Hector Bellerin has claimed that his new-found confidence will only help him improve as a player. The young Spanish right-back who has made 30 appearances for the Gunners thus far impressed last season as an injury to Mathieu Debuchy allowed him to break into the first team and cement his place.
Speaking to the Arsenal Weekly podcast, Bellerin said that he doesn’t agree with the second-season syndrome and instead argued that he must push even harder to maintain the quality of his performances that wowed so many after last season.
“I’ve had a few people talk about second-season syndrome but I really don’t believe in it… I think after a breakthrough season, what you have to do is keep going from where you left off.”
Bellerin also acknowledges that getting so many games under his belt last season has also played a massive role in boosting his confidence: “People say ‘Yeah, but people know how you play now’ but I’ve got the confidence knowing I’ve played 30 games already so I’m more confident in the games.”
However, the young Spaniard also explained that performing at your best week-in-week-out is never easy and that players will inevitably suffer dips in form, but believes that by putting the effort in now, he can overcome such obstacles: “It can always go both ways. It’s very difficult in football to always perform at your best level.
“You’re going to have ups and downs but that has got nothing to do with the first or second season.
“I just need to keep training and playing the way I was last year, keep learning and keep getting experience, and hopefully having some good performances.”
Moving on, the Spanish U21 international admitted that he is relishing the competition that France international Mathieu Debuchy will offer once he regains full fitness: “I know it’s going to be difficult with Mathieu back now but I’m just going to keep training hard.”
Bellerin also commented on the fact that competition for places is strong across the entire squad and as such pushes players harder than ever so that they are in with a chance of a starting spot: “I think the competition in every single position in the team is really strong.
“That’s going to make the team train harder, perform better and grow as players.
“We have to give our best. We know we can’t relax, we know we can’t take out starting position for granted when we have it.
“Even when you think you’re going to play you need to train hard because otherwise it’s on to the next one and you’re going to be on the bench.
“I think it’s very good and all the successful teams have that kind of battle in every single spot because that keeps you on your feet and makes you perform better.”
Hector Bellerin will be hoping that he can keep performing at the same level he was playing at last season, to make sure he can nail down the starting right-back spot for the long-term.
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