Mikel Arteta’s ‘balls out’ rant left Arsenal stars perplexed in private team-meeting
Mikel Arteta opted to use a strange figure of speech when trying to drag his Arsenal players back to winning ways following one of their biggest Premier League defeats of last season.
The Spaniard’s sometimes unusual managerial techniques have been showcased on All or Nothing: Arsenal – with one such lecture seeing him get a little bit graphic.
The FA Cup winning boss asked his players to give everything on the pitch, by showing a bit more, but it didn’t immediately take hold and was followed by two more losses.
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Having been too angry to talk to his players in the aftermath of their 3-0 defeat against Crystal Palace, Arteta said in their team-meeting the next morning: “What happened yesterday is a f***ing big lesson.
“I don’t want to go through that again. But my trust is inside – now more than before. Why? Because you have given me the reasons to trust you. Now it is about how you trust yourselves.
“How we go to the next game, how we go to the next training session, how we go home.
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(Image: Getty Images)
“On Saturday you are going to play at the Emirates in front of a full stadium. They are going to be fully behind you and we have to give them what we want guys.
“We have to show them that we have a different experience, a different commitment and we are gonna play with balls out. Balls… out.
“When you are on that pitch with full focus, full commitment, and you have to do your jobs. If not, then you don’t deserve to be on that pitch.”
(Image: Getty Images)
With the players remaining silent before walking out to the training pitch, the speech might not have had the impact the manager desired.
Arsenal went on to lose their next two Premier League fixtures against Brighton and Southampton – before regrouping to claim four consecutive wins. Those victories, which came against Chelsea, Manchester United, West Ham and Leeds, would unfortunately for Arteta be followed by defeats to Tottenham and Newcastle.
Other moments that have caught the eye from their All or Nothing documentary are Alexandre Lacazette’s clash with Cedric and Eddie Nketiah’s tongue-in-cheek retort.
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