Arsenal: Mikel Arteta in plea over focus on manager behaviour in technical area | OneFootball

Arteta reveals FA regularly asks clubs for feedback on the behaviour of managers

Mikel Arteta has previously been criticised for his actions in the technical area

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Arteta was booked against Liverpool earlier this month for leaving his technical area. In the 2023-24 campaign he was shown five yellow cards, with that cut to three last season.

Ahead of his side's trip to Leeds on Saturday, Arteta was quizzed on whether he felt the need to cut a calmer figure on the side of the pitch.

"I thought more agitation and more excitement, I thought you were going to go that way," Arteta said. "That I'm too relaxed.

"Evolution, always evolution. What the players need, what the club needs, what the regulations are.

"I'm on my way to do that. At Elland Road, I will do what I think is best for the team."

Mikel Arteta, as animated as ever in his technical area

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Arteta revealed that the behaviour of managers is a topic that regularly comes up when the FA asks clubs for their feedback.

The Arsenal boss had earlier in his press conference called for the Premier League to increase the size of matchday squads, both for the sake of players' mental health and for clubs to cope with a hectic fixture schedule.

Arteta urged the sport's decision makers to focus on that rather than trying to police "passion".

"We always have surveys when we give our opinions about this or about the behaviour in the technical area," Arteta said, smiling.

"Which are very important [but] I think this one is even more important. At the end the welfare is the most important, we always say that.

"Focus on much more the players and what we have to do there.

Focus on much more the players and what we have to do there

Mikel Arteta

"We are not perfect and we have a limitation. If we get out of that I understand that. It's not conscious, we are living the game.

"We want to obviously help the fourth official and the referee in everything we can because we are very aware that the image of the Premier League is very important.

"But I think as well there is an element that it's very important to see that passion. I look at a lot of games and at what happened and it's normal. I think if you're respectful it's normal."