Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has lifted the lid on an unconventional approach to preparing his squad for the demands of defending their title, admitting he intentionally introduces disruption into his players' pre-match routines to sharpen their ability to cope with unexpected setbacks.
The Spaniard, renowned for his meticulous attention to detail and rigid pre-match structures, saw his own plans thrown into disarray on Tuesday night. Rather than viewing the disruption as a problem, Arteta framed it as a valuable opportunity for his players and staff to practice adapting on the fly.
"I love those challenges," Arteta said. "I try to create them in pre-season, so when they happen, we already experience them and we already know."
He explained that the unpredictability of football means teams must be ready for anything, from missed flights to delayed trains or unexpected traffic, and that his goal is to eliminate panic from those situations by having already simulated them.
"Get to the stadium very late, change the routine as soon as the players have to do something else," Arteta said, describing the type of scenarios he engineers. "Because when it happens, and it can happen - you can miss the flight, the train can be delayed, there's so much traffic. I don't want the players, but not only the players, the staff as well, panicking."
According to Arteta, the key is not to avoid disruption altogether but to prepare the squad mentally so that when circumstances change, the response is calm and constructive rather than reactive. "When that happens, adapt to it. Okay, we have another two or three hours on the plane, how can we use them?" he said. "Play together, spend some time together, sleep, use it, but certainly don't complain and then use it as an excuse because that's not helpful at all."
This philosophy shaped much of Arsenal's pre-season planning. Unlike previous years, the club opted against an extensive summer tour, instead making shorter trips to Girona and Dublin. Despite the reduced travel schedule, Arteta still found ways to test his players' adaptability by manufacturing inconvenient or uncomfortable situations behind the scenes.
"Delaying the meals, delaying the transport, taking a different route," Arteta revealed, listing some of the methods used to keep his squad on their toes. "We've done many things. Made the dressing room hotter, more difficult, more challenging, less [massage] beds."
The idea, he explained, is to strip away comfort and predictability so that players learn to perform regardless of the conditions around them. "Those kind of things, because we're going to have to adapt to different contexts," Arteta said. "We'll try to anticipate it and create the best possible conditions."
He added that removing the shock factor from matchday situations is central to his coaching approach, arguing that familiarity with disruption breeds composure when it truly matters. "When there is not that element of surprise or stress on matchday, I think it's important," Arteta said.
With Arsenal entering a new season under pressure to build on their previous title challenge, Arteta's methods reflect a broader effort to build not just technical and tactical quality, but also psychological resilience within his squad. By simulating chaos in training and pre-season environments, the manager appears determined to ensure his players are never caught off guard when real disruptions inevitably occur during the campaign.
Based on reporting from Standard Football.