You won the FA Cup but that was behind closed doors. How does this North London Derby in
front of a full house compare?
It was one of the nicest feelings that I had, certianly in this stadium. It was a big occasion
for us, a big game. To win it the way we did and to feel that connection between the team
and supporters made it really special.
You’ve said this is a process that will take time, but did we see a Mikel Arteta team
today?
This is an Arsenal team that they have won a game today and their manager saw a a lot
of things that he feels very related to. I’m proud of the way played. I’m more proud
to be able to give something back to the fans because they really stuck behind the team.
You challenged Emile Smith Rowe to score more goals and get more assists last season. Could
this be a point where he kicks on to do that in a more regular basis?
Well he has scored two in the last two games. It’s great. I think today was a great example
of the senior players showing big leadership standing up for the team. The likes of Auba
scoring a goal. And then two academy players who have been raised and developed within
our system coming in a big derby and doing what they’ve done - scoring two goals.
How important is it to have those academy players who recognise what the derby means?
They are able to transmit those feelings because they have been raised and educated experiencing
those feelings in the stadium and supporting the club. A lot of people that we have as
well in our organisation they have a real sense of what a derby means and I think they
will be proud of what they’ve seen today.
What did this win mean to you in terms of the atmosphere?
I said it I think when we didn’t have the crowd it’s impossible to complete that project.
It’s impossible to attract people and connect with what we are trying to do if we don’t
have fans and we don’t have our supporters here. It makes such a different thing when
you sense that they believe that they are willing to support.
We want to entertain them and play in a way that they are going to feel proud. When that
happens in the same time it’s exceptional. That’s why I think we all enjoyed and were
really happy today with what we’ve seen.
Just how pleasing was Aubameyang’s all round performance?
I’m really happy with the performance today, the performance against Burnley and what he
is doing. When he is getting criticised and we ask him to do more he stood by it. He puts
his head down and is working tremendously hard for the team. Now I can tell you he’s
really leading the team.
You must be really impressed with the game management in
that second half?
Well I think we did. But there are certain aspects that we have to do better in the second
half. The way we gave the ball away in certain areas, the way we defended some of the runs
in behind, we could have done better. But it’s understandable. They are chasing the
game, they are throwing everything, they are putting six, seven in players in the last
line of attack with a lot of width and players inside. It was difficult to control that,
but overall very happy.
Three games in people were panicking with Arsenal bottom of the table and three games
later you’re four points off Liverpool at the top. What do you make of how everything
has changed?
That’s the beauty of this game and the danger of this game as well. It changes so quickly
at both ends. You always have to be alert and try to seek improvements and do better,
which I think we can still do.
You said this project was going to go bang. Did today feel like that day?
Well certainly, I think we all agree that we saw a team that was really convincing from
the beginning. Playing with the right energy, with high rhythm, with a lot of quality, with
great cohesion and understanding of what we wanted to do with and without the ball. Then
we were super efficient. I think that’s something that we’ve been lacking in the
final third, that final pass, the right shots to hit the target more. I think we did all
that really, really well in the first half.
Were there any doubts over picking Granit Xhaka and how is he after that injury?
We had to think about it. We had different options to play against them. We believe that
the way we set up and what we wanted to do in the game it was the right call to do that.
I understand that a lot of people would say ‘you won the last two games why are you
going to change it’.
We did it with the intention of being the right thing to do to start the game and then
to have other options as well to change it. Unfortunately he got injured. I’m pretty
worried because it doesn’t look very positive at the moment.
How close was today to your vision for Arsenal and what have you done over the last three
games to turn things around?
Well what we did is try to explain to them, with a different perspective, what happened
in the last few weeks. We missed nine, 10, 11 players in three matches that we could
not select that they were out and the ones that were in as well with a lot of difficulties
because they had COVID and they had injuries. And we played the best two teams in the world
which you could see yesterday when they played each other.
But we have to accept that we were bottom of the table. That was the first, accept that
reality, go back to certain things that we have to do better and then believe in what
we had to do. Then continue to stick together and then we were lucky because we had our
people with us in a difficult moment which is very difficult to find in football. Then
things started to get better.
Were you aware that Thierry Henry was hosting Daniel Ek at the game today?
No. I wasn’t.
You said a lot about the fans. What’s your message to them moving forward?
Thank you for creating this incredible environment today and for the energy that they showed
to the team. This win is for them and enjoy it tonight.