Arteta: I am motivated by making people happy… not criticizing | News Arseblog

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There is a good chance Arsenal will lose to Manchester City tomorrow and after a two-day respite Mikel Arteta will again be a lightning rod for critics as our woes are splashed across the back pages of the papers.

If he comes across as someone who is driven by negative energy – the vibe that Granit Xhaka gives off as soon as he gets out of bed – you couldn’t go more wrong. The Spaniard insists his project is not fueled by proof that skeptics are wrong, but rather by the prospect of making Arsenal fans happy again; a task of Sisyphus in anyone’s book.

I can’t have more energy and more determination and more desire to make a difference, Arteta said when asked about the impact of criticism. No one else has more than me right now.

I look in the opposite direction (to be driven by criticism); when everything was going well, when people are having fun, when people feel like they are a part of what they were doing, people are happy. When we have this power, I just focus on that.

There will always be unhappy people. I haven’t seen any fan with a manager or player who is happy when you lose football matches. It just doesn’t happen and it’s unrealistic.

While many fans will point to eighth consecutive places under his leadership as proof to the contrary, Arteta is confident the club are moving in the right direction. He also says he doesn’t question what he’s trying to do.

No, not management, he replied when asked if he had any doubts. You have to know how to adapt, see what is happening and how to help the team and individuals in this field. Whether it’s a speech or the way you communicate with them or what you ask them to do. Adapt a bit but the direction is not going to change.

So where does this unwavering faith in its principles come from? None other than Pep Guardiola, his old friend and, these days, a regular opponent. When asked what he learned from the City manager, winner of countless trophies and regularly hailed as the best coach in the game, Arteta said:

First of all you have to believe in what you do and in every difficult moment you stick with what you do and the whole team, the whole club stick to what we believe and all the decisions I make all the time in this direction.

He added: “I have felt the urgency since the day I arrived here. Change the situation that we had, try to improve in many areas that we were struggling in, that we had problems and that we won as many football matches and trophies as possible.

“It won’t change whether we win the next three games or not. This uncertainty, this desire to do well, this commitment to bring success to the club has to be always there and I think we have to feel it too to get the best out of ourselves.

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