Mikel Arteta reveals his biggest Arsenal mistake, and it makes complete sense

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has revealed that his biggest mistake so far in his managerial career was to focus a little too much on tactics, and overloading his players with information.

Arteta is one of the best managers in world football. The tactical work, as well as the emotional work, that the Spaniard has put into this young team in the last few years is simply astonishing, and now that they are at the precipice of winning trophies, he is among the most important protagonists in making that happen.

Obviously, there are a lot of things left to be done right before Arteta and Arsenal win any trophies, but the blueprint is there, and it is made up well by Arteta.

But even a manager like Arteta could make mistakes, and he has made mistakes. No one gets to a position that Arteta is currently in without making a lot of mistakes, and the Arsenal manager will be the first to admit that.

In fact, the mistake he talked about in his interview with amateur manager Alex Lodge in an episode of 'Connected', is ironically one of the things that he gets praised for the most.

Mikel Arteta reveals his biggest Arsenal mistake, and it makes complete sense

Speaking about his biggest mistake, he said: “Where you put the focus sometimes. Especially at the beginning, the focus was probably too much on the tactical aspect. That means you maybe overloading them with information.

"And then how important the emotional part is. When a player is not executing, why is he not executing? He's not capable, and you're asking something he cannot do, or he has a certain fear, or doubts, or not enough clarity of why he's doing certain things?

“Providing that to the player is the most important thing, I think. When you connect and understand how the player reacts better to your demands, that's when you touch the right button."

It is such an intelligent answer. Arteta knows what he is doing on a tactical level - that part is clear to the entire footballing world. What isn't so clear is how well these players are able to grasp the information that is being provided to them.

How well these players respond to such tasks, and whether they have emotional needs where Arteta could come in and support them. Making these players feel comfortable in his system is one of the most important jobs of any manager, and through the years, Arteta must have realised how important the man-management skill is.

Many managers fail to get to a high level when it comes to that, and sometimes, that is where they lack. Being tactically aware will only get you so far, and Arteta has proven just how crucial the other aspects of his job really are.