After coming in second to Manchester City in the Premier League last season, Arsenal seek improvement to ensure that they can end this season on top of the league. In the 2022-23 season, Arsenal spent the longest time atop the Premier League — 248 days — without winning the title before then seeing it slip away during the 2023-24 season by only two points.
These close calls have led to manager Mikel Arteta employing some unorthodox methods during preseason. In a team dinner, the Arsenal manager hired professional pickpockets to go around the tables taking things from the members of the first team squad, according to The Athletic. After dinner was finished, Arteta asked the team to empty their pockets at which point, numerous players were missing their valuables. It was a moment to show that the squad should be prepared and alert at all times.
While there are plenty of questions such as where did Arteta hire the pickpockets from and what preparedness during dinner has to do with being prepared on a soccer pitch, this is just the latest in the mental training methods used by Arteta as he enters his fifth season at the helm of Arsenal.
Arteta pulled out his Pictionary skills drawing a heart and a brain holding hands during “All or Nothing: Arsenal,” which confused his players. This was done after Arsenal lost three of their opening five games of the Premier League season to explain that both needed to work in harmony on the pitch for the Gunners to find success.
“Guys, we have to play with our big hearts,” he said while drawing. “At the same time, we have to play with a big brain. And these have to work together. This is your passion, how your manager wants you to put into the game. How much you want to commit yourself in the game.”
Arteta has also motivated his players with a light bulb during a team speech to show that they need to play connected. But the latest edition of bringing in pickpockets is new even for Arteta’s standards.
When a team has come so close to winning some of the highest honors with a squad that has stayed mostly the same, this has to be a call for Arteta to do what he can to get an even higher gear out of his side. Only time will tell if players are able to use this as motivation to keep opposing attackers in their own pockets or if it’ll be the latest in a series of Arsenal coming up short.
