Arteta admits teaching Arsenal stars 'dark arts' including pinching opponents

23 February 2024 , 22:30

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Mikel Arteta wants his Arsenal side to show a nastier edge (Image: PA)

Mikel Arteta has admitted he is having to teach some of his players how to be nasty because dark arts are not in Arsenal ’s DNA.

Arteta was responding after Declan Rice claimed that Arsenal needed more “savviness” after their defeat to Porto in the Champions League. Porto veteran Pepe, the former Real Madrid hardman, used all the tricks in the book and Arteta said he wants his players to provoke opponents at corners if it helps.

Arteta said they have been working on it in training because all the best teams are clever when it comes to wind-ups, game management and finding little edges over rivals. Pepe was even renowned for pinching opponents at corners while Brentford’s Neal Maupay has become king of the wind-ups.

Gunners boss Arteta said: “It is the way you talk to them, showing them clips, training - putting them through scenarios, pinching them a few times as well, learning from other players who do it really well and from teams who are masters at it. There are ways to do it.

"It's very important. That's a way of competing for a team, you know. And you can tell that the best players in the world have the ability to take advantage - always.

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“Overall when you build a squad you need that certainly but it comes. Sometimes it comes from the culture of the club. You see that there are clubs that they have that in their DNA.

“I don’t know if it is [being] a bad guy, but you have to be tricky, you have to be smart, you have to be street wise and you have to try to take advantages in every situation. They know that.

“It is not something that you would directly link with Arsenal, that's for sure but it is something that has to be developed.

“We have many other things and a lot of other clubs don't have what we do. You want to have the best of the best - that's the aim.”

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John Cross