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I was terrified: Mikel Arteta remembers the fear during the first days as Arsenal manager

I was terrified: Mikel Arteta remembers the fear during the first days as Arsenal manager

Mikel Arteta admits he was initially “terrified” when he took over at Arsenal five years ago but now relishes the challenge of chasing perfection.

The 42-year-old is the third-longest serving manager in the Premier League after overhauling his club’s culture and transforming the Gunners into genuine title contenders.

Arteta is now thriving under the constant pressure, but confesses there was a time when the whole project seemed a little daunting.

“I was probably terrified,” he said. “I mean, you haven’t trained anyone at the highest level. It was mid-season, without any preparation, without a coaching staff, they asked you to bet on this great and incredible job.

“I was looking at the people who made that decision and they were very convinced. First of all, you want to respond to that trust, and I had very strong feelings towards the club.

“I just wanted to make sure I didn’t let anyone down, that I was capable of doing it. The only way to do it is to start day by day, start experimenting with it, start reaching out to the players and the staff and see what can work.”

Reshaping Arsenal’s spirit was a top priority for the club’s former captain, who three weeks after Unai Emery’s sacking took charge of a 10th-place team languishing so close to the bottom of the Premier League table like from the top.

He said: “Well, the first thing is to understand what a good and a bad culture is. To do this, what I did was basically ask, through someone I hired, to give me his opinion on how he feels about working at this football club.

“Whether they are players, as staff, in all types of roles, in all types of responsibilities. So I had a very clear idea of ​​what they thought and how they felt about it.

“And it was clear that it had to be changed. (It was fundamental) because those were the roots of the football club. If those roots were damaged to that level, there was nothing to build without it.

“So in the first season, we had to put energy and big decisions into making sure those roots were clean and in the right context and place to be able to create and build what we wanted to build.”

While Arteta did not reveal the identity of his mystery consultant, he said the person was “special (and) a very good friend of mine.”

Silverware has eluded Arteta so far, but his team took a step closer to securing some on Wednesday night as Gabriel Jesus’ hat-trick secured a 3-2 win over Crystal Palace to set up a meeting with Newcastle in the Carabao Cup semi-finals. .

Just three days later, Arteta’s men are preparing to face the Eagles again, this time away from home in the Premier League.

The Gunners boss said he is constantly thinking about how to become the “best possible manager for Arsenal” and, no longer terrified, loves testing himself with limitless ambitions.

Arteta added: “One hundred percent (it keeps me going).

“And how imperfect we are, above all, and how many areas there are still to explore and improve. And that’s the beauty of this job, that (time) is limited.

“You can work 24 hours a day and you still have a lot of things to do, and every day is a new day, it brings you new challenges. You open a window and say, ‘Wow!’, and that gives you energy. “Let’s explore that one.”

“And I love that, because I also have a lot of staff that are exactly the same, so you walk into the building and there’s always that energy. And I think the players value it too, because if not, it becomes a bit boring and very systematic every day.”

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