Mikel Arteta on his progress at Arsenal, against Everton, the January transfer window and the goals of the season | Football news

Ahead of Saturday’s trip to Goodison, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta sat down for an exclusive chat with Sky Sports to discuss his first 12 months in charge of the club, facing Everton in shape, why results have slumped lately. and if you plan to do so. enter the January transfer window.

By a strange coincidence, Arteta takes his Arsenal team to Everton, in a match that can be seen live. Sky sports, almost exactly a year after the day he was in the stands at Goodison after being named Unai Emery’s successor.

“I want people to take responsibility for their work and I want people who put passion and energy into the football club. Anyone who doesn’t commit to this, or has a negative effect or whatever, is not good enough for this. I surround this culture ”, said the Basque at his inauguration last December.

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Going forward 12 months, however, Arenal find themselves languishing in an unknown position of 15th place in the Premier League, just five points above the relegation zone, after their worst start to a top flight campaign at almost half. century.

All of which is a long way from the start of the campaign, which Arsenal entered with great optimism after victories over Man City and Chelsea en route to winning the FA Cup last season, as Arteta became the first man to win the competition as both captain and coach of the club.

Not only that, but the 38-year-old also became the first Arsenal manager to win a major trophy in his first season in charge of the North London club since George Graham in 1986-87, with a second piece of silver shortly after. August after a penalty shootout win over champion Liverpool in the FA Community Shield.

However, the Gunners head to Merseyside this weekend with faith in Arteta waning after a recent demoralizing streak that has seen them win just one and lose six of their last nine league games.

Previously, the former Arsenal captain’s position at the club seemed secure as a result of those impressive one-time cup victories over rivals City, Chelsea and Liverpool.

But such morale-boosting displays only remain in the memory banks of fans and owners for so long.

This is football and it is a business of results. Period. And Arteta hasn’t been receiving them for some time.

Indeed, Wednesday night’s 1-1 draw with Southampton at the Emirates was Arteta’s 50th match in charge of the club in all competitions, with Arsenal winning more cup qualifiers (14 of 17) than league matches. league (13 of 33) under his command at that time.

So there’s a lot to discuss with the Arsenal boss as he prepares his team for a tough-looking trip to Merseyside this weekend …

It has been almost exactly 12 months since the day you were appointed Arsenal manager, so how do you assess the progress your team has made in that time? Are you a better team now than the one you inherited?

We have faced one of the most challenging and difficult years in our history. We have made great progress and implemented many things that are working very well.

The highlight is the two trophies we won in this period, but at the same time these latest results in the Premier League have taken the shine off progress and all the work we have done.

And we know it’s not good enough.

He must have been delighted with the fighting spirit that his players, many of them young and relatively inexperienced, displayed against Southampton, especially in the second half, when it could have been easy for them to hide.

Absolutely, and I have no doubt what the players are trying to do. We are all united, we are all ready to fight the cause. Things have been difficult, many different circumstances have put us in this situation: the amount of suspensions we are receiving, the injuries, some of the opportunities and the way we have lost football games.

But this is the reality and what cannot be blamed is the spirit, the struggle and the unity around the team.

I guess it’s in these kinds of tough situations that, as a coach, you really learn about your players.

Definitely. Normally in difficult moments is when you see real people, personal and professional, and it is something necessary to happen for a team as well as for a club. I say this as a club too, because in these moments is when you really see who we are. When things are going well, it is very easy to support and be in photography.

But when things don’t go well, that’s when you have to be prepared to do that; First of all, to defend our players as much as possible and give them confidence, and as I said, they have to take responsibility on the field and get the results we need.

What are you going to have to do to win at Everton, as Carlo Ancelotti has made Goodison a fortress since taking over? What do you think are Everton’s main strengths?

They have different ways of adapting, they play in different formations, and it depends on the players they choose on the day, which changes the danger zones and where the situations occur to attack, be vertical and attack your box, which is the main threat they have. with the attack zones.

And then trust. I think their last two results will give them a confidence boost and we have to be aware of that. And the fans, they’re going to have 2,000 fans, they’re going to be right behind the team and we’re going to need to go to Goodison to prepare for that and win the game.

You changed from four to three against Southampton on Wednesday. Why did you make the change and how do you think it went? And could it be something you use on Saturday?

We have the option, depending on the players we have available and what the opponents are doing, but we can change and we are used to both systems, so that is not the problem.

After Everton, you have home games with Man City in the League Cup round of 16 and Chelsea in the top flight on Boxing Day, a great opportunity for the players to turn things around?

For us, every Premier League match is exciting because we need the results and we want to play as often as possible. The players are in that mood and big games are coming.

But also, great games give you great opportunities to turn things around quickly.

Consistency seems to be a real issue as you went from a 1-0 win at Man Utd on November 1 to not having won a domestic game since then, is this understandable, however, with a young team and a new coach trying to get your new ideas through?

It is something that has been lacking for many months, consistency in the League. There are many factors, some of them that you have already mentioned, and others also that in this league, sometimes you do not always get the results that you deserve.

There are many games in which we have deserved much more, we should have many more points, but at the end of the day, we do not get them.

The transfer window is opening soon – could it be something you’ll be looking to get into, as your technical director Edu recently suggested, or would you rather fix the problems on the training ground with the players you have?

Our main focus right now is to get the best out of our players, it is the players who are here and are trying to help us achieve our goals, and then we will see what is available in the transfer window and what we can do to help the team.

What were your goals at the start of the season, a top four finish?

We have talked about the short, medium and long term, what the objectives are, where we are, and we are all very clear about what we should be doing, accepting that the results of the last Premier League have not been good enough, but knowing the direction we are taking.

What would a successful season look like in your eyes now?

Win tomorrow …!