A delayed flight to Naples? No problem for Arsenal FC – after all, Mikel Arteta has his team practise for such situations by setting traps for them.
It was a good two years ago that Arsenal’s players were pickpocketed during a team dinner. Mobile phones, wallets and all manner of valuables had suddenly vanished; Kai Havertz and co. had fallen victim to a pickpocket. The thief, disguised as a waiter, had been commissioned by their own manager: Mikel Arteta.
The message behind it was obvious: stay alert, expect the unexpected. Aphorisms à la Arteta, with which he regularly raises his team’s awareness. Practice makes perfect, in this case the English way.
Tricky circumstances shouldn’t throw the team off course. Take, for example, a delayed flight, as happened before the Champions League away match in Naples. Arsenal were due to fly out on Tuesday at around 3 pm; in the end, the Gunners arrived in Italy five hours later, at around 10 pm. “When that happens, we adapt,” explained Arteta, who had to cancel the press conference due to the delay. “We’ve got two or three hours on the plane – can we make the most of them? Play together, spend some time with each other, get some sleep. But don’t complain or use it as an excuse, because that’s not helpful at all.”
Late meals and a stuffy cabin
During pre-season, Arteta deliberately creates unusual situations time and again. According to his own account, his ‘acts of sabotage’ include deliberately ensuring his team arrive late for matches by changing the route, delaying meals or providing too few massage tables – the Spaniard has even had the changing room heated up.
“I love these challenges,” says Arteta, who aims to lure his players out of their comfort zone by setting up these hurdles. “So that they know how to deal with them, and when they do arise, we’ve already experienced them and know what to expect.” His team, for example, should “not panic” if they arrive late at the stadium. Nor should they panic once inside the stadium. Ahead of a match against Liverpool FC, he had the Reds’ anthem “You’ll Never Walk Alone” blaring across Arsenal’s training ground so that the players could get used to the atmosphere at Anfield Road.
Unconventional methods which may well have had some effect, at least in Naples. In any case, Arsenal won 1–0.
