Mikel Arteta Arsenal
The bookies have you got you as 50/1 to win the title and about 7/1 to finish in the top four. Is that unfair do you think?
I don’t know where they get that from, but it’s difficult to judge to be fair. I want to see the club in a different position. Obviously they have their reasons to do that and hopefully we can prove them wrong.
How do you close that gap to the top four?
Last year it was six points and we need to be there. We know as a club that there is no other speculation, no other aim than to be with the top teams. We can find excuses about other teams doing whatever it is but we have to find a way. We have to find our way to do it with the tools that we have at the moment and what happened in the last few years here. In order to do that, I go again, since I have been here we haven’t had the fans. This for me is a key factor. We have to engage and embrace them with them together if we have some stability at the club we will be much closer to that.
Are you concerned fans will be pessimistic for the start of the season?
I am very optimistic with the fans because I watched them how they reacted with the team when we played Chelsea in the friendly and I was very impressed with that. Not only me, but all the players and the staff with the way they reacted. We had 20 or 25,000 and they were right behind the team. I don’t expect anything different. We have tried to explain everything that we could. Tried to get them on board, tried to get them to believe in the team. And the team has to give enough arguments to the fans to support us and hopefully we are able to do that because with them we are going to be much stronger. If we don’t have the capacity in other areas to compete with other teams, certainly we have a big advantage and it’s the history of the club and the fans that we have. So I’m sorry with that one we cannot miss that one because it’s too big a piece of the cake and that is that relevant.
Are you convinced Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang isn’t one of those players who suddenly has got to 31 and gone downhill physically?
I don’t know. Again last season everything that happened individually and collectively around the club to everybody, it’s difficult to measure whether it was a one off or if that’s a trend. Hopefully our job is to help the players to get the best that they have. We know that with him we are stronger because he scores goals and that is one of the most important things in this game.
You’ve got an Amazon documentary being filmed around the club this season, are you looking forward to it?
Yeah I experienced that a few years ago when I was at Manchester City, and we’re going to help as much as possible for everybody to see what this club means, how things are done at the football club, be as transparent as we can to show the values the integrity, the passions and where we are trying to drive this football club. Hopefully it’s the perfect year to show that. We need to make it happen. So it’s down to us to try to produce the best piece that we can so everybody can feel part of what we do, and our fans can be proud of what we do.
Will you get any say on what can and can’t be filmed and does it feel a bit more odd that you’re going to have to reveal a bit more stuff than usual?
I think I’ve been very transparent since I’ve been here and I try to answer every question. But if you ask me questions about the dressing room, I’m sorry that door is completely closed. For the rest I think I’ve always responded to every question in my best capacity. While they are here we’re going to try to be us, we’re not going to try to be somebody else, we’re going to try to be us and show what we do. That’s it.
Were you given a choice in whether it took place or not?
No. That’s a decision made by the club. It’s with the best possible interests of the club so we need to help as much as possible to do that.
You said in May that you would need to be ‘ruthless’ in overhauling the squad. Do you feel you have been ruthless and do you feel that you still can be before the end of the window?
Again at the end of the market I will respond to you. If you want an honest answer I will give that to you on the last day of the window.
Do you think fans understand how difficult this market is?
I don’t know. If you are reading all the time every news relating to the club you can get confused because you see that many names attached to it that you can go from here to there. So you’re going to like more A than B, and if you get B and you were expecting A then you’re never going to be happy. But I don’t know we will try to explain why we doing things the way we can and be transparent with that.
