Robin van Persie is one of several former Arsenal players to move into management, with the former striker now in charge of Feyenoord in the Netherlands. He has recently suggested that some of his own coaching ideas reflect methods used by Mikel Arteta at Arsenal.
The Gunners remain among the leading teams in world football and have continued to produce strong performances under Arteta. Since taking charge, the Spaniard has become known not only for tactical development but also for using unconventional techniques to motivate and prepare his players.
Arteta’s Unusual Methods Gain Attention
Several moments from Arteta’s tenure have attracted widespread attention online. Viral clips have shown him using a light bulb to deliver a message to his squad as they prepared for an important fixture, highlighting his creative approach to communication.
In another well-known scene from Arsenal’s All or Nothing documentary series, he played Liverpool’s “You Never Walk Alone” through loudspeakers while the team trained ahead of a challenging match at Anfield. The intention appeared to be to help players become accustomed to the atmosphere they would face.
Such methods have helped shape Arteta’s image as a manager willing to explore every possible advantage when preparing his team. His success at Arsenal may also be encouraging others to experiment with similar ideas.
Van Persie Admits Similar Approach
Speaking about the subject, Van Persie said via 1908, “With TikTok videos, right? I saw that passing by. That he played TikTok videos on a very big screen.”
He continued, “Of course, you try to pull out all the stops to reach the lad and give them that final push. That can be done in a number of ways. I don’t have such a big screen at 1908, so that’s not going to work anyway.”
Van Persie added, “We have trained with the sound of the future opponent before. That was last season. We do things like that sometimes.”
As more former players transition into coaching, it is common to see ideas shared and adapted across clubs. Van Persie’s remarks suggest Arteta’s innovative style is gaining attention beyond England, with managers elsewhere willing to borrow concepts that may offer an edge.
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This takes me back to the early days of Arsene Wenger and how he was ridiculed, not only by the media, but by opposing managers, fans and even our own fans and players.
Of course, in time he was seen to have revolutionised football and was copied throughout the world.
Go back even further and, although I don’t know if he was ridiculed for his thoughts, Herbert Chapman introduced numbers on shirts, the “W” formation and the famous Highbury clock.
MA has suffered the same kind of ridicule from the same section of people that wanted Arsene to fail and time will tell if his methology will be as successful as the previous Arsenal managers mentioned above.
Ken1945,
Are you saying that if Arsenal go on and win the League. Arteta’s gimmicks regarding pick-pockets in a restaurant, Win the Dog, removing the tunnel at the Emirates, the light bulb moment, the you’ll never walk alone moment, have contributed to the side winning the League.
If we do go on and win the PL Derek, who’s to say it didn’t?
At the level of football we are talking about, any idea, tactics or ruse that might help is welcome and valuable.
or finishing 2nd instead of 3rd, or not making the CL semi. I doubt the effectiveness of many of the actions as well but it’s always easy to make fun when the effectiveness of unusual methods has not been proven one way or the other.
The great Wenger revolutionised the modern game and I don’t remember him being ridiculed for his methods. He used innovative techniques and new thinking on sports health and training rather than Arteta’s rather silly (in my opinion) supposedly motivating techniques especially like playing Liverpool’s anthem whilst training. That went well didn’t it and do you think our rivals are playing ‘North London Forever’ while they train? I very much doubt it.
GB,
Good points well made. 👍
GB :
You don’t remember the following then?
Diet and and Nutrition changes.
He banned sweets and chocolate – headlines in the papers saying the players were chanting in the back of the coach “we want our Mars bars back.
Training and sports science.
Acupuncture and short running sprints that Tony Adams complained about, saying there was not enough proper running – made the newspapers.
Tactical and culture shift.
A move from power to technical ability, resulting in Tony Adams complain that Arsene looked like a geography teacher and what did he know about football anyway – also made it to the national newspapers.
Of course there was the now famous quote “Arsene Who” and his appointment and methodology was met with skepticism and amusement by the media, pundits, players and fans across the PL.
Ken, I think Wenger was solely responsible for the huge pasta increase in the public’s diets.
Jax, that might have had more to do with pizzagate, lol. Let’s give Arsene credit either way👍
BB, I just knew he had a plan😏
👍ken1945. I remember the things you describe. Trailblazers and those simply with new ideas are often ridiculed (initially) and sometimes even with a “common knowledge” justification for same. Of course just poking fun is different than dismissing out of hand.
Always been the way BB – as humans, we’re afraid of change, there’s even the saying “If it’s not broke, then why fix it?”
Diet change and sports nutritionists are abit different from holding a pen up in in training and pickpocketing the players .
Can’t remember Arsenal fans ridiculing Wenger when he came in as he won the double in his first full season .
I agree DK with reference to our own fans at the beginning of Arsene’s superb reign, but the fidiculing started after our defeat against Barca in the CL final. but I’ve given out actual quotes from our captain at the time, Tony Adams and one can Google other similar comments from other players.
You highlight holding a pen up and pickpocketing players a wallet as being trivial but so was sticking pins in perfectly fit players and banning chocolate at the time, along with the long term tradition of having a drink after the game.
Look at the headlines regarding these and you’ll see Arsene was portrayed as a foreigner who didn’t understand English football.
Ken, the great Herbert Chapman also introduced physios and masseurs into the world of football.
Regarding the Highbury Clock, iirc the club were only allowed to install it once it showed a full clock face instead of just 45 minutes.
So many stories about our managers HD, that were met with ridicule, optimism and success.
I remember Arsene being ridiculed when he spoke about a “super league” or saying that his squad could go unbeaten in a season.
Funnily they all became true and, in my opinion, this is become another way of knocking MA for thinking outside the box.
Ken1945,
I’m sorry but we’re going to have to agree to disagree on this one.
I stand by my earlier post regarding Arteta’s gimmicks. IE: light bulbs, pickpockets, removing the tunnel at the Emirates, Win the Dog, holding pens up in training, you’ll never walk alone, Come on now.
At least with Wenger’s new found ideas you could see that they worked, and the reasons why they would.
But come on now, Arteta’s are just gimmicks plain and simple. How the heck can any of them have any bearing on if we win or not.
I find it the same when I listen to Arteta in press conference’s, he appears to be saying a lot when in fact he’s not saying much at all.
He comes out with all these scenario’s, which sound impressive on the face of it. But in reality it’s all a load of talking without much substance.