Perfidious sabotage of their own manager! Mikel Arteta deliberately made Arsenal’s pre-season preparations more difficult
According to a report, Mikel Arteta has admitted to personally sabotaging parts of Arsenal's pre-season preparations in order to toughen up the squad.
Technical failures at London airports left Arsenal arriving late in Italy for their Champions League trip to Napoli, though the Londoners still won 1-0 at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
Arteta not only takes that kind of disruption in his stride, he actively builds it into his preparation. "I love challenges like that and try to provoke them in preparation. When they then arise for real, we have already experienced them and are prepared," said the Spaniard.
His main aim is to break routines and test the squad's resilience: "For example, you arrive at the stadium very late, the routine is broken and suddenly the players have to react differently. Things like that can happen: you miss the flight, the train is delayed, there is heavy traffic. I do not want players or staff to panic. Instead, they should adapt to the situation."
Mikel Arteta built artificial barriers at Arsenal
What matters to him is a professional attitude, even when the conditions are difficult: "Okay, we are sitting on the plane for two or three hours longer - how do we deal with that? You can play together, spend time with each other, sleep or use the time in other ways. But under no circumstances must you complain or use it as an excuse, because that does not help us at all," said Arteta.
During pre-season, the coach went out of his way to create those artificial barriers, as he revealed: "We delayed meals or transport, chose a different route - we tried a lot of things. We heated up the dressing room, made the conditions more difficult, provided fewer places to sleep and similar things, because we always have to adapt to different situations."
He had used a similar approach before. Ahead of an away game at Liverpool, Anfield chants blared through loudspeakers in training. At a team dinner, the club's hierarchy even hired a professional pickpocket who secretly stole valuables from the players to sharpen their attention.
How did Arsenal start the season?
The Spaniard sees the value in those mind games clearly: "We try to anticipate such things and create the best possible conditions. If no element of surprise or stress factor then arises on the matchday itself, that is a big advantage."
Results back up the approach. The Gunners have made an impressively sharp start to the campaign, winning all five of their competitive matches so far, and visit Sunderland at the Stadium of Light next Saturday.
