Team news
We had some issues this week. In the last few weeks some players have been unable to play and participate in the games with Reiss [ill vs Forest] and we had a little issue with Bukayo as well which has been going on for a few weeks [and] with Leo. The rest are going to be fine. Alex is still out. Willy [Saliba] is still out. Tomiyasu is still out. Elneny's still out. The rest are all good.
Any worries about Saliba for pre-season?
It’s probably too early to say. He’s been evolving in the right way. The last few weeks have been much more positive than the previous two months. We wanted to protect him. It was an injury that needed some caring and attention, and we’ve been pretty conservative to give him a chance to have a good pre-season to have a chance to go again next season.
Great news about Bukayo Saka’s contract. Can we expect more of the same with Reiss Nelson?
Great news for the club [about Saka]. The club has done a great job with everyone who participated in that deal to make it happen. He’s a crucial player for us who represents our club in the best way possible. Hopefully there will be a few more to come.
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Parting message to the fans on the final day before the summer?
Now is about finishing the season in style and providing a great performance and a victory in front of our people. Show our gratitude and receive a lot of the incredible energy that they have given us throughout the season and start to build for the next season. We have to wrap it up in the best possible way, it’s been some journey full of emotions and something to look forward to which at the end we haven’t achieved. Looking with a bit of perspective, there are a lot of things not only on the field that happened at the club that deserves a lot of credit for a lot of people.
Do you have to nail it in the transfer window because City’s standards are so high?
No, because we have to nail everything that we do and we have to seek for excellence in everything that we touch and participate in which is going to have a big impact at the club. I think next season is going to be even harder than this season – which in my opinion has been the hardest of the 22 years that I’ve been in this league. In order to do that, we have a promising plan, we my have to reflect a little bit, take a step back, make sure this is the right one and go again with even more determination and hunger in the tummies to go again.
During the pandemic one message was the need for synergy between the club and the fans. Has the unity this season gone beyond your expectations this season?
It’s very close probably to the dream that I had when two weeks before I say down in the managerial position I was sitting at that opposition bench and I was looking and I wasn’t really happy with. I had a very similar picture in my head with some of the experiences that have happened this year. But there’s something that’s missing which is the cup and lifting it with everybody together. That’s what we have to do now.
How different is the feeling going into the final day this season from going into the final day last season?
There are similarities when you don’t reach what you want and it doesn’t allow you to be as happy as you want to. But it is different. Obviously we have made huge steps as a football club, huge steps as a team, the way we are competing what we are transmitting, there are a lot of positives there. But we are Arsenal, at Arsenal you have to win, you have to be the best and we haven’t been able to deliver that to the club.
How would you describe the season in a word?
Probably, connection. That’s how I would do it. I think the team has connected, I think the club has connected, I think the departments at the club have connected, I think the crowd has connected with the team, with the club, with the ownership, with the rest of the world. I think we have connected with our DNA, who we are, with our values and our way of doing things. We have to keep doing that.
Have their been celebrations among the players?
Not celebrations. First of all, we show gratitude from our side for everything they’ve done. Not only for the players but the staff as well and all the work they’ve put in, all the energy, all the passion. We did a little dinner last week to be together. That moment in the stadium is really nice when we have our families, we have everybody there, and it’s a good moment to wrap the season up and look at each other and go again.
How highly do you rate Lopetegui?
He’s done a great job again. He got the club in a really difficult position in the middle of the season and straight away he has transformed results to be safe quicker than anyone expected probably. He’s done it in a really difficult environment so big credit to him.
Who’s looking after Win in the summer?
We have three or four hundred candidates who want to take her in the summer. That’s not gonna be an issue. She will be looked after very well.
How much did the early transfers help last season and how much do you want to replicate that?
That certainly contributed, to the team getting the right foundation, building the right chemistry between them, the right level of comfort and security in the new players to build to a new life, in a new country and a new team. Then it happened in a really natural way. We got some really good characters – great players, but really good characters as well. We generated this from the beginning which is what we wanted. Results helped, they’re crucial, and then we started to have a good momentum.
Is there any update on Xhaka’s future?
No. I cannot talk and I won’t talk about any future of any players or members of staff. We have to wrap up the season, do what we have to do and then we still start to plan the following season.
Could Tomiyasu be back for preseason?
I think he will be really close, hopefully he will be around in pre-season like Willy [Saliba] to be in a good place.
He’s been working so hard the boy, it’s been a really difficult year for him with the issues he’s had, he’s a tremendous person, a top professional and we just want him to be available because when he’s available, he really helps the team.
You’ve mentioned wanting to be better each day throughout the season. Is there anything you guys have done that have helped with that?
Sure. We are reflecting on that. There are a lot of things that have been done really well across the club, across the first team staff and around the players but in this league it’s not enough. We have to dig in to see what the players are going to be needing and what the club is going to be needing for next season, so we can provide the best possible chance for those players to perform, get the best out of them for 10 and a half months in a really exciting season. That’s the thought process that we have to go again and nail it again.
How do you give opportunities to players who haven’t had them this season?
First of all, be critical with ourselves, first with myself. My job is to get the best out of 24 players that we have available and I haven’t been able to do that. There are still players who have great potential and we haven’t been able to do that. There are different reasons, whether it’s injuries, whether it’s game time, whether I haven’t had the opportunity or we I haven’t been able to play them enough. We have to look for those margins because we have those margins and our job is to make them better.
Did you watch City vs Chelsea and the trophy lift?
Not the whole match. I watched parts of the game and parts of the celebration, but I didn’t sit there for eight hours watching it.
What were you thinking when you saw them lift it?
That that’s what I want. If they won it, it’s for a reason. You have to do a lot of things right and it’s almost perfect in this league and they have managed to do that.
How do you sell the Arsenal project and convince them to choose you over the other clubs?
Explain who we are, how we do things, what we want from them, how we’re going to fit them in in our culture and our club. Then trying to do the right things as a club. Buying the right profile for the right amounts of money and at the end getting the players and staff that are going to make our car faster and more reliable to have a great season.
How much of a factor has the World Cup been this season? Did it have a physical and mental impact on the players?
I’m sure it did. But I think we used that part of the season really well with what happened there. We had some issues in terms of big injuries which impacted the team. We could not control that. But it was something that we have to adapt. The staff did everything they could to try to maximise it. But there are some things that are unpredictable and happened unfortunately. That was difficult.
Does it affect how much rest you give them now?
For some of them obviously you want to give them more rest but as well they have their duties with the national teams. Some of them have personal duties to respond to. Others are injured. We probably have more long term injuries than ever and unfortunately those players have to keep working through the summer. Psychologically that’s something difficult as well because the building is empty and they’ve been rehabbing throughout the season and we want them fresh. We have to make sure that they’re fresh here at the start of preseason and have that willingness to arrive here first day with new toys and go again.
How do you support them through that?
With the staff. First of all understanding what they’re needing, what they think is best for them, what they think is best for them and then what’s actually best for them and the club as well and trying to find that balance. The way to do it is communicating. It’s always the best way.
There was a time when Arsenal had to sell their best players. With Saka’s contract what does that say?
That’s part of the plan and I think at the moment we’re in a strong position to be able to do that. We decided that he was one of the players at the club that we wanted to secure his future with us. We’ve been able to do that. He’s extremely happy I think with the club it is.
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