Morning all.
There’s an interview with Steve Round on Arsenal.com. It’s good in my opinion. He talks about his own footballing journey, coaching, the spirit within the club and of course, Mikel Arteta himself.
In Mikel Arteta we’ve got an exceptional manager – there’s no doubt about that. And an incredible person too, the sky’s the limit for him. The job he’s done over the past couple of years is amazing – the changes he’s made and how he’s started to develop this exciting, fresh new team. He’s building a real togetherness and spirit, not only with the players, but within the whole club.
Of course it’s very easy to tell porkies about the person you work with and Steve Round was hardly likely to say anything negative about the man who dragged him kicking and screaming from Aston Villa but having removed my cynical hat, I believe that what Round has said, is true. If you’d read the interview already, you’ll know that when Mikel Arteta called him up and asked if he’d be interested in being part of his staff at a new club, when Mikel told him it was at Arsenal, Steve Round just said “I’m there”.
The crux of everything we do is to try to help the team win on a matchday. So I’m there to support the manager, to challenge the manager’s thinking and to share my knowledge as best I can. My aim is to help the team win but as well it’s to help the players and staff improve, and that’s the essence of coaching.
The bit I like is “to challenge the manager’s thinking” – it doesn’t matter how good a manager is, he needs a challenge, he needs to be challenged and he needs to listen as often, advice from someone outside the box, is all it takes to improve something which perhaps hasn’t quite been right. Any good/great manager will listen too. Life is about listening, hearing and learning. In my opinion, that’s one of the main reasons Fergie was successful, as he changed his assistant manager on a regular basis and with it came new ideas, different ideas.
Mikel Arteta held his pre West Ham press conference yesterday. Thomas Partey, despite what’s been written about a potential return earlier than expected, is unlikely to play again this season. Watch this space I reckon though as Mikel did add “hopefully I’m wrong” to his injury update. Bukayo Saka however, should be fine for tomorrow’s match. Whether or not Takehiro Tomiyasu will start is to be decided on later today.
Is it a two-horse race for the top four?
I don’t think so, there will still be some twists and turns, we all have difficult matches to play. We all know how difficult it is to win games in the Premier League and now we had two really good results that put us in a really good position. But it is about doing it again at West Ham.
On West Ham playing between the Europa League semi-final matches…
They have been doing that all season and they have been really good in both competitions. They have a big squad as well, they have many different options to change their players and still maintain their level. So I don’t see that. We have played games Wednesday night and Saturday at 12.30pm, we have managed to beat them, so I don’t think about that.
I still think David Moyes will rest a few of his players with such an important fixture coming up for them on Thursday but even so, his team will be ready to fight for all three points. Squad players are just as capable as first choice players, otherwise they wouldn’t be at the club. As Mikel Arteta said, Moyes has been juggling his squad throughout the season in order to deal with Europa League fixtures although I think this time it’s a bit different as West Ham are two fixtures away from potentially securing a place in next seasons Champions League.
On the new experience for players of playing under pressure…
For most of them it is but it’s been like this for the last two or three months where everyone is talking about it and they can feel the importance of every match but this is what we want in April and May, for things to play for.
What’s changed from this time last year?
We have very different players in the squad and we have a very different environment. I think the unity that exists right now between the team, the staff, our supporters and externally is completely different and is very very beneficial for the team and obviously, how the team has evolved in its understanding of what we want to do is much better, the execution of it is much better, the consistency of results is better and what we’re trying to do is seek for improvement every single day and probably what we did a year ago is what you see now.
Finally, the big one, does Mikel Arteta know his plans for the summer and has he identified talents to bring in, regardless of where we finish in the league?
Yes. It’s not as easy as that but the plan is very clear.
The plan could be anything but I think we can be pretty confident that Arsenal will be active in the transfer window. In’s and outs.
See you in the comments.
Morning Rico, no you’re a bit like me, I’m not really a partaker of alcohol although I have seen Adam worse for wear and I still shudder at the memory, but that’s another story. 😄
Good morning all!
Hope a good victory for tomorrow
Great post Rico, like you say Round is saying all the things that we expect him to say but the reaction of our players, say, when we won at Villa, that’s what points towards a great spirit in the club and the better it gets the more ambitious our owner will hopefully become and so on…
Big, big game tomorrow because if we can take 6 points from the next two games it could really put Tottenham under intense pressure for the NLD where we’d probably only need a draw.
But let’s get the result at the Olympic stadium first (he’s says to himself)…
Morning Kev, thanks. I’ve heard Adam is a bit of a party animal. 😂
Agree re tomorrow, huge game.
There’s a very complimentary article about Saka in this morning’s Telegraph. Well worth a read.
Cuccurela is an interesting player, 23 years old, he can play in several positions, he plays in the English League, he’s strong, he’s Spanish, why aren’t we interested in him?
Could you copy and paste it please Cicero? I don’t subscribe to the Telegraph.
How do you know we’re not Jm. Lol
Afternoon Rico and all
It’s nice to read positive things from the club about the progress of injured players and young player coming through but I ignore what any one says about the coach as they are never going to say anything bad.
At the end of the day it’s what’s happens on the field that counts.
Afternoon Geoff, you’re becoming as cynical as me. 😂
Mino Raiola Has died. 54 years old.
Long list of players going for all the other sharks to feast on.
Sorry Rico, only just seen your 5.04 pm. I’ll do it tomorrow if it’s still available.
Good night all. 😴
Read about Raiola, too.
I never really liked or appreciated him (which are both huge euphemisms), but may he rest in peace.
I don’t know if it affects Arsenal’s future dealings, though. There are a few players we are sometimes rumored about – like former academy sensation Donyell Malen, and one of the best young midfielders on the planet, Ryan Gravenberch. But the latter is rumored for a Bayern switch, so I don’t think we should re-evaluate our stance on Raiola’s former clients.
I detest all the greedy agents but wouldn’t wish I’ll on them.
New post up