Former Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere has praised the coaching style of Mikel Arteta, calling it genius.
Wilshere is taking his first coaching job with the Arsenal Under-18s and will lead his team to the FA Youth Cup semi-final against Manchester City on Tuesday at the Emirates Stadium.
In an interview with Sky Sports, Wilshere responded to questions regarding Arteta’s use of a lightbulb in the Amazon’s ‘All or Nothing’ documentary last season, when he used the prop during a pep talk to his players before a home game against Brighton.
He also says he has his own ways of getting his players ready for a game, noting that players in the modern generation need visual motivation to get going.
“When I was coming through there wasn’t really that side of coaching. Arsene [Wenger] never brought a lightbulb through or played music before a game – but part of me feels it’s genius.
With this generation, with Instagram, they’re looking at motivational videos and things to get them motivated all the time. I think it works and Mikel has done a great job at dipping into different things and building around that.
With the lightbulb he was talking about connecting and building different energy and the fans. What he’s trying to say is make sure you show the fans you’ve got energy, fight and passion. That’s how I see it.
How you get that across to the players is a big part of it. The basics of being passionate, having pride, if you go into a duel winning a duel, that’s important because it brings the fans with you. So the idea is to bring energy.”
Image Credit: Amazon All Or Nothing.
While Arteta is tearing the Premier League apart with an eight-point gap, Wilshere, 31, is having an influence on the young Guns and eyeing a place in the FA Youth Cup final.
He speaks about having a connection with his players, which will make it easier for the players to buy into his ideas as a coach.
“On a matchday, my process would be to give the players two hours before what we’re doing tactically, in possession, out of possession.
Then four or five minutes [before kick-off] we get everyone in a group and try different things, I’m not going to tell you what they are – some of them have worked, some of them haven’t.
You can talk about tactics and stuff, but when you have a connection with your players like Mikel does and you can see that he really cares, then players buy into that and they’ll do anything you want.”
