How Mikel Arteta learned the Pep Guardiola way at Manchester

Mikel Arteta and Pep Guardiola always kept in touch (after their time together as players at Barcelona), and Arteta lived in the same neighbourhood as Pep’s brother, Pere, when he was based in London with Arsenal. When Barça drew Chelsea in the Champions League in 2012, Pep picked up the phone to pick his old friend’s brain about their opponent. Impressed by Arteta’s critical analysis, Pep made a mental note to seek his advice more often https://www.w88thais.com/latest-entrance-w88-mobile-android-ios/ .

In the 2015-16 season Pep’s Bayern Munich played Arsenal in the Champions League and Arteta got a chance to talk to Pep in the players’ zone after the game. “We had a good chat and at the end he told me that he wanted to work with me if he ever moved to England,” says Arteta. “So when I retired [from playing] I called him and said: ‘Is that job still available?’”



There was just one problem: Arteta had already agreed with his wife, an actor, that, if she took care of the domestic side of things during his playing years, he would free her up to pursue her own career when he retired. She’s now doing just that and lives in Los Angeles, with the couple’s children. The situation is not perfect but Arteta has learned to make the best of it w88 casino .

At City Arteta works closely with the players, often on a one-to-one basis, helping them understand key concepts or giving them the guidance they need to improve their performance. “It’s vital that management is in touch with the players and Pep just doesn’t have the time to spend time with all 24 of them every day,” explains Arteta. “It’s crucial that they feel able to tell us what they think they need to improve.”

His tiny office has three glass walls, through which he can often be seen huddled round the meeting table next to a player or gesticulating at the touchscreen whiteboard as he explains tactics or set pieces with a group. Most of City’s stars have spent time with him there over the last three years.

Arteta has been on a sharp learning curve since joining City’s coaching team in July 2016, immediately after retiring as a player. “From the start I was absolutely fascinated by Pep’s work ethic, by his ability to transmit his ideas to the players and convince them that they’re going to work. It’s incredible to see how he simplifies even the most complicated things so that they appear straightforward and easy. It’s very difficult to reach footballers like that.

“The very first day Pep took training, he got the whole squad out on the pitch and told them: ‘Manchester City does this when we have the ball and we do that when we don’t have it.’ And all of them understood exactly how we were going to play. It was non-negotiable. That talk lasted 15 minutes, but in those 15 minutes City was born. Everyone knew what would be asked of them from then on.

“He explained that sometimes we would adapt our game: ‘There’ll be alterations here and there depending on how our opponents attack and defend but basically our football will be exactly as I’ve just said.’

“We’d all watched his Barça and Bayern play and Pep insisted that this philosophy would continue. He showed the players footage and kept talking them through his ideas. It was clear that there was no going back. We knew how Pep’s Manchester City was going to be. And all it took was 15 minutes w88 .”

 Mikel Arteta says of Leroy Sané (left): ‘He struggled initially. My priority was to reassure him how much faith myself and the rest of the technical team had in him.’ Photograph: Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images
Although Arteta has worked closely with a lot of players, he has had a particular influence on Leroy Sané. “He was just a kid and here he was, at a different club, where everything felt strange and new. I had a similar experience when I went to PSG, so I had some idea of what he was experiencing. You just have to push through it but it’s not easy and you need to know that the coaching staff are behind you. Everything’s different: training methods, having to play in much tighter spaces, a much faster game with no space to run into – and he struggled initially.