On Saturday, we strengthened our position at the top of the Premier League table with a 1-0 victory over Hull City, thanks to a second-half goal from Martin Ødegaard. The Gunners therefore head into the international break as league leaders, with their advantage standing at six points following City’s defeat to Nottingham Forest.
– On today’s victory and Ødegaard’s performance…
“I’m very happy with the win. Going into the international break with a victory is one of the best things that can happen to a manager or a player. As for the game itself, I think we were better than our opponents and created enough chances to score and give ourselves a more comfortable lead, but we didn’t make the most of them. So we had to rely on creating a large number of chances and maintaining the pressure until we finally broke down their defence. Then Martin scored a goal — not the prettiest, but the most effective one. It was simple: ‘Get a shot away and keep moving to follow up on the rebound.’ In the end, that was enough to win the game.”
– On the start to the season…
“I have to praise the players and the club staff working behind the scenes for what they are doing. This has been a very demanding period, with little time to recover between matches because of the travelling. Despite that, the team’s mentality and character have been incredible. We are in a strong position, but we understand that there are many aspects of our game we can improve. We will analyse everything during the international break because we know an extremely difficult run of fixtures awaits us afterwards.”
– On the areas of the game the team still need to improve this season…
“There are many things we need to work on. One of them is offsides. Sometimes it comes down to the timing of the run, where exactly you position yourself and what space opens up as a result. We have been caught offside too many times. The match against Aston Villa changes the perception of those statistics somewhat — the sample size is still quite small, so it is too early to draw any definitive conclusions. But it is one of the things we need to work on.”
– On the decision not to award a penalty following the incident involving Kai Havertz…
“I haven’t watched that incident back yet. I was surprised because, when the referee was sent to the monitor, I was told it was a clear penalty for holding. In the end, they decided not to award it because Kai was in an offside position when the incident began. So I’m not entirely sure how that is being interpreted. I’m sure it will be explained to us.”
– On whether it was correct to rule out the penalty because of offside…
“I don’t know. I need to understand the decision, what exactly takes precedence and how the decision-making process unfolded.”
– On Declan Rice’s fitness…
“He’s fine.”
– On the team often winning by just a one-goal margin…
“We need to be more clinical. We had two one-on-one situations with the goalkeeper, and there could also have been a penalty. We had shots that were blocked or took deflections. We need to keep applying pressure, find ways to become more clinical and be more pragmatic. Sometimes, against teams that defend deep, we try to score the perfect goal, but we need to create much more chaos. If we had scored much earlier, that would have changed the course of the game as well.”
– On Noni Madueke taking more responsibility…
“That is the second part of the story. First, you have to earn the right to be in that position. Noni has done that. When he stopped playing regularly, he reacted in the right way: he went away, started training and came back as a completely different footballer. He wasn’t prepared to accept the situation; he was determined to make a change. Since then, he has been performing incredibly well. Now that he finds himself in this position, he needs to refine his qualities and keep improving. We’ll see if he can do that.”
– On Madueke’s desire to score goals…
“He knew he had three clear goalscoring opportunities. He made his contribution and influenced the move that led to Martin’s goal. But there is still room for us to work on becoming more clinical.”
– On the reasons behind the high number of offsides…
“It is a combination of several factors. Everything comes down to timing — you have to get the timing of the run right in relation to the pass. If the ball is played even a second later, it is offside.”
– On whether solving the offside problem could help Havertz score more goals…
“You and I can go into the office and work on it, and then the answer will be simple!”
– On Hull City’s performance today…
“We had some doubts about their starting line-up and the positioning of their players: whether they would play with a 5-4-1 or a 5-3-2 formation. But the way they eventually lined up and the players they selected were exactly what we had expected. They are a very well-organised team that presses aggressively and defends compactly. At the same time, you always feel that whenever the ball gets into the penalty area, they are capable of scoring. They are a good team.”
– On Ajayi’s performance…
“I don’t like talking too much about players from other teams, but Hull City deserve credit both individually and collectively because they kept fighting until the very end.”
– On Bruno Guimarães taking his game to another level…
“He has become much better, and his influence on the game has been enormous. He is performing at a really high level now, but we can still take him to the next step. I am convinced of that, and I told him so in the dressing room. He controlled many phases of the match, but there is still so much more to come from him.”
– On winning nine of the first ten Premier League matches and equalling a club record…
“I think this is the first or second time in our history that we have managed to achieve something like this. That shows just how difficult it is, especially considering the matches we have already played and the large number of away fixtures. But it is fantastic. We can still play much better and will continue to improve in many areas. We need to take certain combinations in our play to another level and make them even more effective. That is the next step: increasing our advantage over our opponents and taking our chances when they come, so that we don’t have to spend the final minutes of matches protecting a narrow lead.”
– On the victory being the team’s third in a week and the demanding fixture schedule…
“I have to praise the players and the club staff for what they have done during this recent run of matches. It has been an extremely demanding period. The quality of the opposition, the short gaps between games, the fixture schedule, the way we have played and performed, and the results we have achieved — all of it has been simply wonderful.”
– On the team having lost to Brighton before the previous international break…
“Everything is completely different now. After the match against Brighton, we had a long break, which felt particularly extended, so I intend to enjoy this one. We will work on planning for the next month because, when you look at the upcoming fixtures and the quality of the opposition, you realise what a serious challenge lies ahead.
“We need to make sure that we are ready for it. We also have to keep a close eye on our players and ensure they do everything required while away with their national teams. It is important that they enjoy this time, because it is an incredible opportunity for them as well. And when we get back together, we will continue our work.”
Source: arsenal.com
Author: MissingHenry
