Mikel Arteta was keen to ensure that no sense of complacency set in amongst his Arsenal squad ahead of their clash with Leicester City.
Things were far from smooth sailing for Arsenal against Leicester City yesterday.
Mikel Arteta’s side left it late to secure all three points against the Foxes. A Wilfred Ndidi own goal and a Kai Havertz tap in, in the 94th and 99th minutes of the match respectively, ultimately granted Arsenal the win.
However, up until those late strikes, it looked as though the Gunners may drop points, largely due to the extraordinary efforts of Leicester goalkeeper Mads Hermansen.
The North London club’s efforts to score cannot be faulted. Arsenal recorded a huge number of shots, now leading the way in Europe in this category.
However, whilst Arteta will be pleased that his players found a way to win, in many ways this was not the performance he will have been hoping for.
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Arteta wants his Arsenal side to play with control and calmness. However, chaos broke out at the Emirates Stadium at times on Saturday, as the game became a hectic affair.
The Gunners were heavy favourites heading into this match, which brings with it the threat of complacency. Arteta was keen to guard against this.
Ahead of the match, the Spanish coach was asked what he had done to convince his players of the importance of this fixture.
As quoted by the club’s official website, he said: “I asked them the question yesterday, to write it. What are the difficulties and challenges here? They were very clear about it so they know what’s coming and they know this league so good and they know that we’re going to have to be at the top level tomorrow to beat them.”
Despite the players being aware of the challenges they faced, they were unable to exert full control over this match at times.
After the final whistle, Arteta confessed: “I have to check but I don’t think it was on that paper [where the players wrote down the challenges they’d face]. It got very emotional, more emotional than we wanted certainly but I am really pleased with the performance the way we played.”
Arteta’s strange methods
Whilst this particular ploy did not pay off entirely, as despite going through the process of writing down their concerns ahead of the match the players were unable to address them entirely on the pitch, Arteta will still see the merit in his methods.
Arteta is no stranger to taking novel approaches to inspiring or motivating his players either.
For instance, over the course of the summer, Arteta hired pickpockets to target Arsenal players in an effort to impress upon them the importance of always being aware and alert.
On top of that, Arteta also introduced meal time rules that forced all his players to interact and bond. He will continue to experiment with new ways of getting his messages across.
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