Sleep, eat, prepare.
Earlier this week I wrote about how easy it is to blog when the games come thick and fast. You do not need to overthink things. And it is not much different for Mikel Arteta between now and the run-in.
Brighton will be our 3rd game in less than a week, having played Sunday and Wednesday. In between the games, the players would have slept, eaten and done some preparation work. It is all kept very simple at this time of year.
The fitness work is already in the tank. Playing so often is what keeps you fit and match sharp (rather than endless running). Players will maintain what they have, and focus more on recovery.
There will also be very little core tactical work being done. If a player has not got the shape and patterns Arteta wants by now, they will never get them.
Preparation will be team specific with minor tweaks to expose the opponent’s weakness, and set piece work. It is not complicated.
There is not much time for much else, and there is not much time for Arteta to think.
The boss will also now be in a routine. Game day, post game interview, oversee recovery work, pre-game interview, game day.
Everyone now will be on auto pilot and we should now benefit from holding back a bit at the beginning of the season.
Mental and physical fatigue is what let us down last season. This year we started slower (by design), to ensure we had more left in the tank for the run-in. Arteta has also been able to rotate more – 5 changes mid week was something that did not happen last season.
And as fans, we are not doing much more than eat, sleep and prepare.
As one game finishes, we got to bed to sleep off what we drank. By the time we wake up we are already looking towards the next game, preparing what time we will meet and where. In a blink of an eye, we will be at Victoria, St Pancras or Farringdon ready to travel down to Brighton. And a couple of days later it will be Munich, then Villa before Munich again.
In between, we might get a bit of work done. Grab a bacon sandwich.
Today will be about having a big dinner ready for tomorrow, deciding exactly where we want to go, and ensuring I have the food in for a fry up tomorrow.
Sleep, eat, prepare.
Keenos
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 