Everyone’s tomorrow.
Here’s a quick Saturday recap for you, starting with Mikel Arteta’s response to a question in yesterday’s press conference about whether some players are worried about their lack of rhythm as they haven’t started many games. His answer:
After that, they should practice more. It’s an excuse I don’t want. So what do we do? Do we send you on holidays? So you play, you have to be ready. When you’re not playing, you have to do everything you can to make an impact on the team.
Because otherwise, those who play a lot say ‘No, but I’m not performing because I’m tired!’ he says. So it’s always an excuse. I hate excuses.
We know the role. We know that the level of competitiveness we need in the team is at the maximum level. And they work amazingly well.
I don’t see a player who doesn’t have rhythm or doesn’t play like that. Everyone participates. All played minutes. And it will continue because they really deserve it. So I hope we can maintain that because it’s a great asset for us.
I think we all know he’s a very demanding manager and that’s a big part of what makes him so good, but sometimes you’re reminded of just how much! I get it, and maybe this tough love, if you want to call it that, can be formative and helpful. Look at Myles Lewis-Skelly, he progressed in one position, Arsenal went out and got an established and experienced international to play in the same position and he spent most of last season on the bench.
In the end, it ended strongly for Myles. Circumstances helped a bit, but when he was given his chance in midfield he grabbed it with both hands, so much so that he started the Champions League final and has now established himself as a regular in his favorite position. It took a while, but I’m going to guess that if there was a little bit of frustration at the beginning of last season, the reason he got a chance was because of how he upped the ante in terms of his training and his attitude.
However, for some players, things like rhythm and confidence are important. You can really see when they don’t have it. For example, Victor Gokeres hasn’t even played an hour in the Premier League this season, he’s yet to score, and against Lille on Tuesday, he was probably the only player who has been peripheral so far this season and hasn’t really made an impact. Arteta said of the striker:
These are things that we try to help the player as much as possible in his career or in one season. It has some very good moments; He was in front of the goal three or four times without a goalkeeper and the ball should have reached him, but it didn’t. Then maybe they are talking about something else, but these are attackers. These are very small differences – whether or not you score changes the story. We need to know the perception of how much he can help the team.
I’m not sure I necessarily agree with Lille having three or four moments like that, but referring to what the manager said above, he feels to me like a player where rhythm is important and there’s nothing for him at the moment. Obviously, no mollycoddling here. The message is very clear, when you train harder to play, to make an impact or to ensure that you can get a chance next time.
There was also a question about the absence of William Saliba in the team photo, and Arteta spoke about the fact that despite the main player not having a medical (🤔) they had to continue anyway due to commercial demands:
What happened was that we already tried to take that photo three times, but had to cancel it at the last minute for various reasons. We had some commercial commitments and people coming and going to do it, so we decided to at least take this picture. We will take another picture with the whole family. I hope that one day we can bring them all together and we will announce that as well.
I realize it’s not the most important thing in the world, but having an official team picture without someone of Saliba’s importance and stature feels wrong. He played a huge part in us winning the title last season, so regardless of why he wasn’t involved, he needs to be rectified so he doesn’t appear to have the Premier League trophy front and center. Fourth time lucky, I hope – leaving Stewart MacFarley to figure out how to fit the French into nice symmetry in the symmetry they actually took!
—
Finally today, and you may have already seen this, but for the past few months I’ve been working on something really special with my friend James Clifford Kent. He’s someone I’ve known through this website for 22 years, we’ve played football together and a lot more over the years. He’s a great photographer (among other things) and took some incredible pictures of the parade after we won the title.
So to commemorate a very special moment in all of our Arsenal support lives, we’ve created a book we call ‘The 22’. It tells the story of the season in words from me, all the ups and downs, hopes and dreams, fears and anxieties and special moments, and amazing pictures of James.
It has a foreword by Ian Wright and each comes with a collection of postcards, a double-sided A2 print, stickers, a bookmark and a premium presentation box. it is so strictly limited editiononly 2026 individually numbered copies exist, making it a true collector’s item. We will be holding a presentation in London on the afternoon/evening of November 6th (venue to be announced next week), we will be asking people to sign up. We will provide detailed information on how to do this. Pre-orders will be available to Arseblog Patreon members starting November 2nd, with the final batch going on general sale online on November 7th.
So whether it’s for your own Arsenal collection or a Christmas present for the Arsenal fan in your life (yes, we’re closing that time of year again!), we hope we’ve got you covered.
Right, I’ll leave it there for now. Have a nice Saturday friends.