Football fans slam Arsenal’s training ‘nonsense’ as bizarre new training drill revealed

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Mikel Arteta is known for trying to be innovative with his training methods at Arsenal but the latest effort might just be the most bizarre yet.

Arteta has had a number of clips go viral over the years including his famous ‘Light Bulb’ teamtalk.

Of course, he and many others would argue those methods are working but after an open session ahead of Sporting Lisbon revealed a new drill, the Gunners are coming under fire again.

Arsenal and Mikel Arteta questioned as new ‘pen’ drill introduced to training

In clips doing the rounds on social media of the open training session, one of the more intriguing items on the agenda was the team’s use of pens in a small four-person drill.

Gabriel Heinze was directing the way and players were tasked with keeping two pens balanced between the ends of their fingers, while simultaneously keeping control of the ball.

However, while some might see this as a good way to focus the mind and build team spirit, Arsenal are once again being hit hard by fans on social media.

One fan suggested that these methods are ‘nonsense’ unless Arteta can deliver trophies at the same time.

Indeed, the drill has also opened Arsenal up to some mocking, with certain fans suggesting it’s to focus on the two aspects of losing they’ve endured lately.

“Perhaps he should tell them to hold two cups next time while training, so they know how to win some” one fan added, while another commented ‘Focus on two things at once, bottling the UCL and the league”.

Clearly, this was always going to go viral and the barrage continued.

“If Arsenal fail to win the league this tweet is going to go down as being generational” another fan added.

Nevertheless, one Arsenal fan defended the drill.

“It’s simple, we are the biggest club in the world. Anything we do is always on people’s lips” they suggested.

While one old school fan commented on just how much things have changed.

“Back then we had a beer before games, now they’re holding pens! Football’s gone!”

Of course, it remains to be seen whether Arsenal will find some extra impetus from such training drills and in fairness to Arteta, it can’t hurt to introduce some light-hearted fun at a tense time.