The Arteta Factor

How did Arteta motivate his Arsenal team in Amazon’s ‘All or Nothing’ documentary and did it work?

A written piece from 2023.

Arsenal’s 2022/23 Premier League campaign has been nothing short of impressive. To the surprise and shock of not only Arsenal fans, but footballing fans nationwide, Mikel Arteta has delivered a genuine title challenge to the red side of North London. Throughout the season, the Gunners have found themselves sitting pretty at the top of the tree for the majority of time, a place where Arsenal fans would not have even dreamt of during pre-season; as their main goal was just to finish in the top four. As of writing this, Arsenal are placed first in the league, above Manchester City by four points with six games to play.

So, what has changed over the last year? In this article we’ll explore the Arsenal ‘All or Nothing’ documentary, the motivational methods Arteta uses to inspire his players to win and views and opinions from Arsenal fans.     

Amazon’s ‘All or Nothing’ documentary follows Arsenal Football Club home and away during their 2021/22 season granting viewers extraordinary behind the scenes access to life at Arsenal. From the Emirates Stadium to the London Colney training ground, cameras follow the team through various cup competitions and domestic matches up and down the country.

The documentary gives viewers a unique insight to the club and how it is run on a day-to-day basis; as well as filming before, during and after matches in a way that shows the energetic highs after a crucial victory or the emphatic lows after a defeat.

(Picture - 1: A screenshot from the documentary showing Arteta's outrage during half time)

Fans are able to appreciate and admire the players, in a way that they have been unable to for several years.

Mikel Arteta, who was under heavy pressure to deliver over the season is shown to be a  beacon of positivity for the club, giving fans confidence in his approach. Throughout the eight-part documentary, Arteta comes across as an extremely passionate mentor who firmly believes that his methods will create a winning team.  

At such a young age for a manager (thirty-nine at the time of filming), of one of the country’s most renowned teams, Arteta is shown to possess the qualities to rise to the top of the management rankings.

Mikel Arteta’s team talks were a popular talking point after the release of the documentary, with many fans mocking him online for the techniques he used and the delivery of them. From doodling pictures of hearts and brains to bringing in the club photographer at half-time to playing music during a training session, Arteta’s techniques were fascinating to watch to say the least.

So what were Mikel Arteta’s methods and techniques for motivating his players?

The first technique I’d like to discuss is when he tells his players of when he was a child, he was the patient for Spain’s first open-heart surgery. The point he is trying to deliver here is how both high-performance sports teams and medical teams are both motivated by the love in what they do. Two players, Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Bukayo Saka look quite blank as they seem to be confused about the analogy.

After this, Arteta draws a graph on a white board which portrays his emotion after his side were dismantled 5-0 by Manchester City. The dot on the X-axis is Arteta as he explains how he was “Dead, with fears and insecurity.”

Following this, he places a second dot above the X-asis and explains that this is what he’s emotions are now. He exclaims that the players had cheered him up in the past week due to their solidarity and togetherness even after back-to-back losses.

During the episode of the North London Derby fixture at the Emirates Stadium, Arteta draws a picture of a heart and a brain, pre-match. The Arsenal boss boasts of the importunacy of how the players need to use both during the match. With the heart representing passion and the brain representing decision making.

In the same episode, Mikel Arteta brings the chief photographer, Stuart McFarlane into the dressing room to deliver an emotional pre-match team talk.

(Picture - 2: Chief Photographer, Stuart McFarlane, delivering a pre-match team talk)

(Picture - 3: Mikel Arteta's drawing of the Heart and Brain)

In Episode 3, we see Arteta use an extremely unique approach to preparing his players for an away match against Liverpool. Choosing to replicate the atmosphere of Anfield, Arteta chose to conduct the training session with speakers blasting out Liverpool’s anthem “You’ll Never Walk Alone”.

In Episode 4, viewers are enlightened again to Arteta’s artistic nous, when he draws another diagram. This time of a road, labelling it with ‘journey’ and ‘destination’.

I discussed Arteta’s methods with Sports Psychologist student, Johanna Kuosa from the University of London, in the video below.     

https://vimeo.com/823009243

The documentary… insightful or a mockery?

As Amazon has churned out a plethora of behind-the-scenes documentaries on sports clubs, this type of programme must be very popular with audiences. Amazon previously filmed with other Premier League teams such as Manchester City, Tottenham and Crystal Palace as well as cricket teams and American football.

But is this one on Arsenal successful?

The answer is essentially yes. Although Arsenal fans might find the last episode a tough watch (covers the team’s failure to reach Champions League football while gifting fourth place to bitter rivals Tottenham), the Gunners’ documentary has been highly praised by Arsenal fans. And more specifically, many fans have hailed how Mikel Arteta is portrayed on camera. The Arsenal series has been labelled as the best of the All or Nothing ‘brand.’

@Simon49Arsenal on Twitter said - “That documentary has really opened my eyes on Mikel Arteta. The manager and the club have proved me wrong.”

@Ater477 - “The Amazon documentary shifted the narrative around the club and transformed Arteta and Arsenal’s image to the world, making fans, new and old, fall in love with the football club again.”

@TynaSharell – “Mikel Arteta is the linchpin of Amazon’s latest documentary. The Arsenal manager reflects on his intensity, approaches to personal development and evolving relationships with fans. He has been a coach for 3 years.”

However, Arteta was mocked by rival fans and some critics for the unusual methods he used during his pre-match and half-time team talks. The Guardian’s Stuart Jeffries claimed the Arsenal manager wasn’t fit for the job and used a somewhat harsh comparison. “Mikel Arteta is like a supply teacher out of his depth”.

A major outcome of the documentary was that fans reconnected with their club again and a ‘feel good’ factor was brought back to the Emirates Stadium and Arsenal.

As fan Dan Potts put it: “You can see from the documentary of what’s going on behind the scenes. I had no idea this was happening behind the scenes. This side look together and this manager has some really good things about him, as well as the coaching staff and the players. There’s a good feel around the club – something we haven’t had for a while.”

Picture - 4: Arteta embracing one of his young stars - Gabriel Martinelli.

Whether or not Arsenal win the Premier League this season (2022/23), Arsenal fans can be proud of the football they have witnessed from their young team. After the collapse of last year in the failure to reach a Champions League spot, it is clear Mikel Arteta has transformed his team into a strong Premier League outfit. In the space of a year, Arteta has changed the Gunners from a team that was heavily mocked into a force to be reckoned with.

So, has Arteta changed his techniques? Have the players changed their mindset? Or are the nineteen other Premier League teams having an ‘off-season’?

Whatever the answer is, it is clear there has been a change at Arsenal over the past year and that change could lead the club into a very successful period!