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In the second half of his pre-Wolves press conference, Mikel Arteta told his players not to feel sorry for themselves after a tough week stressing the need for perspective and the fact big occasions, even those resulting in difficult moments, are exactly what the club have been striving for over the last few years.
Here's what he had to say…
On the need for perspective after a bad week…
I think this has to be there and this is what it gives everybody and ourselves in our talks and it’s that it’s testing your resilience and your ego. And again, if I take a newspaper and show it to my son, it’s seven days ago after Brighton, and seven days later against Bayern Munich talking about the same thing, people will think it's three years ago. It’s the reality of what it is. But we have to live with it, that's the beauty of it as well. On Saturday you can be home and you can be the happiest man ever and say, we have a real chance here, let's go for it with the games to go, we have to make that happen, that's our job.
On whether he's found the words to explain the situation to the players and staff…
No, probably it's not words. We need another moment like that, an opportunity to make it, because at the end it’s difficult to say something to make it. You have to have the experience now and overcome that barrier. Now we have a Herald, who is in the quarter-finals. For 14 years the Herald was somewhere else before and before that we were in the competition. We're moving forward.
On the importance of putting pressure on City with a win…
What we are talking here that I like is [talk] that we win our games. This is the only thing that we can control, and the only thing that we are putting focus and energy in. Prepare the best possible way to go to Wolves and be better than them.
On keeping City on their toes…
That would be the concept. If we win we will put pressure on them because we will be on the top and they will have to win their game. We have to do what is our duty.
On it potentially taking 10 years to win the Champions League…
I don’t know, I don’t know how long it’s going to take, I have no clue. First of all, we have to earn the right to be in the competition again for another year and then we’re going to have to go stage by stage to see how we are. We were very close but the difference is Bayern were in it 20 years in a row. I know the margins are very important and sometimes there are details like that that we have to improve and we have to experience to be able to overcome that. I'm not going to tell anybody that next year we'll get to the semi-finals, I don't know. I think we're close and I think we're very enthusiastic. We can see how a club like Bayern behaved playing against us. That's a lot of credit to us. Look what they did against you, I've not seen it from Bayern, behaving like this. Good. That’s something positive.
On the players having a difficult week…
I think the players and staff are very lucky to have the week that we have had. This is the week that we want and we have been seeking for many years to have at Arsenal. You have to deal with them. If you want to be in this position, you have to go through it. It is going to be tough against those opponents. The margins are minimal and you have to go to compete and try to be better than them. And maybe even if you are better, you don’t win. It can happen at home, against Bayern and against Villa. Are you ready to react to that? If not, you’re not ready to be living these kind of weeks. We want to be living these kind of weeks. The answer to the question is, is it difficult or tough? Don't feel sorry for yourself, you want to be here, be prepared, because this is a possibility.
On his players now being focused on their one target…
Yeah, especially working like we have done for the last nine and a half months in this league. We deserve to be in the best state on Saturday to give ourselves the best chance.
On fatigue killing the excitement of a three-horse race…
I don’t know, I’m sure the players are going to squeeze every drop of energy and effort they can to make it as entertaining and as good as possible, I have no question about that. The task and the reward is that big. They will leave everything and I’m sure it will be a fascinating to the end of the season.
On the winner of the title being the team that drags itself over the line…
At the end it’s going to be about winning football matches, how you’re going to do it is a different story. It’s going to be down to who is best at winning football matches.
On a young squad meaning he has more to squeeze from his players than City and Liverpool…
That's what we are doing every day. There is so much growth and there is still so much energy in this group, and especially what we are attempting to do. That’s not an understatement.
The post Arteta on the need for perspective and overcoming disappointment appeared first on Arseblog News - the Arsenal news site.
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Here's what he had to say…
On the need for perspective after a bad week…
I think this has to be there and this is what it gives everybody and ourselves in our talks and it’s that it’s testing your resilience and your ego. And again, if I take a newspaper and show it to my son, it’s seven days ago after Brighton, and seven days later against Bayern Munich talking about the same thing, people will think it's three years ago. It’s the reality of what it is. But we have to live with it, that's the beauty of it as well. On Saturday you can be home and you can be the happiest man ever and say, we have a real chance here, let's go for it with the games to go, we have to make that happen, that's our job.
On whether he's found the words to explain the situation to the players and staff…
No, probably it's not words. We need another moment like that, an opportunity to make it, because at the end it’s difficult to say something to make it. You have to have the experience now and overcome that barrier. Now we have a Herald, who is in the quarter-finals. For 14 years the Herald was somewhere else before and before that we were in the competition. We're moving forward.
On the importance of putting pressure on City with a win…
What we are talking here that I like is [talk] that we win our games. This is the only thing that we can control, and the only thing that we are putting focus and energy in. Prepare the best possible way to go to Wolves and be better than them.
On keeping City on their toes…
That would be the concept. If we win we will put pressure on them because we will be on the top and they will have to win their game. We have to do what is our duty.
On it potentially taking 10 years to win the Champions League…
I don’t know, I don’t know how long it’s going to take, I have no clue. First of all, we have to earn the right to be in the competition again for another year and then we’re going to have to go stage by stage to see how we are. We were very close but the difference is Bayern were in it 20 years in a row. I know the margins are very important and sometimes there are details like that that we have to improve and we have to experience to be able to overcome that. I'm not going to tell anybody that next year we'll get to the semi-finals, I don't know. I think we're close and I think we're very enthusiastic. We can see how a club like Bayern behaved playing against us. That's a lot of credit to us. Look what they did against you, I've not seen it from Bayern, behaving like this. Good. That’s something positive.
On the players having a difficult week…
I think the players and staff are very lucky to have the week that we have had. This is the week that we want and we have been seeking for many years to have at Arsenal. You have to deal with them. If you want to be in this position, you have to go through it. It is going to be tough against those opponents. The margins are minimal and you have to go to compete and try to be better than them. And maybe even if you are better, you don’t win. It can happen at home, against Bayern and against Villa. Are you ready to react to that? If not, you’re not ready to be living these kind of weeks. We want to be living these kind of weeks. The answer to the question is, is it difficult or tough? Don't feel sorry for yourself, you want to be here, be prepared, because this is a possibility.
On his players now being focused on their one target…
Yeah, especially working like we have done for the last nine and a half months in this league. We deserve to be in the best state on Saturday to give ourselves the best chance.
On fatigue killing the excitement of a three-horse race…
I don’t know, I’m sure the players are going to squeeze every drop of energy and effort they can to make it as entertaining and as good as possible, I have no question about that. The task and the reward is that big. They will leave everything and I’m sure it will be a fascinating to the end of the season.
On the winner of the title being the team that drags itself over the line…
At the end it’s going to be about winning football matches, how you’re going to do it is a different story. It’s going to be down to who is best at winning football matches.
On a young squad meaning he has more to squeeze from his players than City and Liverpool…
That's what we are doing every day. There is so much growth and there is still so much energy in this group, and especially what we are attempting to do. That’s not an understatement.
The post Arteta on the need for perspective and overcoming disappointment appeared first on Arseblog News - the Arsenal news site.
Continue reading...