Every word from Mikel’s pre-Newcastle presser | Press conference | News

Mikel Arteta was back in front of the cameras again at the Sobha Realty Training Centre on Friday morning as he tackled questions ahead of our trip to Newcastle United.

The boss was asked for some injury updates, as well as Ethan Nwaneri’s recent displays, last season’s game at St James’ Park and much more.

Here is everything he had to say:

on his sympathy for what is going on in Spain:
Before we start to talk about Football, I would like to talk about the terrible disaster that is affecting my country at the moment. I want to send from our side our thoughts, our full support and our sympathy to everyone who is affected – all the families and all the individuals. Obviously all of the country that is pulling together to try to find the best possible solution in this difficult moment. From here, I just want to show my full support and ask everybody in the way that they can to support because it’s terrible what has happened.

on Gabriel’s availability:
We have a training session today. If he can complete that, he’ll be available. He hasn’t had any training sessions yet, but if he’s able to do that today, he’ll be available to be in the squad.

on Calafiori, White and Odegaard:
Riccardo and Martin are out definitely. With Ben, we don’t know yet. He hasn’t trained yet. He could not train, he could not get involved, so let’s wait and see if he’s available.

on if there is concern about the gap at the top of the table:
You want to be first, you want to win every game. We know the situations that we have to play with this season, but we’re right in the mix. We know the tough challenge that we’re going to face tomorrow, but we’re fully ready for that.

on last season’s trip to St. James’ Park and his comments afterwards:
It’s part of the past and part of the situation that happened. You learn from it, you take a lot of positives as well and we’ve moved on.

on if the standard of refereeing has improved since then:
My intention was not that the comments worked. I have to say what I feel on the day. They’re certainly trying their best.

on if he learned something new about the group in the Liverpool game:
Unfortunately a lot of things happened that we didn’t even plan for. I was suspecting, with the size of the squad that we had, to be very adaptable in the season and that’s something that we worked on from day one in pre-season. But obviously, not to be that adaptable, especially in certain scenarios, but for sure the team showed an incredible capacity to compete, to be better than the opponent in many moments, but it’s true that in the second half very early again something happened that affected the rest. We are there.

on how White performed at centre-back against Liverpool:
That’s Ben’s quality. He can play in those two positions, within those positions he can adapt his role and play different heights, especially in ball possession we’re demanding against a very difficult, tricky opponent with very particular duels, especially in that section of the pitch. To do that job, when he hasn’t played there for over a year, I think he was really good.

on Newcastle’s start to the season:
The league position after nine games is very tricky when you see the fixtures that they’ve had as well and certain situations that they’ve been through as well, but they’re a fantastic team. They’re really well coached, they’re very intense. It’s a great stadium to play in, you know what you’re going to face there, so we’re looking forward to it.

on Ruben Amorim potentially becoming Manchester United manager:
I cannot talk about this kind of situations.

on what it was like being a young manager in the Premier League:
It was fantastic, great.

on Ethan Nwaneri’s potential:
I can talk about how good he is right now. At 17 years old, to be in a position like he is in at one of the biggest clubs in Europe, I think sums up really well the level that he has. What is going to happen in the future is mainly is going to depend on him and how much he wants it. At the moment he wants it a lot and he’s surrounded by the right people and then you will need a crystal ball to see where he is going to be in a year, two years, three years. My prediction is going to be very positive.

on whether he is amongst the best young players Mikel has seen:
It is rare to see a talent like this at 17 years old, that’s true. But when we gave him his debut in the Premier League, there was a lot of talk about it but we didn’t do it because he was a gift, we did it because we knew the pathway that we wanted to build with him and we wanted to send him a really strong sign about how much we trust him and how much we wanted him to stay with us. We are delighted to have him.

on why there are a lot of injuries across the league this season:
I think there are two aspects – one, we’ve been quite unlucky with some of them and especially to happen in very similar positions, and then obviously the demands that those players are having every every week. If you put that into perspective as well, you have a smaller squad because all the restrictions that are hitting all the clubs which means you cannot have 30 quality players in the squad, and the moment one player has to play more minutes affects them and there’s a knock-on effect for the rest of squad, which is quite difficult to manage.

on whether Mikel has to protect Ethan:
I think the biggest thing is to push him, and then when he is being pushed, you always grab him right behind to make sure that he’s always stable and protected. But with this talent, you have to push him. The protection is necessary to keep an eye on him and be at the right distance, but he needs to see that he can fly and don’t clip any wings.

on how helpful it is for him to have Bukayo Saka who has been on the same journey:
I think that creates belief in the building, through all the academy and all the young players we signed at a very early age that there is a pathway that is clear and that we’re going to give them opportunities, and if they earn it, they’ll be treated like the rest.

on Thomas Partey playing more minutes this season than last:
The one thing that we needed was Thomas to be at the level we wanted certainly. He’s working so hard to do what he’s doing at the moment, and I think he’s playing really well in different positions with different demands and he’s coping with it in a great way. He’s a big player for us.

on whether there will be contract talks with Thomas soon:
He’s only 31 and he’s in a really good place and yeah, we’ll have discussions.

on his own talent at the age of 17 compared to Ethan:
[I was] not at that level. I was really lucky as well because somebody trusted me at that age and gave me the opportunity, which is what they need as well. For the talent to emerge, somebody has to give you the chance, the belief, then you have to be surrounded by the right team, the right players If you do that, you have a chance.

on what he can apply to Ethan from his own experiences:
Individually, a lot of things that I should have done, that I learned, so if we can give him advice, great. What I like about him is he really believes that he has the ability to do it. He really believes he is capable of taking anybody’s place, and he’s earned the right and trust of his teammates, which I think is vital for a teenager coming through.

on the physical step up to Premier League matches:
It’s a huge jump, and we need to understand where he’s coming from, and if he had any issues in the past three or five years in his growth and development. The physical side, as is the mental side, the tactical side, is really important to take care of because a lot goes through the roof straight away without you knowing. Then you look back and say: ‘look what he’s done in the last four months compared to the last 18 months.’ We need to keep an eye on that.

on if his meditation helps him with refereeing decisions:
On the touchline I haven’t got to that point of meditating more! Maybe it’s something that has to happen. I just want the best for the team, and I want to give the team the best chance to be as competitive as they can to win the majority of football matches. So I know that when they change the rules on certain behaviours on touchlines, we need to evolve, and that’s what I try to do.

on if he has evolved to manage his emotions:
I don’t want to miss any games, that’s for sure. I cannot promise you if we score a goal I won’t be jumping up and down the touchline, I cannot guarantee that. Hopefully as well they [referees] have adapted and understood that emotions are a big part of that. I cannot control myself in one squared line, but so far it’s worked.

on if Ben’s issue is a groin injury:
No, this is related more to a joint.

on when Takehiro Tomiyasu might be back:
I don’t expect him to be available before the break unfortunately.

on if Inter Milan next week is a possibility for Martin:
Now is the stage when he will do certain work with us, Let’s see how he deals with pain, if he moves naturally enough, if he is physically now at the level that requires him to compete. But with the workrate and the hours he’s put in, I would be surprised that the moment he starts training with us, we don’t say that he looks ready. So hopefully soon.

on how he reflected on Newcastle’s goal against us last season:
I didn’t stop on that sequence [when he watched it back]. It’s already in my hard drive so I didn’t want to go through that again!

on if we have received harsher treatment from referees:
No, because every club has a history with games and situations and comments, that’s part of the game. We have to understand it for what it is, if every decision I make is going to get criticised, or they understand or don’t understand it. It’s part of the game, we are always going to have opinions about the job, that’s normal.

on if there is any lasting consequence from that incident at St. James’ Park:
No, hopefully we’ve passed it. We talked through it in depth and that’s done. A year in football is a long, long time.