TOGETHER

Speaking about having an understanding of positional play Mikel Arteta gave an analogy:
“If I am in the kitchen and I know the glasses are always in this cupboard, I get my glass of water more quickly.”

“When you play a match, it is statistically proven that players actually have the ball three minutes on average … So, the most important thing is: what do you do during those 87 minutes when you do not have the ball. That is what determines whether you’re a good player or not.”

“Teddy [Sheringham] didn’t need pace, he was five yards quicker upstairs. He already knew what was happening before the ball came to him. Dennis Bergkamp was the same. He’d already had a look before receiving the ball. He never wasted a pass, especially when he got into the last third. He’d pass the ball to me in a situation where it negated the defender.”

“We need to stop thinking football is only a matter of the body, skillfulness will only grow if we better understand the mental part of developing a player. Cognitive readiness, improved perception, and better mastering of time and space in combination with perfect motor functioning. It’s about letting ‘competition’ go and opting for ‘education and apprenticeship’.”

“Football intelligence is about being mentally versatile to roles and responsibilities quickly someone who moves from team to team and fits in no problem understands the nuances of different systems.”

“For sportsmen or women who want to be champions, the mind can be as important, if not more important, than any other part of the body.”

“If each person does their job, and they know what it is because I make sure they know, then we are a team that is difficult to beat.”