than what you want to do, but it is where we are.
on if he’s worried about the number of goals we’re scoring from open play:No I don’t worry because when I watch the game the situations we have in open play and what the opposition has created in open play, I don’t know if we can do much more than that, especially when I watch Fulham’s previous games and the opposition they’ve played. Set-pieces are a consequence of what we do in open play and how we do defensively. It’s a phase that is part of that. You guys, I know that you see this as set-pieces and that as open play, and I see set-pieces and open play all together, but I respect that a lot. I don’t agree, but I respect it!
on his thoughts on Monaco:Really impressed. Really good side, you see the run they’ve been on in the Champions League and in the league, especially against top opposition, so a real threat. A team that is superbly well organised, really intense, really good in transition moments as well with a lot of quality, so it’s going to be a very good test for us tomorrow.
on his memories of playing against Monaco with PSG:Yes, good. We have a really good link as well with Arsene, Thierry as well. There’s a big history there. It’s a very special club, a special place, so we welcome them here and will hopefully be better than them to try to win the game.
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