This was left in a hotel room by an Arsenal player at the start of the 08/09 season. It outlines Wenger's expectations of his side and their mentality.
The Team:
A team is as strong as the relationships within it.
The driving force of a team is its member's ability to create and maintain excellent relationships within the team that can add an extra dimension and robustness to the team dynamic.
This attitude can be used by our team to focus on the gratitude and the vitally important benefits that the team brings to our own lives. It can be used to strengthen and deepen the relationships within it and maximise the opportunities that await a strong and united team.
Our team becomes stronger by:
Displaying a positive attitude on and off the pitch
Everyone making the right decisions for the team
Have an unshakeable belief that we can achieve our target
Believe in the strength of the team
Always want more - always give more
Focus on our communication
Be demanding with yourself
Be fresh and well prepared to win
Focus on being mentally stronger and always keep going to the end
When we play away from home, believe in our identity and play the football we love to play at home
Stick together
Stay grounded and humble as a player and as a person
Show the desire to win in all that you do
Enjoy and contribute to all that is special about being in a team - don't take it for granted.ieve in the strength of the team
Always want more - always give more
Focus on our communication
Be demanding with yourself
Be fresh and well prepared to win
Focus on being mentally stronger and always keep going to the end
When we play away from home, believe in our identity and play the football we love to play at home
Stick together
Stay grounded and humble as a player and as a person
Show the desire to win in all that you do
Enjoy and contribute to all that is special about being in a team - don't take it for granted.
There is nothing revolutionary here but it is a good application of some of my theoretical posts earlier. There is a focus on constantly striving for more, and togetherness within the squad.
The real question is how to promote this. Mourinho gives some insights here.
There's no questioning the empathy that exists among us. Empathy doesn't just mean kiss kiss. Empathy means a loyal, honest and sincere relationship. I give maximum protection to those who play badly, which can happen, but why, and I ask you, shouldn't I criticise those who don't play for the team? The team is the most important thing for me.
Wenger has something special to say on the subject. Only a French coach could come up with something so eloquent - in such sharp contrast with Mourinho's Machiavellian pragmatism - and I love him for it:
"It's not really that important what the manager has to say. What's important is what you instil in the players' heads. You have to make sure the players are under the impression that they are struggling for themselves...if they do that then they can move mountains".
The following excerpt is from Lapses of Concentration: The Arsenal Football Team. "The concern for Arsenal Football Club (with its crop of talented individuals under the guidance of one of the most experienced managers in the game) should be how to address the problem of lapses of concentration that many of their players are prone to."
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