Arteta urges people to "look with the telescope" after Arsenal's season stalls
Mikel Arteta has promised to get his telescope out - and get everyone to take a closer look at Arsenal ’s season.
Arteta wants to rebuild confidence ahead of Sunday’s third round tie with Liverpool by reminding his players and the fans they are in rude health. Arsenal’s back-to-back defeats to West Ham and Fulham between Christmas and New Year has seen them drop to fourth in the Premier League and Liverpool will be formidable FA Cup opponents.
But Arteta says the players are ready to respond at the Emirates by producing a performance to change the mood back to positivity. Gunners boss Arteta said: “It affects momentum because we were top on Christmas and now we are fourth. You can be very tempted to look with the microscope or with the telescope and have a bit more perspective.
“My job, big time, is to look with the telescope and have perspective and analyse things in the broader way and not get affected by one performance. Not result, one performance. That’s all I have done to reinforce and tell them how good they are, accept there were periods in the game against Fulham where we didn’t hit the levels that we wanted to earn the right to win a football match.
“We accepted that and we move on. We need to believe again in what we do and be consistent. We want to continue on that road that has taken us so far, much further than a lot of people expected or imagined and we need to continue to do that.”
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Arteta is likely to make changes to face Liverpool but also knows that winning the FA Cup in 2020 in his first season as manager gave him the foundations for success at the Emirates. The Spaniard even reflected it might have helped ensure his job was safe in the difficult early days. “Maybe yes, maybe no,” said Arteta.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta during his team's defeat at Fulham (Mark Greenwood/IPS/REX/Shutterstock)HAVE YOUR SAY! Will Arsenal bounce back on Sunday? Comment below.
“We won it for a reason. We deserved to win it. We did it against big teams as well. Not only the FA Cup but the Community Shield later as well. We are here for a reason.
“I think it helped at the time but look at now - we’ve lost two matches and look at it now. Six days ago we were top of the league which means we were the most consistent and best team in the Premier League. You have to put things into perspective.”
Arteta admits Arsenal could finish the January transfer window without doing a single deal as they are unlikely to make any big signings. They are also planning for a sunshine break in Dubai but the dates are dependant on whether they will end up having a replay after Sunday.
The Arsenal manager agreed with Jurgen Klopp that he wants third and fourth round replays scrapped while he also called on the fans to create a “hostile” atmosphere at the Emirates for the Liverpool tie. Arteta added: “We are really happy with the atmosphere that we have created at the Emirates. It has been really supportive. Can we tweak it and make it even more hostile? I think we can. That’s the next step in my opinion.
“We have to be so grateful for what we’re achieving in our home ground. Sunday is going to be another big one. I think the team has to give more. It has to transmit that bite, that aggression, that intimidation and that dominance to the opponent.
"Certain games this season, and Champions League games are going to create that next step. That’s my feeling.”
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