All or Nothing: Arsenal documentary reveals Mikel Arteta’s coaching gimmicks
The IndependentSign up to Miguel Delaney’s Reading the Game newsletter sent straight to your inbox for free Sign up to Miguel’s Delaney’s free weekly newsletter Sign up to Miguel’s Delaney’s free weekly newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. All Or Nothing: Arsenal offers insights into Arteta’s methods and feels an appropriate title for a documentary of a season that ultimately left Arsenal with neither: bottom and goalless after three games, leaving Alexandre Lacazette wondering if they were making the worst start in Premier League history, they surged into the Champions League places, only to contrive to end up fifth. I need to understand them emotionally as well, what happens in their lives.” Arteta quotes Pep Guardiola’s advice – “this is the loneliest profession” – and his group chats can appear forced as though, in a nod to his mentor, he has overthought his ploys to galvanise an entire squad. “When he develops a little bit more of a relationship with the players, he can go to another level,” says director of football Edu, noting progress during autumn’s unbeaten run, when the Spaniard seems more relaxed, though the fourth episode is due to detail the dramatic decision to exile his captain, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang left the club mid-season Three months before Aubameyang’s downfall, club director Josh Kroenke – who ended up authorising writing off millions of transfer fees and wages for the banished captain, and there is no mention of Mesut Ozil, who left the previous year – said: “I was annoyed there were so many people trying to fracture the group.