Arteta pickpockets his Arsenal players – And my Top Ten inspirational brainwaves from Arteta | OneFootball

Mikel Arteta’s latest brainwave has been leaked out this week. He had some of his Arsenal stars pick pocketed!

The whole squad went for a meal and at the end of the night some emptied their pockets to realise some of their possessions were missing.

This is when their manager revealed he had hired professionals to steal from his players.

This was the Spaniards way of warning his squad the need to stay alert at all times on the football pitch.

This is the 42-year old’s latest creative idea in how to lead and motivate.

Some rival peers have been quick to mock our boss, but it depends how serious you take this kind of thing?

Most Gooners who work would have gone to some sort of training day or workshop where the trainer has a team exercise or riddle to make their message clear.

If you want to improve on how to lead a team then it might be worth looking into some of these ideas.

It’s all harmless and if one person benefits from these methods it’s worth it.

If anyone on a 1 on 1 is having any personal issues Arteta would be an inspirational person to chat to.

I admire in his first Job; a rookie boss had the confidence to walk in and try and take control of all departments.

That’s what a Fergie and Wenger did.

For better or worse here are my top 10 Arteta brainwaves ….

“Proudest Week of My Career”

There’s a lot of team talks that didn’t have the desired effect, but anyone who wants techniques into how to lead a team need to watch how Arteta addressed his squad the day of the Norwich fixture in 2021.

For context, Arsenal had made their worst ever start to a Prem campaign, losing all three games, conceding 9 goals and not scoring.

Yet with a piece of paper, a pen and some words, he spun a negative situation and turned it into a positive.

He described as feeling rock bottom after a 5-0 humiliation at the Etihad but in the two weeks inspired by the people around him, the love of the club and how fortunate he was to work with such a great group.

At a time when other managers wouldn’t have been happy with his squad, he simply wanted to say …. thank you.

Recreating The Kop

Very aware of our terrible record at Anfield, including his own personal experiences as a player Mikel Arteta wanted to prepare his young squad for their latest trip to Liverpool.

He recognised the amount of times we conceded an early goal at the stadium and our tendency to fall apart when that happened couldn’t be a coincidence.

He tried to fix that mental barrier in 2021 by recreating the Kop atmosphere in training.

In the week of the fixture, during practise speakers were set up blaring out’ You Never Walk Alone ‘.

Like the song is the only reason we have only won 5 times on the red half of Merseyside in the Prem era.

Arsenal went on to lose 4-0!

It shows the good grace he has built in the UK that this didn’t become more of a meme.

What’s worse?

That he has the arrogance to think that the answer would be this simple and that those before him hadn’t thought of it?

Or the lack of self-awareness to allow such a cringe idea not be recorded for Amazon to show the world. Imagine Klopp’s squad watching this now knowing just how much in our heads they are?

The Spaniard still hasn’t managed a League win at Anfield.

Mr Wenger is the last to do so and it had nothing to do with what music we played.

The Artist

Our manager clearly has a boatful of metaphors to use when the time is needed.

The issue is he feels the needs to accompany his words with visual aids.

His message before the 2021 NLD was clear.

From his own experience, if you show heart in this fixture, the Emirates will give you energy.

All  you have to do is think with your head and not get over emotional.

He then proceeds to draw images that a preschooler would have been proud of.

Yet because we raced into a 3-0 lead these drawings have become shirt designs, canvases, even tattoos.

‘A Great Night’

One of Arteta’s great metaphors was how you have to work together and keep trying to create a Great Night.

The comparisons to football he made was when he met his wife in a night club.

He goes down the left side and doesn’t get very far, so attempts the right flank without much luck. So, he speaks to her friend to get an introduction. The idea being that by believing and working together you can make your great night anything you wish.

Smith Rowe couldn’t keep a straight face while others looked confused.

We won the game that night.

Photographer Does Team Talk

A quite simple way to explain to the players what the North London Derby means to fans, have Stuart MacFarlane, a lifelong supporter, who’s generations of his family are Gooners, and a club employee explain what the badge means to him.

How much this truly impacted the result is debatable, but if nothing else a moment that MacFarlane can cherish forever.

Watch it here…..

The Lightbulb

In 2022 Arsenal were losing control in the race for top 4 so Arteta felt like he had to inspire his players somehow.

He went home and brought to work a light bulb.

Now I get the metaphor, a lightbulb on its own is nothing, with energy it turns to light.

Yet did he physically need to bring in a light bulb?

I picture his wife waking up and not understanding where all the lightbulbs have gone.

At this point the likes of Ozil and Aubameyang had been forced out, so players probably were afraid to laugh.

I love our managers confidence that he allowed Amazon to film this.

Because if standing in the dressing room with a lightbulb, your team needs to make sure they win.

The Gunners lost 2-1 at home to Brighton!

That’s why he’s not yet a great manager.

What Do You See?

Type in Rabbit / Duck illusion and your get this image.

When I first saw it, I could only see a Duck. It’s only when Arteta informs us some say they see a Rabbit that I can understand how they got to that conclusion.

Our manager’s task he says is to get all to see one and that’s the hardest part of the job.

Win The Dog

Somehow rival fans have bantered us more for bringing in a pet dog than trying to recreate Anfield in training.

I feel some have tried to make this have more meaning then what is reality.

In 2023 during the title race Mikel Arteta approved for a Labrador to spend most days at our London Conley training ground.

If the animal had been given any other name, then ‘ Win ‘ this wouldn’t have become a story.

Our manager was now being accused of believing his young squad would find the mental strength to get over the line because of being inspired by their title.

I don’t believe any professional coach being paid thousands of pounds a week believes a dog wins you trophies.

In reality, the motive was to continue to create a family like environment around the club.

Like at any workplace, the majority of staff fuss over Win, share responsibility in looking after her and take in turns taking her home.

You can’t argue the spirit within our squad is better than before our manager returned to the club. So little things like this do work.

The Olive Tree

So, one day sat in his office (presumably thinking of more out of the box ways to put his message across) Mikel Arteta stared out of the window and observed an Olive Tree.

Arteta asked a member of staff to take a photo of this and would take the image to meetings with him as a visual age to get over his point.

To grow a tree, it takes time, you need patience, you need to take care of it, etc.

A bit on the nose, and again something you will find at various managerial meetings or workshops.

Harmless enough and if it inspired one person at the club then worth it.

North London Forever

If Mikel Arteta left tomorrow his legacy would be fixing the relationships between fans and the club, something that was rock bottom when he arrived.

Mr Wenger said in his final months in charge that a section of our fan base were in danger of harming the proud ethos he had implemented.

Gooners were turning on players, players were talking about this impacting their mental health, we lacked any identity under Emery and the Kroenke Family were trying to take us out of the division.

Our manager admits that even as an assistant at Man City, when he visited the Emirates, he sensed a toxic atmosphere.

Showing his care for all departments of the club, he brainstormed ideas that really should have been the PR department’s job.

Two months after its release, Arteta listened to ‘North London Forever’ and invited Louis Dunford to meet the squad.

The Artist had essentially written a love letter to North London which was everything Arteta wanted to create at our ground. An identity, a culture.

It’s played before kick-off at every home game and in the last three years the ground generally has been intimidating for visitors.

Dan

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