Mikel Arteta believes he has learned from Arsenal’s controversial defeat at Newcastle last season and is trying to keep a lid on his emotions because he does not want to be banned from the dugout.
Arteta was cleared of making insulting comments about match officials after Arsenal’s 1-0 defeat at St James’ Park last year after VAR did not recommend ruling out Anthony Gordon’s winning goal. The Spaniard is one of five managers in the Premier League not to have been shown a yellow card this season as his side prepare to play at Newcastle in Saturday’s early kick-off.
Arteta, who is hopeful Gabriel Magalhães could be fit but has doubts over Ben White owing to a joint issue, said he had been making a conscious effort not to cross the line.
“I don’t want to miss any games, that is for sure,” he said. “I cannot promise you that if we score a goal I am not going to be jumping up and down the touchline. I cannot guarantee that. Hopefully as well they [the match officials] have adapted and they have understood that emotions are a big part of that. I cannot control myself in the scoreline and so far it has worked.”
Asked whether he had been meditating to help deal with less favourable decisions, Arteta said: “On the touchline I haven’t got to that point where I am in meditation mode yet, but maybe it is something that has to happen! I just want the best for the team and I want to give the team the best chance to be as competitive as possible, to win the majority of the football matches. When they changed the rules and certain behaviours towards the touchline we need to adapt to that and evolve. That is what I try to do.”
New Zealand’s rugby union team were at Arsenal’s training ground on Wednesday to prepare for their meeting with England on Saturday, although Arteta was unable to spend any time with their head coach, Scott Robertson, who he described as “an inspiration”, because of their trip to Preston in the Carabao Cup. Arteta recommended reading the book Legacy: What the All Blacks Can Teach Us about the Business of Life that has informed his approach as a manager.
Asked which particular ideas he had embraced, Arteta said: “A few. It’s especially about the culture and the importance of clarity, or what it means when you put on a jersey. The sense of belonging to something. When somebody plays with that feeling, I think it elevates his level of commitment, it elevates his capacity to perform and impact the organisation in a different way.”
