Madness at Arsenal! Arteta admits he deliberately sabotaged his own team
Arteta wanted Arsenal to experience chaos before chaos could find them for real.
Details: Mikel Arteta has revealed that he deliberately disrupted Arsenal's pre-season routines in an attempt to test the mentality and adaptability of his players. Meals and team transport were intentionally delayed, routes to stadiums were changed, dressing rooms were made hotter and even the number of massage beds available to the squad was reduced.
The Arsenal boss explained that the purpose was to put his players into uncomfortable and unexpected situations before competitive matches did it for them. Arteta wanted the squad to learn how to adapt without panicking or searching for excuses when transport, schedules or matchday routines suddenly go wrong.
Arteta summed up the idea behind the unusual preparation:
“I'm trying to create these situations in pre-season, so that when they happen, we've already experienced them.”
The Spaniard believes removing the element of surprise can help his players stay calmer when genuine problems arise during the season.
The methods may sound extreme, but Arsenal have already faced a real-life test of that preparation. It is worth noting that the Londoners arrived in Naples around three hours later than planned this week because of air traffic control disruption before going on to beat Napoli 1-0 in the Champions League.
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Steven Perez
Dailysports's expert
