{"id":2291,"date":"2026-04-14T17:49:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T17:49:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/updatelive.online\/?p=2291"},"modified":"2026-04-14T17:49:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T17:49:14","slug":"what-mikel-arteta-hoped-to-portray-in-his-fire-press-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/updatelive.online\/?p=2291","title":{"rendered":"What Mikel Arteta hoped to portray in his \u2018Fire!\u2019 press conference"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Mikel Arteta tends to come out swinging in a media conference that follows a loss, but the Arsenal manager interrupting a question to shout \u201cFire!\u201d would not have been on many bingo cards ahead of his latest.<\/span><\/p>\n

Arsenal have been top of the Premier League since October, and have been relatively comfortable in the Champions League, but pivotal fixtures and wobbles in form have brought along a few rallying calls this year.<\/p>\n

Arteta\u2019s first reminder of a kick-off time for fans came before January\u2019s Premier League clash with Liverpool. Later that month, after a 3-2 loss to Manchester United, he asked everyone associated with Arsenal to: \u201cEnjoy the moment\u201d. Last week, he issued another kick-off time reminder, joking that supporters should \u201cbring their lunch and dinner\u201d to the Emirates because of the early start.<\/p>\n

This week has become critical after the 2-1 loss to Bournemouth on Saturday, and Arteta knows it. Speaking to the media before the Champions League quarter-final second-leg tie at home to Sporting CP, he was ready to come out swinging, and that was before he got to the fire.<\/p>\n

Here, we look at what Arteta said in his pre-Sporting media conference.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cWe are trying to do something, and in this competition (the Champions League), that hasn\u2019t been done in the history of the club \u2014 140 years. It\u2019s the first time we have been in the Champions League quarter-finals three years in a row in our history.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor other clubs, that is their daily meal. For us, no. We are competing to win the Premier League, and are in a really strong competition after 22 years without doing it. So we know the difficulty of that, but the beauty of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The intention behind this being Arteta\u2019s first real point of note is interesting. He later spoke of reminding his players how good they have been to reach this point, and that felt as though he was doing the same with the watching public, while recognising that this should not be the end goal for his Arsenal team.<\/p>\n

Arsenal have not been at the top table of European football consistently. As well as aiming to win the Premier League, a major part of their progress in recent years has been about changing that status across Europe, which reaching successive Champions League semi-finals would aid.<\/p>\n

Arsenal have rarely finished seasons strongly, which has contributed to the scrutiny put on their upcoming matches against Sporting and Manchester City.<\/p>\n

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\n Arsenal lost the Carabao Cup final to Man City last month (Nigel French\/Sportsphoto\/Allstar via Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Will this year be different?<\/p>\n

That collective trauma is what causes frustrations to flare when Arsenal hiccup, and is possibly why Arteta opts for a more aggressive approach.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo fear. Pure fire. That\u2019s it. Me, the first one. <\/span>Pure fire. That\u2019s what I want to see on the players, on the people, on myself. That\u2019s it. Go for it because the opportunity is unbelievable. We are in April, we have an incredible opportunity. Let\u2019s confront it, let\u2019s go for it by really putting absolutely everything into it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Bangs on the table came before the next question about his own emotions had ended, as he added: \u201cFire! I\u2019m on fire.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m dreaming so much. I\u2019ve done so much to be in this position because I know how this club was. I\u2019ve done so much that I just see beauty, opportunity, and I want to get it done for all these people that have been on this journey with us because they deserve it. That\u2019s what has driven me every single day. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI have zero fear. Fear I had when, \u2018Oh, if we don\u2019t get this done, this club, I don\u2019t know what is going to happen.\u2019 That was fear. Now, there\u2019s no fear. It\u2019s just purpose, fire, direction and conviction that we\u2019re going to do it.<\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Rather than coming across like a rehearsed saying, like when he speaks of \u2018fire in the belly\u2019 or \u2018using pain as fuel\u2019, this felt different. This felt like a man speaking before he was thinking, even if there were other moments of pause in the press conference.<\/p>\n

If you want fire, it probably helps to show it, and to understand who you are talking to.<\/p>\n

Neutral supporters may ridicule Arteta for his latest showing, but as far as he was concerned, this is not about them \u2014 and it should not be.<\/p>\n

Similar to \u2018using pain as fuel\u2019, other cliches like proving doubters wrong should not be what is on the mind of potential champions. Whether it is the Manchester City fan who went viral over the weekend with his bottle shenanigans, or others who pile on when there is a slip-up, this is why Arteta hit the right note when he said: \u201cThe motivation is to give the people that are with us what they are looking for. Not for the rest. The energy is on these people. They are the ones that deserve it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eberechi Eze strolled in for his press conference after Arteta and was a complete contrast. The ice to his manager\u2019s fire.<\/p>\n

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\n (Stuart MacFarlane\/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Asked if he was using neutrals\u2019 apparent dislike of Arsenal to fire him up, the 27-year-old took a moment to consider the question and then replied: \u201cNo, I don\u2019t care. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we do win, it\u2019ll be down to everyone else to deal with that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The use of \u2018when\u2019 instead of \u2018if\u2019 was a calculated risk from Eze, but shows what Arteta is talking about. Eze was much more relaxed in his manner than his manager\u2019, but he still had the confidence to take a risk \u2014 a trait he and his team-mates will need this week and beyond.<\/p>\n

However, each individual does it, it is clear Arteta wants Arsenal to bring the heat as a collective because, in his words, this week is \u201ct<\/span>he biggest opportunity of six and a half years\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mikel Arteta tends to come out swinging in a media conference that follows a loss, but the Arsenal manager interrupting a question to shout \u201cFire!\u201d would not have been on many bingo cards ahead of his latest. Arsenal have been top of the Premier League since October, and have been relatively comfortable in the Champions […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2292,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/updatelive.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/updatelive.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/updatelive.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/updatelive.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/updatelive.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/updatelive.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2291\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/updatelive.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/updatelive.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/updatelive.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/updatelive.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}