Martin Odegaard praises Mikel Arteta for ‘mad’ thing he introduced at Arsenal

Add as preferred source on Google

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has been revolutionary in a number of aspects, as he helped turn around the fortunes of the club in four years.

Arteta inherited a mess when he took over in December 2019, but four years on his young squad are fighting for the Premier League title and are comfortably in the Champions League knockout stages.

The Spaniard has introduced many unconventional training techniques to the squad, and has also drawn praise from numerous Arsenal players since his arrival for his coaching methods.

Captain Martin Odegaard has now opened up on what Arteta has introduced to the matchday routine, and labelled this as one of his favourite aspects of his management.

Odegaard praises Arteta for coaching methods

Speaking to official club media, Odegaard was asked what his favourite moment from Arteta was this year, and he explained why he loved a new routine he introduced to the squad on game days.

“I think there’s so many things he’s doing, you know, we have all of these team meetings, and like sometimes we have, when we are in the hotel before the game and have our pre-match,” Odegaard explained.

“We go to the room, and then we come back for a meeting just before we leave, basically like two hours before the game.

“Sometimes we do these games as a team, so the team meeting is basically us playing games relating to our playing style.

“Sometimes these games are so mad! The team just comes together and goes mad! I think one of these moments is my favourite.”

Mikel Arteta’s coaching methods at Arsenal

A key theme of Arteta’s tenure has been unconventional coaching methods and team talks.

He was both praised and criticised for playing Liverpool’s club anthem during training before a clash at Anfield, whilst he has also employed other bizarre methods including inviting club photographer Stuart Macfarlane to deliver the team talk before a North London derby.

His methods clearly work, as Arsenal have become a team challenging at the top level, with the best defensive record in the league under his guidance.

Odegaard, who was made club captain in 2022 following the departure of Alexandre Lacazette, has clearly bought into his methods, and with Arsenal aiming to end the calendar year at the top of the table, the introduction of matchday games seems to have had a positive impact on the squad.