In an interview he probably had little appetite to do, Mikel Arteta sat down with Sky Sports ahead of our game against Liverpool today, to talk about Arsenal’s season, and what lies ahead.
After a disappointing exit from the Champions League that has clearly left the manager hurt (he sounds very down throughout most of the conversation, even if his messages are mostly positive), he was asked about summer plans and how his team can improve next season.
As you’d imagine, there were questions about recruitment – and particularly the now almost mythical ‘number 9’, as it is widely perceived to be the missing piece for this current squad.
Typically, Arteta’s answer was more broad, but having made his position pretty clear in January, and even this week after the exit to PSG, he acknowledged that need, saying, “I understand that. I think the narrative comes up and when you have generated, for example, these five expected goals and we score one goal, it’s normal that it’s going to happen.
“But we look at the things obviously with much more data and much more resources than many people, but a lot of people have very good intuition about what is needed and it’s good to listen to those opinions.
“For me it’s crystal clear what we have to do, to be better and to increase the probability [of winning]. Nobody can say ‘you do this and you win the league, or you win the Champions League’.
“No manager, no owner is going to sit in a press conference in front of everybody and say that, because the margin is so small and not only that but a lot of things have to go your way to achieve that.”
With strong links already to a midfield signing, and one between the sticks, the big question is how the Gunners will bolster the attack. Arsenal are not the only club in the market for a striker, or forward players, so we’ll have to see how this situation develops.
As well as additions via recruitment, increasing the output from existing squad members is something Arteta is also highly focused on.
“Starting with the players that we already have, how can we actually make them better?,” he said.
“Or sustain the level of consistency, or change their mindset, or alter certain positions, or improve the chemistry between them in certain ways in our way of playing, or give them more tools?
“That’s the starting position, then we can add something that we don’t have. For sure we want to do it and we’re going to try to do it, but let’s make sure that those players as well they get the credit that they deserve for what they are doing.”
You can see the full interview below.
DOWNLOAD THE NEW ARSEBLOG APP FOR ANDROID