Why Mikel Arteta intentionally sabotaged Arsenal travel plans in bizarre tactics

Mikel Arteta has admitted that he made the decision to ruin travel plans for his Arsenal squad.

The Spaniard is a managerial genius with an array of intriguing tactics that he uses to get the best out of his players.

Mikel Arteta sabotages his Arsenal players to get the best out of them

Mikel Arteta has revealed that he decided to sabotage his club’s travel plans during pre-season, with the intention of preparing them for adversity on the road.

To do this, he went out of his way to ensure they were late for matches by making alterations to their route or meal times. In addition, he warmed up the temperature in the locker room and reduced the amount of massage beds.

On Wednesday, Arsenal beat Napoli 1-0 in the Champions League. However, in the lead-up to the fixture, the Premier League side faced concerns due to the Air Traffic Control crisis on Tuesday.

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‘The Gunners’ were scheduled to fly out of Luton Airport at approximately 3 PM UK time on September 9. However, delays resulted in the squad making it to Italy three hours later than scheduled.

However, in a testament to his intellect, he’d already taught his players how to handle this, explaining: “I love those challenges. I try to create them in pre-season! So when they happen, we know how to experience them, and we already know.

“Get to the stadium very late, change the routine so the players have to do something else. When it happens, and it can: the flight can be cancelled, or the train is delayed, there is so much traffic, I don’t want the players and staff panicking.

“When that happens, adapt to it. We have two or three hours on the plane – can we use it? Play together, spend some time together, sleep.

“But don’t complain or use it as an excuse because it’s not helpful at all.”

When asked for specifics, he replied: “Just delaying the meals, delaying the transport, taking a different route. We’ve done many things.

“Make the dressing room hotter, more difficult, more challenging, less [massage] beds. Those kinds of things because we’re going to have to adapt to different contexts. And we will try to anticipate this and adapt to difficult conditions.

“When there’s no element of surprise or stress on a matchday, I think it’s important.”

Mikel Arteta once got a waiter to pickpocket the Arsenal players

This isn’t the first time Arteta has admitted to using unconventional tactics.

Bizarrely, the Spaniard once held a dinner, where he’d instructed his head of sports science and performance, Tom Allen, to hire a pickpocket to steal from the players.

The individual, disguised as a waiter, managed to take several items without being detected. Following the meal, Arteta presented a team talk, where he showed all the possessions that had been taken.

The idea was to prepare the squad for a match against a team that would do anything to gain an advantage. Arteta wanted his men to embody a ‘pickpocket mentality’.

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