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Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta revealed that he deliberately sabotaged elements of Arsenal's preparations in the pre-season to keep their players better prepared.
Arsenal, who have tied with Manchester City with nine points to start their Premier League campaign and have won all their three matches so far, have faced some positive results from some innovation by their boss. Some of his innovations throughout his stint include playing the "You Will Never Walk Alone" anthem of Liverpool on loudspeakers before travelling to Liverpool and hiring a pickpocket to steal something from their squad during a dinner to help them learn alertness. Arsenal started their UEFA Champions League with a 0-1 win over Napoli, and their trip to Naples suffered some complications on Tuesday, with technical issues affecting the airports across London delaying the team's flight to Italy. Speaking as quoted by ESPN, Arteta said on the delayed flight, "I love those challenges, and I try to create them in preseason so when they happen, we already experience them, and we are ready." "So, get to the stadium very late, change the routine and suddenly the players have to do something else. It can happen, you can miss the flight, the train can be delayed, there is so much traffic, and I do not want the players and the staff panicking so when that happens, adapt to it." "OK, we have another two, three hours on the plane, adapt to it. How can we use them? Play together, spend some time together, sleep, use it, but certainly do not complain and use it as an excuse because that is not helpful at all," he continued. On further examples of some things that he has done to prepare his squad during the pre-season throughout his stint over the past few years, Arteta recalled, "Delay the meals, delay the transport, take a different route, we have done many things. Make the dressing room hotter, more challenging, fewer beds, those kinds of things because we are going to have to adapt to different contexts." "We try to anticipate it and create the best possible conditions, but then when there is not that element of surprise or stress on matchday, that is important," he signed off. In their season so far, The Gunners have won all their five matches, including the Community Shield clash against Manchester City and will play Sunderland away from home on Saturday. (ANI)
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