Arsenal Urged By Mikel Arteta To Learn The Dark Arts
Mikel Arteta worries that his Arsenal players’ “DNA” does not include cruelty, therefore he has pushed them to take advantage of football’s dark arts. Arteta is teaching his players how to turn confrontations to their advantage and wants them to become more streetwise on the field.
Declan Rice, an Arsenal midfielder, acknowledged that his squad has to be more “savvy” following Wednesday’s 1-0 loss at Porto in the first leg of the Champions League semifinal. At the Estadio do Dragao, Porto dragged down the match by committing a Champions League record-tying 36 fouls between the two teams.
Arsenal, pursuing the championship, may find Newcastle to be an equally difficult nut to crack at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday. However, Arteta is hoping his provoking counsel comes to fruition.
“There are ways to do it,” Arteta said in response to a question about how a manager may help his team develop dark arts.
It’s how you interact with them, train them, show them films, walk them through scenarios, and pinch them a couple times.
“Learning from teams that are experts at it as well as from other players who do it incredibly well. There are methods available.
“This is crucial. You know, that’s how you compete for a team. And it’s evident that the world’s top players are always able to take advantage of situations.”
Arteta acknowledged that Arsenal hasn’t used this kind of strategy and that it should be taken into account when hiring new players.
“Overall when you build a squad you need that certainly – but it comes,” he stated.
Sometimes it stems from the club’s culture. As you can see, some clubs are genetically predisposed to that.
“It is not something that you would directly link with Arsenal, that’s for sure but it is something that has to be developed.”
“I think this team has got enough intelligence and enough experience to deal with many situations.”