Arteta on overcoming the emotions of the PSG defeat

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Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta on overcoming the emotions of the PSG defeat   09/05/2025  Sobha Realty Training Ground, London, UK

Transcript

00:00What have you learned?

00:01For sure.

00:02I mean, for sure it hurts.

00:03I mean, if it doesn't hurt, it's that you don't love winning as much as I do.

00:08That's for sure.

00:09But you need to understand as well.

00:12Certain things that happened to understand.

00:14Was it possible to try to aim to get these kind of points with what we did?

00:19Or maybe what we did is overperforming what we could do as well.

00:22So there's a lot of ways to look at it.

00:24When I sit down and have some time,

00:26probably will make a much better reflection of that.

00:29What was your early reflection on it when you sort of talk about it?

00:34I cannot do it till we see how we finish

00:36and the feelings that I have and get everything that I need

00:40and go over and over again.

00:43Before the game in Paris, you did talk about

00:45sort of maybe the same points Tali would have got you

00:49a championship in the last two years.

00:51Sometimes when you're talking around the game,

00:53whether before or after, you can be emotional.

00:55I don't know whether you had any reflections on those remarks.

00:59Maybe it's hurt Liverpool a bit.

01:00I don't know.

01:01Any regrets before Sunday saying that?

01:03What do you mean?

01:04Sorry?

01:05On Tuesday night, you said in different seasons,

01:09we would have won the title with the same points Tali.

01:12I just wondered, you know,

01:14maybe it's got Liverpool's backs up a bit.

01:16I don't know whether you had any regrets.

01:20Well, it is true.

01:21I mean, with the amount of points that we had,

01:23we could have been champions twice and we're not.

01:26So that's what I said.

01:27You have to be in the right time,

01:28in the right moment, you know?

01:29And that's it.

01:30And if somebody is doing better than you in that particular case

01:33or because we as well, we had many situations

01:37and we could not get to those amount of points.

01:40It's something natural to do that.

01:42We have to really assess what is logical

01:44and what we have to do.

01:46I wasn't in tears but I was very touched,

01:58very sad because I was really convinced

02:02that we had everything to make it happen.

02:05And especially the first 20-30 minutes played out

02:10and how we suffocated them and what we generated.

02:12They were there for the taking.

02:14And even if the guys scored the chuchu with them 15 minutes ago,

02:18my feeling was still the same.

02:20And then when you don't achieve it,

02:22it is painful because the dream is over

02:24and a lot of people that we could make very happy and proud,

02:27we weren't able to do it.

02:28And that's obviously something that is painful in sports.

02:32The topic of strikes obviously comes up

02:34to raise its head every few months in the last couple of seasons

02:37and of course more so now up to the results on Wednesday.

02:40In terms of the two previous transfer windows,

02:42what would you say the main factor is in terms of not getting a striker?

02:45Is it availability?

02:46Is it prices internally?

02:48You guys have got different ideas on which striker to go for?

02:52No.

02:53I think it was a full alignment

02:55but sometimes the things that you want to do

02:57you're not capable of doing.

02:59Aside from goals,

03:00what do you think is the main pivotal point between you guys

03:03which is second place or getting to a semi-file

03:06and not actually going to that further step

03:07and winning a trophy in the last couple of years?

03:09Well, the first one with the league,

03:12I think there has been obviously two main reasons.

03:15One is the amount of games and time that we have played with ten men

03:19and then the availability of the squad throughout 38 games.

03:22It's very, very difficult to manage

03:24and to have very strong performance consistently.

03:27We dropped a lot of points.

03:28We dropped a lot of points of being ahead as well

03:31which is something that really needs to improve.

03:34And with the Champions League, even with those conditions

03:37because the competition is more segmented,

03:40we have managed to perform and be in the position that we are in.

03:43But maybe as well we like when we had to change the game

03:46in certain moments and have that freshness

03:48we didn't able to do that.

03:50Sam, the team.

03:52Hi.

03:53A lot of us for one and a half years,

03:55hundreds of press conferences, hundreds of hours of talking.

03:58I don't think I've ever seen you like you were on Wednesday night,

04:01so visibly devastated.

04:04And maybe just think how much of an emotional burden is on you

04:07to leave this club, to set the tone,

04:09to push that energy all the time.

04:11Because you're not like a manager like Carlos.

04:13He just seems super relaxed all the time.

04:15You live it and you breathe it 100% all the time.

04:17Are you not just exhausted sometimes?

04:20Not now.

04:21Probably because I have so much to achieve and do

04:25and I'm willing to improve and get done.

04:29That's what drives me every day.

04:31And those people and the staff and the players drive me every single day.

04:34But yeah, if there is somebody probably

04:36that has raised the standard and the expectation,

04:39the highest has been me because I've been demanding

04:41when people were expecting something much more

04:43and after that much more and after that much more.

04:45But for me it's the only way to do it.

04:48Everybody has really high standards and demands

04:51and we are very, very close to achieving it.

04:54And I understand it's disappointing.

04:56And with this it comes the criticism.

04:58It's all part of that.

04:59At the end it's one winner and the rest of them,

05:01they're not going to win.

05:02So they need to reinvent themselves and do better.

05:05And that's part of the cycle.

05:07You spoke before about amplifying the margins

05:10and providing the numbers that you need to win the title.

05:13I think maybe some people would argue that the system

05:16and the structure that you've built is world-class,

05:19the best probably in Europe.

05:21But when those moments of chaos happen or those moments of craziness

05:24like a defender scoring like seven minutes and zero,

05:27maybe Arsenal's players aren't quite that character

05:31or maybe they haven't quite got that intuitiveness

05:33or that invention or that innovation in those killer moments.

05:37Is that an assessment you would agree with?

05:39I said that you need something exceptional, yeah,

05:43to make those moments.

05:45What Inter has done, it was something exceptional.

05:48When the PSG is done with Embele scoring from respect to 0.07

05:54or the left foot on the post through three players like this

05:57or Fabian, he scored the first goal in the Champions League for him

06:00and Hakimi scores as a full-back.

06:02You have to do something.

06:04And we didn't do it.

06:05Was that lacking?

06:06Yeah, could we have done it in a different way?

06:09Yeah, could we have done it in a different way?

06:11Yeah, could we have a different play,

06:12we have Big Gabby on a set piece or defending the box

06:14in a different way?

06:15I don't know.

06:16But that's the reality.

06:18And at the end they are through and we are out

06:20and for sure we'll learn a lot of things from him.

06:23Hi, Miguel.

06:24Just in terms of how you've taken it

06:27and the players up in the aftermath of the other night.

06:31You obviously take it really, really badly

06:34but you see the positives quite immediately

06:38when you have a setback.

06:40Are you concerned about some of your players

06:42that they might not have the same attitude as you

06:45and at least they're constantly coming so close

06:47and not getting over the line?

06:49About the attitude?

06:50No, because I know them

06:51and how much they are still hurting

06:54and now we have to show the pride

06:56and how much we care about what is happening

06:58and we still have to achieve on it,

07:00which is a big thing because we haven't done it yet.

07:03So the mindset is going to be there

07:06and now we have to prove that we are able to do it.

07:08And that's just on the pitch, not here.

07:10And just on Marzo Eskeli,

07:12he's my best night after an amazing season.

07:17Are you concerned about him,

07:18how he's been about back when he's got an amazingly strong mentality?

07:22Yes, he does, you know.

07:25And when you look at the decision that he made

07:27after one or two errors,

07:29that tells you the player, the character

07:31and the courage especially that he has to play the game.

07:34And that's why we demand our players.

07:36If not, we wouldn't be here.

07:37If not, we can't be here.

07:39.

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