Arteta’s Sabotage Tactic: How Arsenal Boss Deliberately Made Life Hard for His Own Players

Mikel Arteta spent part of Arsenal’s pre-season deliberately making things go wrong.

Meals were pushed back. Travel plans were altered. Players arrived late. Dressing rooms were made hotter. Massage beds disappeared.

The Arsenal boss was not losing control. He was rehearsing chaos.

Arteta has revealed he intentionally sabotaged parts of his side’s preparations to make sure his players were ready when real disruption arrived during the season.

That preparation was put to the test this week when Arsenal’s Champions League trip to Napoli was hit by delays caused by the UK Air Traffic Control crisis.

The Gunners had been due to leave Luton at around 3pm on Tuesday but eventually arrived in Naples roughly three hours later than planned.

For Arteta, that was exactly the type of problem he had tried to recreate months earlier.

“I love those challenges. I tried to create them in pre-season,” he explained.

The Spaniard said Arsenal would purposely arrive late to stadiums, change routines and force players to deal with unexpected situations rather than allowing everything to run perfectly.

“Just delaying the meals, delaying the transport, taking a different route. We've done many things,” Arteta said.

He even revealed Arsenal had made dressing rooms hotter and reduced the number of massage beds available, creating deliberately uncomfortable environments for his squad.

Adapt and Evolve

Afterall, that is the Theory of Evolution. The logic is simple: remove the shock factor.

Flights get cancelled. Trains run late. Traffic can wreck carefully planned schedules. Rather than allowing those moments to become excuses, Arteta wants Arsenal’s players conditioned to adapt.

His message to the squad when things go wrong is equally clear: “Don't complain or use it as an excuse because it's not helpful at all.”

It is hardly the first unusual psychological trick Arteta has deployed.

He previously arranged for a pickpocket disguised as a waiter to steal belongings from players during a team meal, using the exercise to reinforce awareness of opponents trying to gain small advantages.

Before Arsenal played Liverpool at Anfield, Arteta also blasted You’ll Never Walk Alone through speakers during training to recreate the atmosphere his players would face.

Some managers prepare for the opposition. Arteta appears determined to prepare Arsenal for everything that can go wrong before they even reach them. Who said players have it easy?