Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has opened up on some of the more unusual preparation techniques he deploys to ensure his squad is ready for anything.
The Spaniard deliberately disrupts pre-season routines, interfering with meals, transport arrangements, routes and dressing-room schedules to simulate real-world chaos.
His reasoning is straightforward — if players have already experienced disruption in a controlled environment, they will not be rattled when it happens for real.
The approach was thrown into sharp relief when Arsenal’s journey to face Napoli in the Champions League was delayed by air-traffic-control problems in the United Kingdom.
The disruption was severe enough to force the cancellation of Arteta’s scheduled pre-match media duties before the squad had even left the country.
Despite everything, Arsenal produced a composed and commanding performance in Naples, winning 1-0 and silencing any suggestion that the travel chaos would derail their preparations.
“I love those challenges and I try to create them in preseason so when they happen, we already experience them and we are ready,” Arteta said after the match.
He expanded on exactly what those manufactured challenges look like during the summer, painting a vivid picture of deliberate inconvenience designed to build collective resilience within the squad.
“So, get to the stadium very late, change the routine and suddenly the players have to do something else,” he said. “It can happen, you can miss the flight, the train can be delayed, there is so much traffic, and I don’t want the players and the staff panicking so when that happens, adapt to it.”
Arteta was equally direct about the mindset he expects from his squad when adversity strikes during the season, leaving no room for complaints or excuses from players or staff.
“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 don’t complain and use it as an excuse because that’s not helpful at all.”
The victory in Naples served as a timely reminder of just how effectively that philosophy has taken root within the Arsenal dressing room this season.
Rather than allowing the pre-match disruption to fester into a distraction, the squad channelled the adversity into one of the most controlled and disciplined 1-0 victories seen in European competition this campaign.
Arteta’s methods may be unconventional, but the results suggest that deliberately engineering discomfort during pre-season is paying significant dividends when the pressure is on.
