‘We don’t allow big egos. This is the dressing room we have now,’ Elneny 欧冠竞猜平台 said.
Elneny believes the manager firmly stamped his authority by taking a hard-line approach because it made other players wary: ‘If anyone is not the captain of the team, does a small mistake, they are going to have the same problem,’ he said.
Elneny believes the manager firmly stamped his authority by taking a hardline approach
But the midfielder believes a refusal to allow ‘big egos’ is now the secret of Arteta’s table-topping squad.
The saga was laid bare in Amazon’s documentary, in which Elneny was heard saying Arteta showed ‘balls’ to discipline Aubameyang.
Mohamed Elneny claims Arsenal’s players were scared into line by Mikel Arteta’s decision to strip Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang of the captaincy.
Speaking after Thursday’s win over Zurich, the midfielder claimed this was when the manager established himself to the squad.
The 30-year-old has not changed his mind 欧冠竞彩推荐 after watching it back. ‘Because we agree with what Mikel deci 欧冠竞彩官方 ded because he is our boss and we just have to agree what his vision is for (us),’ he said.
‘Now we have a thing to push for. We just push every day. We know we have a good team, we have good staff and Mikel really makes us feel like we are a really strong team now. And we just believe every day we can do something special this year.’
There were concerns that, without Aubameyang, Arsenal’s season could fall apart. But Elneny believes it brought everyone closer together: ‘Now everyone was scared! Everyone is scared with their position because this happened to Aubameyang.’
‘We know what we are going there to do, because now we know we look for the title,’ he said.
Aubameyang joined Barcelona for free in January after being exiled by Arteta, but the striker will come face to face with Arsenal on Sunday following his summer move to Chelsea.
That fear has not translated on to the pitch, where Arsenal’s young squad have made an unlikely dash to the top of the Premier League. Sunday’s trip to Chelsea represents another test of a squad which, according to Elneny, is now aiming for the title.
Mohamed Elneny claims Arsenal’s players were scared into line by Mikel Arteta’s bold decision
Elneny added: ‘We need to put Arsenal in the place they actually deserve. This is what we play for.’
‘What is he going to do with another player? This showed that now we can’t play around, now we have to be calm with the team and the way the team is going we have to stick with the team, not do something different.’
The Gunners sit two points clear of Manchester City and 10 points ahead of Chelsea in sixth.
Aubameyang has scored three goals for Graham Potter’s side but Elneny would not be drawn on the striker’s move to Arsenal’s London rivals, insisting they ‘just focus on ourselves now’. But he was full of praise for Arsenal’s new skipper, Martin Odegaard.
‘We support him and we make the job easy for him. He is really a good player on the pitch and outside he is very important for us.’ ENDS
‘We love Martin so much. Everyone is just happy for him to be our captain,’ Elneny said.
Striker Aubameyang will face his former club for the first time since leaving back in January
The striker was banished after returning late from an agreed trip to France. He was forced to train alone, and then stripped of the armband.
‘Everyone loves each other and everyone works for each other. This is what actually makes our squad really strong, because we don’t have egos in the team.’
‘100 per cent,’ Elneny said. ‘Now everyone looked at themselves because Mikel did that to the captain of the team.
Arteta has overseen a ruthless revamp of his squad, with Aubameyang one of several senior players culled in favour of a younger, more united squad.
Arteta kept a ‘catalogue’ of Aubameyang’s ‘misdemeanours’ as evidence in the dispute that eventually cost him the captaincy – and his future.
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Arsenal’s young squad are top of the Premier League ahead of Sunday’s trip away to Chelsea
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was stripped of his captaincy before being exiled by boss Arteta
