Julius OkorieDetermined to give Arsenal chase for EPL title a new push, Mikel Arteta has adopted unconventional tactics to teach the team an important lesson.
The Spaniard has had a huge influence on the Gunners’ rise to Premier League title challengers over the past two seasons.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelArsenal missed clinching the EPL title by the whiskers last season, finishing behind Champions Manchester City. On the last day of 2023/2024 season only two points separated Arsenal from Man City who topped the log at 91 points in 38 matches played. Missing by whiskers implies that a lot still needs to be done and Arteta is well aware of that.
According to The Athletic, Arteta hired professional pickpockets in secret to drive home a tactical lesson. Their task was to go round the tables of the clueless Arsenal squad in order to take their phones and wallets.
Once the meal had finished, Arteta stood in front of his team and asked them to empty their pockets, with many having items missing.
It is said that the idea behind this was to teach the importance of three valuable aspects being ready, alert and prepared at all times.
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Arteta is no new comer to applying strange methods of motivating his team since taking the Arsenal job in 2019.
During the 2021/22 season, he played Liverpool’s iconic pre-match song ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ on speakers during training.
Whilst it was intended to get players used to the atmosphere, the north London side, nonetheless fell to a dismal 4-0 defeat.
Gunners Ready To Break Wall In Title Pursuit
Arsenal are desperate to end their over two-decade wait for Premier League title success in the 2024/25 season.
The Gunners will host Lyon at the Emirates this Sunday in their final pre-season test, and then host Wolves on August 17th, in a season opener.
Arteta, no doubt, will be hoping that the pickpocket experiment, will turn out to be a magic wand ahead of the new season, the era of the famous invincibles.
Julius Okorie is Chief Sports and Entertainment Correspondent for Prime Business Africa. He began his journalism career with the Champion Newspaper and Sporting Champion and later moved on to Daily Independent and the Nation Newspapers. Okorie joined Prime Business Africa in 2024 bringing on board 20 years of experience in writing investigative news on Sports and Entertainment. His well researched and highly informative articles on Sports Business and general entertainment are followed by a wide range of audience.
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