In the second half of his pre-Manchester United press conference, Mikel Arteta discussed Myles Lewis-Skelly’s learning curve following his early substitution against PSV and Arsenal’s recent struggles from set pieces.
He also reflected on the importance of maintaining momentum in the title race, responded to an old Arsene Wenger warning about the game after a big win, and shared his thoughts on persuading young talents to stay at the club.
On when and what he said to Myles Lewis-Skelly after substituting him early on Tuesday…
Today. Today I did. When the dust settled, that’s what you say in English, yeah? And talk openly, you know? What can we learn from that situation? How can we expose the team? What are the things that we have to try to avoid without losing his essence. That’s what we have to do, understand where that line is. Because he’s a superb player. He has attitude, he has courage, what he transmits…certainly we have to maintain that. And just understanding the risk-reward. What part of the pitch you are in and when you have to bet certain things that can give you big reward. And sometimes, guys, stay away from that bet because it’s not good for us.
On fighting against inexperience with Lewis-Skelly…
It happens with the senior ones as well. A lot. And depending on the part of the pitch that you play, those ones, when you make that mistake or you mistime it, the consequences are terrible. And from the front players, it happens the same. It’s for everybody. I think we are in a constant learning process. And that one, you have to be lucky because to learn when you won, is much, much better. Believe me. For your confidence and, as well, for how your team and your colleagues perceive you. So he was lucky in that.
On whether his chat with Myles was one-on-one…
Yeah, yeah. Very good. One-on-one.
On Arsene Wenger’s belief that the game after a big win is always dangerous given Arsenal have gone 0-0-7 for goals (like James Bond)…
That’s a great analogy. And now, boom! I hope that we can replicate that [Tuesday]. We discussed just understanding why you scored the goals and can you consistently provide those moments, those situations as often as possible to increase the probability of it happening again. That’s what we have to do. And we know that Sunday is going to be a very different game. And we are very clear on that. And we’re going to have to earn very different things as well to hurt Man United.
On a win at Old Trafford keeping the pressure on Liverpool…
It’s certainly going to keep our momentum going, but we’re going to have to be really good to earn the right to do that. We know historically as well how tough it is to win there, and we’re going to do our best and earn the right to win.
On why Arsenal’s set-piece goals have dried up…
Various reasons. In some of the games, we generated a lot of situations and chances. Scoring a goal was something different. In others, we haven’t been at our level.
Sometimes it’s been the delivery, sometimes the timing, sometimes the execution. And then there’s a big part, which is the opposition as well. They know how to defend.
They are prepared very well for that because they know it’s a big threat of ours. And that’s it. I think we did very well two or three days ago. We did very well against Forest. They will come, but we have to insist and be very persistent on it.
On Saka’s corner deliveries being missed…
That’s another one, obviously. When you have it from both sides, at that level of consistency and quality, it helps. But again, scoring goals and set-pieces is never a flat line that you’re going to maintain. It’s impossible. It’s never been done. And it should not generate frustration. Yes, we’ll do better, because even when we were doing really well, I used to say we can still do much better because we are not still consistent doing almost everything perfectly in the right time. So now it’s exactly the same.
On whether he sees similarities between the situation he inherited at Arsenal and the one Ruben Amorim is dealing with at Old Trafford…
No, I think it’s a very different situation. I have massive respect for Ruben and for United, what they are trying to do as well. Every situation is different.
On what’s different…
I don’t want to talk about that. I look after my garden, my club, and what the rest of them do, they will try to do their best thing.
On Chido Obi-Martin’s attributes…
Massive goal threat. There is an attitude and love to live inside the box and the capacity to score in many different ways. That was him.
On whether the club could have done more to keep him…
I don’t know. To persuade a player to stay, a player has to be willing to be with us and commit to us. I don’t know specifically [in this case], both parties will probably feel very different about it. The reality is that he’s decided to move and we have to move on from that. That’s it.
On whether it’s harder to persuade youngsters to stay when money is on offer elsewehre…
It depends on what is the reason why they want to go somewhere else. That’s it.