'Do RAF pilots know how to deal with a set piece?!' - Mikel Arteta savaged over plan to bring military into Arsenal training

Arteta is becoming well known for employing unusual methods to try and improve his team and his latest plan involves getting the military involved at Arsenal. The Spaniard has revealed he is planning on seeking advice from RAF pilots and hopes they can help him out on the Arsenal training ground. The 43-year-old, who has seen his team finish second in the last three Premier League seasons, is seemingly leaving no stone unturned in his bid for glory and thinks the RAF could help given the Gunners an extra edge.

Arteta shared the thinking behind his latest plan at the Lead Better, Live Better Summit 2025. He said: "To many places. It’s a constant improvement. I can wake up one day and say ‘my process on match day is not good enough. Why we are communicating to the players, starting from between us coaches to the analysts, to the other guys, to actually how the message is delivered. I don’t like it. Who is the best at that?'

"So, the British fighter planes, for example. I will get in touch with those guys, how they communicate, because that is life or death. I’m sure they don’t use 20 phrases or 20 words if there is one word. Don’t say ‘nah, the wind is coming this way, now you have to turn left’, because boom, dead. So, it will be one word.

"So what is it? How specific can we be? How clear can we be? And bring them [the pilots] in and say ‘I want you to analyse our process, three days, how we communicate, how we do that in training, how we do that and I want to get better at this’."

Arteta's plan has been met with bemusement, with television pundit Jamie O'Hara clearly unimpressed and delivering some savage criticism of the Arsenal manager's plan.

He told Sky Sports: "Do RAF pilots know how to defend? Do they know how to come for a cross? Do they know how to tell your winger to tuck in? All footballers know how to communicate, they are Premier League football players. How hard is it to say get in, tuck in, get tight, stop the cross, get back? I mean these are phrases that have been around for a hundred years. Don't tell me an RAF pilot is going to come in and rip it up and say this is how you communicate. What are you talking about? An RAF pilot is an incredible person who knows how to fly a plane, he doesn't know how to defend a set piece."

Arteta and Arsenal are currently preparing for a Champions League clash with Olympiacos after reaching the semi-finals last season for only the third time but losing to eventual winners PSG. The Gunners opened up their 2025-26 campaign with a 2-0 win over Athletic Club in Bilbao and Arteta says another win as vital as they take on Olympiacos at home.

He told reporters: "We have the same ambition which is to go game by game and try and be better than the opponent which is very difficult in this competition. We want to win as many games as we can. Tomorrow is going to be a really difficult one. We know how important the home form is going to be to reach where we want to arrive and tomorrow we have the opportunity to start well.

"I am aware the moment that I step into this chair, what I want with this football club is to win major trophies. Nobody else has to put that line in to us. That's the ambition. Excuses have never been a part of my life."

Arsenal enjoyed a dramatic last-gasp win over Newcastle last time out to sit just two points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool after six games of the season. Arteta will hope his side can take the momentum from that win into the game against Olympiacos as well as Saturday's Premier League clash with West Ham at the Emirates.