Mikel Arteta's Unconventional Approach to Chaos at Arsenal
Mikel Arteta didn’t panic when Arsenal’s Champions League plans were thrown into chaos this week. He’d already rehearsed it.
Arsenal’s midweek trip to Italy for their tie against Napoli was hit by air traffic control problems, leaving the Premier League champions stuck and landing three hours later than planned. Where most managers might see a logistical nightmare, Arteta saw a scenario he had been scripting since the summer.
“I love those challenges, I try to create them in pre-season,” he said on Friday, ahead of Arsenal’s Premier League visit to Sunderland on Saturday evening (20:00 BST).
He wants disruption. He plans for it.
“So when they happen, we have already experienced them and we are ready.
“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.”
Arteta treats chaos as another training drill. Delay the flight? Fine. Move the schedule? Good. He wants his squad to feel the stress now, so it doesn’t rattle them when trophies are on the line.
“When that happens, adapt to it,” he said. “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.”
So his methods go beyond cones and rondos. He has been known to deliberately delay meals or team transport, take different routes to stadiums, even crank up the heat in the dressing room to make it more uncomfortable. All of it designed to strip away surprise on matchday. Nothing should feel new. Nothing should feel like an excuse.
This is not a manager afraid of looking unconventional.
The Spaniard once walked into a dressing room with a light bulb in his hand, asking his players to be energetic and shine. On another occasion, he hired professional pickpockets to attend a team dinner and quietly lift phones and wallets from players, later using the stunt as a live lesson in staying alert.
In 2023, a dog named Win appeared at the training ground, brought in to boost morale and symbolise the idea of Arsenal as a family.
From delayed flights to hot changing rooms and a dog called Win, Arteta’s world is carefully engineered unpredictability. The question now is simple: how far can that edge carry Arsenal this season?
