‘He shoved me’: New Arsenal signing shares what Arteta did right after he made a mistake in training
Arsenal goalkeeper Matt Turner has shared what Mikel Arteta is like in training sessions at London Colney when one of his players makes a mistake.
The American joined the Gunners from New England Revolution in the summer. He replaced Bernd Leno in the squad and is currently a deputy to Aaron Ramsdale, who is Arsenal’s undisputed number one.
Arsenal are on top of the Premier League table at the moment and Arteta is one of the biggest reasons why.
The Spaniard has completely changed the mentality of the players and the club, and Turner’s experience with him after he made a mistake in one of his first training sessions explains everything.
The American claims he was really upset with himself after giving the ball away in a training drill. Arteta was having none of that as he doesn’t want any of his players to sulk after an error. Turner loved that.
The American told MLS’ official website: “We were playing a small possession game and it was really, really tight.
“I tried to make a pass and I gave the ball away. I sort of visually got frustrated and upset and he (Arteta) just came up to me and shoved me. He was basically like: ‘I don’t want to see that. I don’t like seeing that reaction. I want to see you pick yourself up and keep going.’
“I think that really set the tone for my mentality within the club and just to keep going no matter what. If you fail, that’s alright. What matters is how you react and not about the failure in itself. That was a really nice moment.”
Turner made the big switch to the Premier League from MLS this summer. It’s a huge step up in quality and intensity, and he was always going to make mistakes.
Arteta seems to have handled one of Turner’s first errors perfectly, and that would’ve surely given the goalkeeper a lot of confidence.
The American made his debut for the Gunners in the Europa League against FC Zurich earlier this month. He had a shaky start to the game and almost made a huge mistake early on, but he picked himself up and barely put a foot wrong after that error.
Turner definitely deserves a lot of credit, but it may well have been Arteta’s advice that helped him get through that game in Switzerland without any trouble.
