Mikel Arteta has revealed that he is trying to find the right balance between experimenting with his team, building fitness and winning matches during this pre-season campaign.
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The boss has guided us to three wins out of three so far this summer, and he is hoping to maintain that run during our time in Orlando where we’ll take on Orlando City and Chelsea in the Florida Cup Series.
And while these summer months are all about tinkering with tactics as well as increasing fitness levels, the Spaniard admits that he is keen to keep building a winning mentality so is leaving no stone unturned during his preparations for the game against the hometown team on Wednesday evening.
“They are test matches so we want to try different things and get the boys up to speed physically,” he said. “We’re starting to build the minutes ready for the league and at the same time compete against two good teams.
“We need to get the right impression and the right understanding, and then we start to be better as a team. They’re very talented, but at every point, every game has to be won.
“We’ve been watching [Orlando]; we watched the game they played last Saturday and the previous Saturday. The squad has evolved a lot in the last few years, and it is a beautiful stadium so it should make for a good match.”
As well as getting his squad into shape ahead of the big kick-off in just over two weeks’ time, Arteta has also been involved in shaping his squad with the transfer window in full swing.
