Mikel Arteta has revealed that his coaching staff use a pre-match routine which is often associated with Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp. Arsenal announced on Friday morning that Arteta, along with Women's head coach Jonas Eidevall, signed a new contract extension at the club.
"I’m excited, grateful and really, really happy today," he said after signing his new deal, which the club confirmed will run until the end of the 2024/25 season.
Arsenal's social media team have since released a video which shows Arteta and Eidevall talking about their coaching methods as they stand on the Emirates Stadium turf, with the Spaniard touching on the approach he and his players take before a match.
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"We have a nominated person who is looking at the opposition warm-up," Arteta began. "So if they are doing something like shape, or clearances, or they do patterns in the final third and who's playing on the right. So at least we have an idea of what to do."
Those that watch Liverpool on a regular basis will know that this is a pre-match routine often followed by Jurgen Klopp, who stands in the centre circle to monitor the opposition ahead of kick-off. It's something Troy Deeney noticed when he was at Watford, and although he thought it was all mind games to begin with, the striker now knows that there's a different reason behind it.
"Now I realise Klopp is not trying to psyche out the opposition when he watches the warm-up. He is studying what patterns of play and tactics they might be working on, looking for that extra one per cent," he said.
Deeney's quotes match those from Arteta, highlighting the similarities in approaches both managers take. However, the Arsenal boss also admitted that gathering information on opponents has become a lot harder in the Premier League, making it a "nightmare".
"But now in the Premier League it's a nightmare because you think they are going to play in a certain way, you prepare and then you get the team sheet and it's different", Arteta said as he rolled his eyes.
"So at the end we just have Plan A, Plan B, Plan C a lot of times. If they do that, we do that, or do that. And now, sometimes I just don't tell them what to do until we get the team sheet. So I have two gameplans, and ok, they play with 5-3-2, ok. Now guys, ten minutes before we go out, this is what we do."
