Arsenal, Mikel Arteta and the ‘fear of failure’ they are trying to banish | OneFootball

On the morning after Arsenal’s 3-2 defeat to Manchester United, Mikel Arteta realised his players needed one specific message. The Basque and team discussed the principle that "you can't lose something you haven't won, so leave all that behind".

Players were also encouraged to speak up about how they were feeling. There had been a release.

Arteta and his staff are aware of a “fear of failure” discussion encircling his team, so he knew he had to make them look at it in a different way.

“Let’s enjoy it,” Arteta said, as he spoke of how it can’t be like this week to week for four months. The message was a progression of his dressing-room speech immediately after United.

“This is the journey you’re on if you’re going to win the title,” Arteta said. “It’s not always going to go your way.”

In other words, there will be setbacks, especially if a team is seeking to be champions for the first time. It’s rarely been smooth, despite the perception Manchester City have given.

Arteta is said to have pitched the speech at exactly the right tone, something that is more notable since there has been a tendency for such performances to send him further in the other direction; more intense.

Stepping back a bit, the Arsenal manager instead came to a realisation. He could see there was something deeper than a normal setback.

The speech did bring a shift in training, aided by a forgiving win over Kairat.

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Mikel Arteta’s speech in training was aided by a forgiving win over Kairat (Getty)

Whether the message fully sinks in, however, is the next question.

Arsenal might go out at Leeds United pumped to make amends for Sunday only for Karl Darlow to make a big save early on or Pascal Struijk to clatter a forward. Then, all the same thoughts from Sunday might surge back.

Saturday does have the feel of a hinge fixture, primarily because Arsenal have such a tough match at the same time that many insiders wonder whether “the biggest game is in their own heads”. They’d still be top if they lost, after all, but no one would even consider that. The talk would be loss of momentum, and belief.

Hence Arteta knowing he has to get his team playing with conviction again. Or even, the conviction they offer in every competition that isn’t the Premier League. That alone reflects the psychology around all this.

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Arteta knows he has to get his team playing with conviction again (PA Wire)

It’s also easier said than done, given the “pressure bubble” Arteta’s staff feel the team are in, one obviously expanded by fans and so much social media noise. That’s what long waits without a title do, especially as you get so close.

Hence Arteta’s will to try and stamp out that “fear of failure”.

One of his biggest challenges might be finding a solution, which is why Monday might have been be so important.

Others still feel it’s Arteta himself that could do with a chat, because of how emotionally he lives all this. Perhaps it’s where Josh Kroenke could offer counsel, from his experience of success with the ownership’s American franchises.

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Josh Kroenke (L) at Arsenal’s Champions League semi-final against Paris Saint-Germain (Getty Images)

One complication with any solution, after all, is that it is Arteta’s own intensity that has fed this atmosphere. And while should never be overlooked that Basque’s energy was absolutely crucial in restoring Arsenal as a force - and probably would not have happened without it - the wonder is now whether such an important strength may have to just be tempered to actually get over the line. Not a total reassessment, but a tweak.

Arteta’s coaching base, after all, is “trying to control every element of play”. This approach has taken Arsenal to the top, as they tend to win virtually every game on xG. Described as “a probabilities man”, Arteta believes that if you do that in 35 of 38 matches, you likely win the league.

That final gap to actual victory nevertheless fosters a sense of “trying to win a title by process” and whether he’s overlooking that final human edge required.

A question has been asked over whether the team is now so overcoached it is no longer so geared for attackers to score.

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Have Arsenal been overcoached to the point they are no longer geared for attackers to score? (Getty Images)

That can be seen in recent player stats on individual goals and assists, but also in other tangible effects with players, and within games.

In the 0-0 against Nottingham Forest, for example, Arsenal mostly executed their gameplan and another day would likely have seen them convert an xG of 2.37 to win. Again, probabilities.

But that in itself arguably illustrated the difference between process and true end product necessary to win the title. People may be fed up with references to Sir Alex Ferguson’s United, but it was hard not to think of one recently resurfaced quote about chasing wins.

“The risk is you shove people in the box, because other teams react... but the value in the risk, if you score in the last minute of injury time - the dressing room after was electric.”

In order to bring that risk, Arteta pushed for Eberechi Eze’s signing. Except, it was then noted the playmaker was suddenly out of the team much more after failing to track Matty Cash in the 2-1 defeat at Aston Villa.

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Eberechi Eze (centre) was signed to bring an element of risk to Arsenal’s play (Arsenal FC via Getty Images)

Insiders similarly talk of how decisions on shape and structure have recently taken precedence over creativity.

As a Pep Guardiola follower, too, there’s an argument Arteta suffers from the same issue the City coach did in the Champions League; that he becomes so fixated on a gameplan, meaning that there is then a vacuum if it falters.

United showed this. At 0-0, Arteta’s plan was to stop transitions by stopping Bruno Fernandes getting on the ball. Arsenal duly had control, and it eventually produced - or perhaps processed - that first goal.

In the six minutes before Bryan Mbuemo’s strike, though, Arteta was getting increasingly frantic about player decisions and duels. Control gave way to a meeker conservatism, that manifested in the errors for the equaliser. After that, they just couldn’t get into the fight in the same way.

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Bryan Mbeumo equalises for Manchester United at Arsenal (PA Wire)

Sources say that dynamic has led to certain players becoming too conscious of defensive mistakes, an issue compounded by the feeling there is a “Premier League team” and “a cup team” and it takes a lot to change that. How close, for example, is Martin Odegaard to being dropped?

If Arteta does want to shake things up, that may happen this weekend. The Norwegian has been visibly struggling in duels, but Leeds are all about duels, which is where Mikel Merino may come in.

Kai Havertz is also viewed as transformative, just for how his pressing gets Arsenal playing much higher.

There is admittedly a fair question over whether the very “monotony” of so many midweek matches is having an effect, especially with that pressing. It’s also been a pattern of Arsenal’s recent seasons that there has been a December-January slump, and it was notable that 2023-24 brought the run to 89 points after a mid-season break. That just poses another reason for a mental reset.

On that, Arteta is a big tennis fan, and has previously spoken about a 2024 Roger Federer speech at Dartmouth.

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Arteta has been taking a leaf out of Roger Federer’s book (Getty)

In that, the tennis great spoke about how he actually lost 46 percent of all shots in his career. He just had to remind himself it was only ever one shot.

“When you’re playing a point, it has to be the most important thing in the world, and it is. But when it’s behind you, it’s behind you. This mindset is really crucial because it frees you to fully commit to the next point, and the next point after that, with intensity, clarity and focus…

“You want to become a master at overcoming hard moments.”

Arteta has perhaps realised that.

Arsenal are probably the best team in the country, and can win a lot this season. They just have to start playing like that again, rather than as a team that can lose a lot.