Amazon Prime Video’s fly-on-the-wall documentary of Arsenal’s 2021/22 season, All or Nothing, launches this week and offers unprecedented insight into the Gunners’ eventful last campaign.
The first three episodes, out on Thursday and seen by Standard Sport, cover the club’s shocking start to last season and their upturn in form around October to November.
After a steady start, the action ramps up in episode three as fans are treated to a number of dramatic scenes from inside the sanctity of the Arsenal dressing room.
Here are five things we learned from the first three episodes of Arsenal All or Nothing.
Arteta gives passionate team talks
Mikel Arteta has shown in his dealings with the media that he is a good talker and that comes across in the documentary, too. One speech in particular, before Arsenal played Norwich in September, is very passionate as Arteta opens up on his childhood.
The Spaniard reveals he had to undergo heart surgery when he was a child after suffering from a rare condition. The dressing room is stunned into silence and Arteta’s words get the desired result as Arsenal win 1-0.
Tierney suffered with homesickness after Arsenal switch
The documentary uses the opportunity to get to know players and spend some one-on-one time with them. Left-back Kieran Tierney has a large part to play in episode three as he opens up on his tough time when he joined Arsenal from Celtic in 2019.
It’s revealed Tierney lives with Johnny McCallum, the Arsenal chef who used to be his own cook. The fellow Scot has helped Tierney’s move to London. Tierney reveals his homesickness was “terrible” at the start of his Arsenal career.
“My mum and dad say all the time that it’s brilliant you’ve got Johnny,” says Tierney.
Arteta has ‘crazy ideas’ for training
Arteta likes to think outside the box when it comes to training and team talks. The documentary shows how he often uses whiteboards for team talks, drawing images and writing words to help illustrate or underline the point he’s making.
The Spaniard is more abstract than that though and in episode three he gets the whole squad to rub their hands together to create positive energy before a game with Leicester, which they won.
Some of Arteta’s ideas are less successful, though, such as when he had speakers set up by the training pitch to play ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ before Arsenal’s trip to Anfield. The Gunners lost 4-0.
Arsenal photographer gave speech before derby win
Arteta revealed towards the end of last season that he sometimes allows other people to give team talks instead of him. In episode two of the documentary, we learn that club photographer Stuart MacFarlane gave a passionate speech before the north London derby against Tottenham in September.
His words have the desired impact as Arsenal go on to win and Arteta can be seen afterwards hugging the photographer and pointing to him as the team celebrate with the crowd.
Aubameyang was a dressing room character
The first three episodes highlight Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s time at the club before he left for Barcelona in January. The forward comes across as you’d expect, with his flashy dress sense and cars shown off during the footage. Aubameyang is captain at this point and his cheeky side is also shown during episode three.
Arsenal have just won at Leicester and Aubameyang recreates Arteta’s pre-match team talk of rubbing his hands together, before getting everyone to chant and call for two days off. Arteta grins and accepts the request.
