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Hello! Mikel Arteta loves his work. Simone Inzaghi isn’t so sure.
(TNT Sports)
Pickpockets and F1 imagery: How Arteta gets through to players
(Getty Images; design: Eamonn Dalton)
Mikel Arteta and the Pickpockets — a 1970s band name if ever there was one — will be written about a million times in articles relating to Arsenal’s manager.
It was a gem of an exclusive and anecdotes like it tend to follow coaches around in narrative form. Arteta hiring professional thieves to rob his playing squad (and a staff member who thought he was in on the joke) gets to the nub of how he works and how his brain is wired.
Arteta fixates on finding an edge and creating an environment in which his troops are happy without being slack. On the night they were relieved of phones, wallets and keys, Arsenal’s players were about to meet Liverpool in a Premier League match. Arteta wanted to crystallise thoughts about how adept Liverpool could be at pinching pockets on the pitch.
The dinner and mock robbery was filmed by Kevin Balvers, Arterta’s head of methodology at the time. Balvers has since gone to Dutch club PSV Eindhoven and Jordan Campbell spoke with him to get the perspective of somebody from Arteta’s iron circle — and learn more about the limits of the Spaniard’s imagination.
Spoiler: there are no limits.
‘Collaboretition’
In Jordan’s interview, Balvers mentions Arteta’s love of the word ‘collaboretition’ — collaboration and competition rolled into one. From his appointment in 2019, he set out to create an environment where people were on the same page but challenged; content but not complacent.
These are some of Arteta’s management tricks, witnessed by Balvers:
- Arteta uses pictures of Formula One cars to distinguish between opponents who press high and opponents who sit back.
- He expects presentations to prospective signings to be given the personal touch. Kai Havertz loves dogs (apparently) so images of Arsenal’s training ground pet ‘Win’ were part of the pitch to the German forward.
- The designs on the walls of the club’s training complex were produced with Arteta’s input, one of them spelling out the acronym BASICS: Boxes, Attack, Shape, Intensity, Compete and Set pieces. We can safely say the importance of set pieces has sunk in.
- Arteta invites phone calls in the middle of the night from any player who has a problem. “It’s a warm place,” Balvers told Jordan.
The thing about this stuff is that, in the end, it’s all a hostage to the fortune of results. If results are poor, motivational tricks are exposed to ridicule. If they’re good, novel ideas look inspired. Arteta’s touch has been so effective that there’s no escaping how Arsenal’s form is tightly connected to his innovative methods. The two go hand in hand.
Arsenal extended Arteta’s contract last week. Quite right, too. The Spaniard being picked from their pocket would be the stuff of nightmares.
Champions League Calamities: Pointless backheels and double deflections
Celtic took Slovan Bratislava to the cleaners but broadly, there was a general ‘WTF?’ theme about the second night of the Champions League.
Inter Milan drew 0-0 at Manchester City but shouldn’t have done. They had chances, and Matteo Darmian’s decision to backheel the ball (above) rather than shoot when he was (almost) clean through was the catalyst for Simone Inzaghi’s baffled reaction at the top of this newsletter.
Ilkay Gundogan contributed to a forgettable tie by missing two sitters, so Pep Guardiola was agitated too. All in all, it’s a much better result for Inter away from home (and by the way, have you noticed what Michael Cox has noticed? They hardly ever dribble with the ball).
Girona have been on the march, from Spain’s fifth tier to a debut in UEFA’s top competition. Their manager Michel is one of the coaches City are likely to look at if Guardiola calls it a day at the Etihad next summer.
They were on the brink of a creditable goalless draw at Paris Saint-Germain when goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga let Nuno Mendes’ cross slip through his legs in the 90th minute (above). The winner went down as an own goal. Mate — just catch it.
Then there was an unusual stroke of luck for Borussia Dortmund’s Jamie Gittens, who opened the scoring against Club Bruges via not one but two deflections (above).
Gittens, 20, is an England Under-21 international. He used to be in Manchester City’s academy, and he scored twice in Dortmund’s 3-0 win last night. Keep an eye on him.
And get ready for another round of matches later. Champions League action on a Thursday feels wrong (it has always been a Tuesday/Wednesday affair) but think of these games as the petit four, assuming you’re not already stuffed.
Catch a match (times ET/UK)
Champions League: Feyenoord vs Bayer Leverkusen, 12.45pm/5.45pm, CBS, Paramount+, Amazon Prime/TNT Sports; Atalanta vs Arsenal, 3pm/8pm, Paramount+, ViX/TNT Sports; Atletico Madrid vs RB Leipzig, 3pm/8pm, Paramount+, CBS, Fubo/TNT Sports; Monaco vs Barcelona, 3pm/8pm, Paramount+, Fubo/TNT Sports.
La Liga: Leganes vs Athletic Bilbao, 1pm/6pm, ESPN+, Fubo/Premier Sports.
📲 Champions League LIVE blog
News round-up
A tribute to Toto
(Daniel Garcia/AFP via Getty Images)
The 1990 World Cup — or Italia ’90 as it’s known by those of us who lived it and loved it — achieved the not-inconsiderable feat of earning lasting affection.
It was spellbinding and laden with characters: explosive Diego Maradona, crying Paul Gascoigne, dancing Roger Milla and recklessly flamboyant Rene Higuita. I remember it as the best of times.
There was also Salvatore Schillaci, or ‘Toto’ to his friends. He started Italia ’90 on the bench. He wasn’t Italy’s sexiest weapon. But he scored six goals, he got Italy to the brink of the final and he was the stride of Lothar Matthaus away from claiming the Ballon d’Or.
Schillaci’s death was announced yesterday, at the age of 59. When the news came, the same images of him must have flashed into millions of heads instantly. He was 1990’s surprise smash hit. Not every hero flaunts their cape.
Ask Me (Almost) Anything
In response to yesterday’s lead about Manchester City midfielder Rodri hinting at players going on strike, TAFC reader Tim Muench got in touch.
“It’s amazing that players wonder why they’re playing so many games,” Tim wrote. “Do they pose this question as they’re checking their bank accounts?”
Touche and not wholly wrong. Tim’s take harks back to something Marcelo Bielsa used to say to us: we should be playing fewer games but in playing fewer games, we also have to accept we’ll earn less money.
Is anybody rushing to shake on that trade-off?
Tim mentioned a few solutions: English teams in Europe skipping the Carabao Cup, suspending the Premier League in January to stage the entire FA Cup there and then, etc. None of that would please the general public but in reality, the game is going to have to get creative. Rule nothing out.
Around The Athletic FC: Remembering Maddy Cusack
(Getty Images/Cusack family; design: Eamon Dalton)
(Top photo: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
