Doing things a bit differently, in the hope of provoking a response, is not exclusive to Mikel Arteta.
There were no fires at Manchester City’s sprawling campus on Saturday evening. No lightbulbs or TikTok edits on big screens.
But there was the presence of chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak, around the group on the eve of their season’s seismic day. He has watched training before, loves to observe Pep Guardiola’s sessions. The hierarchy stand on the touchline – or sit on crates of water – chatting away, gently taking the temperature of the squad.
A day out from the final game in 2024, the last time City lifted this title, Al Mubarak stayed behind as Phil Foden went through some extra shooting practice, asking the academy graduate to stick one in the top corner when West Ham arrived that Sunday. Foden managed to answer that particular call within two minutes.
So Al Mubarak being around the players for a late afternoon session before Arsenal rolled into town could be construed as significant. It is not every week that the chairman pops in and that the players headed home later than usual points to the idea that there were things to say, rallying cries to absorb.
That team meeting to finish their preparation will have produced the requisite fire. Guardiola, his staff have confided, is more likely to produce a rousing speech at their training ground 24 hours out than he is inside the home dressing room.
His messages are designed to alleviate pressure, to impress on the players that their talent can carry them through the big moments. Basically, not to catastrophise potential negative situations – proven after Gianluigi Donnarumma’s rick. As he attempts to hunt down a seventh Premier League crown, the Catalan’s track record suggests that these motivational ideas bear fruit.
‘When the players know that ‘I’m going to do this, and do that, and I’m able to do this because I’m good enough,’ we’re going to win the game,’ Guardiola said calmly on Friday afternoon as the frenzy around this fixture seemingly failed to touch him.
‘I have to try to visualise this so we can do it. All the details. And after that, just play. Play on.’
Just play – and play they did. On Sunday, every single member of his squad boarded the coach from the City Football Academy, a two-minute drive to the Etihad Stadium. Each of their names were boomed from the compere’s microphone as they disembarked to wild scenes outside the Colin Bell Stand.
Clearly, Guardiola felt that this was an occasion that he required added togetherness.
By the end, those who did not make the matchday 20 were in the mouth of the tunnel, waiting for their team-mates to finish a weekly lap of appreciation, one that is a new initiative for this season, to congratulate their efforts. Even Sverre Nypan, who is yet to make a senior appearance.
Guardiola’s right-hand man Manel Estiarte ran over to praise Donnarumma, whose colossal save to deny Kai Havertz cancelled out the horrific first-half mistake. Rodri, who came off injured, had been coaching down the touchline in the final excruciating moments of stoppage time.
This is not a City team that breeds the same certainty as the other all-conquering versions. And nor should it: the majority of the squad are new and have not gone through many of these nerve-jangling afternoons.
But there was a maturity to some of their plan in the last 15 minutes, a very conscious decision to slow down proceedings as supporters had palpitations. The leadership group, including captain Bernardo Silva and Erling Haaland, are proving crucial to this growth among the others.
Silva said Haaland ‘fought like an animal’. In turn, Haaland told his skipper that he had been ‘like effing [Fabio] Cannavaro’. These two are shining examples to those with less experience.
‘If I talk a lot, one day I will cry,’ Guardiola said of Silva, leaving the club this summer. ‘Thank you so much on behalf of this club for what you have done. Bernardo proves that being a footballer starts from the head.’
Although led by a supreme new captain, Guardiola’s still been mindful of the need to go through various strategies to make rawer talents more comfortable since losing two of the first three league matches this year.
Defeats by Tottenham and Brighton feel like a long time ago and back then, the captains held a meeting on how best to impress higher standards, while the manager altered the build up for the September derby.
Back then, they trained on the Etihad pitch the day before that meeting with Manchester United – a move barely ever seen across his decade-long reign. There have been days off afforded before European nights, to varying degrees of success, and the idea of freshening things up has permeated.
Clearly, Al Mubarak’s visit did the trick.
