00:00You sort of journaling and writing things down.
00:02I saw you mentioned it again in an interview this week.
00:04At the summit you've been writing things down.
00:07I just wonder, was that part of that around your messaging to the squad this season?
00:12Because I imagine this is a very different message you're giving to them
00:15than you would have done in the past.
00:17It didn't have that purpose.
00:19It was something that came naturally that I felt that I wanted to do,
00:23that I enjoyed a lot doing it.
00:26And it was a period of, again, self-reflection especially.
00:30And then understand, okay, where do we want to take this football club,
00:35this play, you know, what is the journey that I want to be involved in
00:39and what happens to me and my family and my life in the next few years
00:44as well, in the next few months.
00:46And it helped me. It made me feel better.
00:49It gave me energy. It gave me clarity as well.
00:52And I think one of the main things that I have to be able to provide
00:55is clarity and a clear direction.
00:57And then have the ability to convince all of them that this is the right way to go.
01:03Do you ever worry about motivating the players when they've achieved what they wanted?
01:09I think here at the training ground, remember, you installed that trophy that's now lit up
01:13because you won the Premier League.
01:15So every day they're going to walk in and see that,
01:16and they're not going to think, oh, we've done that now, we've reached the top.
01:19How did you get them to say that when you need to go and do that again?
01:23Well, because they got the message immediately.
01:25And most importantly, the message came from them.
01:29You know, immediately after doing that, they were already talking about
01:32what is next and what they want to do.
01:34I think they enjoy the company and the journey so much that they want to keep this momentum
01:40and they wanted to do it with the group of players that we have right now.
01:43And that's great.
01:46Hi, Michael.
01:47I just wanted to ask you about Martin Zubimendi last year.
01:51He obviously came in big signing, had a great start,
01:53and then towards the end of the season was a bit out of the team
01:56because maybe ran a bit out of energy.
01:58How is he now and how he reacted to being out?
02:02You know, not signing the Champions League final.
02:05Do you still see him as a major part of the team?
02:08Well, Zubi, without a doubt, he was one of the best players for Arsenal last season.
02:12I mean, without him, we would never get into the position that we got in the last few weeks.
02:18And he deserves massive credit.
02:20He certainly credit from all of us, all the coaches, myself, and especially his teammates.
02:24We know that without him, we would never reach the level
02:27and the way that we competed throughout ten months.
02:30At the end, yeah, he didn't play that much.
02:33He still played some important minutes, but he didn't play that much.
02:37But no one can neglect the importance of what we did and how important he is for us.
02:42So, I think it's important to comment because a lot of people end with a taste,
02:47no, but this player played the Champions League final.
02:49Yeah, yeah, because this guy did it for ten months.
02:52Otherwise, we weren't here and we wouldn't be playing in those finals.
02:55And I think he deserves a lot of credit for that.
02:58What sort of condition is he in now?
03:00How did he react to the disappointment of not spotting such big games last season?
03:05Well, I had various conversations with him face-to-face.
03:08First of all, for him to understand my decisions, he knew perfectly where they were coming from.
03:13And he is extremely honest and a straight guy.
03:21And he is so demanding of himself that sometimes it can be even too much.
03:26But he knows that and he knew that we were going to add and increase the quality of the score.
03:31Because it has to happen in every position and we cannot not do what we did.
03:35And then when he got to the last stage of his season, he already played 55 games.
03:41You know, we cannot have that again at this level.
03:43And he recognises that.
03:45And now it's going to be OK how I'm going to now raise the level
03:48to be able to do what I did last year but for 11 months. That's it.
03:52I take it there's no chance of him leaving. It's really important.
03:56No, he's a really important player for us.
03:58OK. And finally, Gary.
04:00You said last week there are very few players who can improve the score.
04:05You've generally been quite patient in the windows and not wasting money.
04:11Are you in that position now that if you don't find the right person,
04:14you would say, let's just park it for a year?
04:20Well, I think the purpose has to be to be better than we were last year
04:25or to be different and to evolve in a different way
04:28that can increase our probability of winning again.
04:32And we have now four players in the squad probably very soon
04:37that we believe that this is going to be the case.
04:40And if we can add more, we will try to do that.
04:43But only if that's the case because there are the right reasons to sign,
04:46not because of any other reason.
04:48Because otherwise, we're not going to get better
04:51and we're going to regret it.
04:54Simon's on this last week about the changes.
04:57You obviously said the win the new joke is now all one.
05:01But what other messages have you changed?
05:02No, that was a joke.
05:06What other messages have you changed around the training ground over the summer?
05:11What messages have you changed in the signs around the training ground?
05:15Just to give them a little bit of a, you know...
05:19A little bit of a what?
05:22They don't need any kicks. I see that.
05:25If they need a kick, believe me, they will get a kick.
05:27But they don't need a kick.
05:30What they need is the realisation of the energy and the desire and the passion
05:35that they have to go against this season.
05:36It's certainly there.
05:38And look after each other every day.
05:41Because we have built something that is special
05:44and it takes a long time to build it.
05:46And we need to make sure that we look after it daily.
05:49That's the most important thing.
05:51Okay, guys. See you tomorrow.
05:52Okay, thank you.
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