Mikel Arteta admitted he was too focused on tactics rather than the connection with his players when he first got the Arsenal job.
The Spaniard left his role as Pep Guardiola's assistant at Manchester City in 2019 to take charge of the Gunners, in what was his first managerial job.
Arteta won the FA Cup in his first season in charge, but Arsenal finished eighth in the Premier League in two consecutive seasons.
He oversaw a complete squad rebuild, as the likes of Mesut Ozil and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang were moved on.
Arsenal are now in their fourth season in a row competing in the Premier League title race and sit six points clear at the top of the table.
It has been a significant journey for the club but also Arteta personally, who was asked what his biggest mistake has been as a manager.
"Where you put the focus sometimes," Arteta told TNT Sports.
"Especially at the beginning, the focus was probably too much on the tactical aspect. That means you maybe overloading them with information.
"And then how important the emotional part is. When a player is not executing, why is he not executing? He's not capable, and you're asking something he cannot do, or he has a certain fear, or doubts, or not enough clarity of why he's doing certain things?
"Providing that to the player is the most important thing, I think. When you connect and understand how the player reacts better to your demands, that's when you touch the right button."
Arteta also described the influence Arsene Wenger had on him as a manager.
He played at Arsenal for five years under the Frenchman at Arsenal and pointed to Wenger's man-management skills as the key quality he learned from him.
"How much he wanted the player really to express himself," Arteta.
"He was really good at being really firm in what he wanted but allowing you the freedom and the space for you to make the decisions on the pitch.
"I think that was a great balance and he was very, very consistent with that, and really calm and composed about it."
