Mikel Arteta “I’ll Take The Blame, Shoot Me”
Written by MAX FM on December 15, 2020
Mikel Arteta says he is ready to take “bullets” for his players and that he remains 100 percent confident he is the man to turn things around at Arsenal.
Pressure has been growing following the club’s worst start to a league season since 1974.
Arteta ‘100 percent’ confident Arsenal can turn things around
Arteta accepts that results have not been good enough and understands the criticism that has been coming his way.
He has issued a rallying cry to his players, calling for them to stand up and be brave.
“I feel the pressure all the time,” said Arteta. “When we had those [good] spells [last season], everything was not beautiful. In the last few months of last summer there were a lot of difficult moments, believe me. It wasn’t everything nice and easy and enjoyable.
“But obviously when you are winning you create a different mood and then the pressure once you win is to win again. And the pressure is always going to exist.
“That’s why I accept them because you can say whatever you want to explain but in the end, you have to win football matches and this club is too big to accept this many losses in the last weeks.
“So my chest is here, hit me, guys.”
Arteta has received the backing of Arsenal’s technical director Edu this week, who spoke about the need for stability at the club following a period of such dramatic change in recent years.
The Gunners’ boss says he “appreciated” the public show of support and was adamant he could get Arsenal back on track.
“Yes,” he said when asked if he was 100 percent confident he could turn things around.
“We all knew the bumps were coming. I think I said many times in this room, it’s how we deal with them, how strong we are to get through them and sometimes when things get ugly it’s necessary to get brighter and better.
“Nobody likes to be in the situation that we’re in in the Premier League and it’s not good enough and it’s not acceptable. It’s not a quick fix but that does not mean that we’re accepting the situation, it’s the contrary.”
