Sports

Inside Mikel Arteta’s managerial mindset, with Arsenal’s former head of methodology

Published

2 months ago

September 20, 2024

Inside Mikel Arteta’s managerial mindset, with Arsenal’s former head of methodology

Follow live coverage of Atalanta vs Arsenal in the Champions League today

When The Athletic revealed last month that Mikel Arteta hired professional pickpockets to pinch valuables from his Arsenal players at a team dinner last season, there were plenty of people wishing they had been in the room to witness the reaction.

Kevin Balvers, the club’s head of methodology for three years before moving to current Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven this summer, could do one better than that.

“I was in the control room of the camera system,” Balvers laughs.

“It was before the Liverpool game (Arsenal’s 3-1 home win in February) and the message to the players was that you always have to be prepared for them to trick you into something without knowing, as their mentality is to win.

“Afterwards, we had a meeting with the players and Mikel said, ‘Is someone missing a phone?’, then pulled it out of a big bag. Then it was, ‘Is someone missing a hotel key?’.

“The coaches all knew as we had hired them but even one of the staff had something stolen. We showed them the cameras, with the message that this is exactly what Liverpool are going to do. It helped align the players with the way the coach was thinking.”

Want all the latest Arsenal news, analysis and additional insight from James McNicholas, Amy Lawrence, David Ornstein, Art de Roche, Jordan Campbell and more? Join our new Arsenal WhatsApp channel

This is what Balvers describes as an ‘activation’, a pre-match brain game with a deeper psychological message behind it. It is the kind of outside-of-the-box thinking from Arteta that he quickly became used to after joining his staff in 2021.

They would only happen on occasions when it was decided the squad needed something extra to focus their minds, but they were more common before early kick-offs, with Arteta’s own version of Pictionary being a favourite.

“When we played against a team who counter-attacked and there were open spaces, he would say to the players, ‘The highway is open’, which was a picture of an F1 car without any other cars around them,” says Balvers. “If we were playing against a team with closer organisation, it was an F1 car but really crowded. The players would then remember more quickly the things we were talking about.

“This is Mikel. When he speaks with people from a different world, he is trying to think of how he can translate it into football — even with a pilot.

“We had a presentation where he was speaking about them not having control of the plane every single minute because some things were automated and they just had to adjust. We had a presentation with a plane going up when you face a high press and another going down when you have to control the game. It was to say that you may need to change tactics in-game.”

His path to Arsenal was paved by Arteta’s assistant Albert Stuivenberg. They first met when Balvers had been trying to expand his knowledge base at Dutch club Vitesse Arnhem and had reached out to dozens of coaches from the Netherlands to understand their way of playing.

They spoke for two hours as Balvers helped Stuivenberg articulate his game model and philosophy, which led to him being recommended to Arteta in 2020.

“I was out of contract sitting at home (after leaving Vitesse) so I offered to help Albert with anything for free,” says Balvers. “He asked me to help with the analysis of the opposition but I was working with Carlos Cuesta and Miguel Molina on it, who had not joined yet either.

“They saw my work there but Arsenal were struggling with Covid, so those two could join then, but Arteta could only get more staff members later.”

Balvers was at Swedish club Malmo in 2021 when he received a call from Arsenal sporting director Edu Gaspar asking him if he would like to interview for the job as head of methodology. A video call with Arteta and Stuivenberg was followed by an anxious wait as there were two other candidates. Arteta stressed the one with the best “connection” would be chosen.

Balvers during his time at Vitesse (Photo: Paul Meima/Pro Shots/Isosport)

But after an eclectic decade with the Cyprus FA, the Netherlands’ youth teams, Caribbean nation Curacao, Vitesse, Barcelona’s La Masia academy and Malmo’s first team, Balvers secured the role in north London.

He was tasked with creating a uniform footballing idea that ran through the men’s team, the women’s side, and all the way to the youngest academy age group. He did not, however, envisage just how wide-ranging his role would become.

“It wasn’t only his (Arteta) ideas on the pitch, it was the re-culturing of the training ground and the club in every way,” says Balvers.

“If he said the painting in the toilet in the stadium has to be changed, it was because he had a vision. It is a stupid example, but I helped him a lot with these sorts of things.

“At the training ground, all the walls were white but Mikel wanted them to create a culture. I designed with him some words and pictures to go up on the walls.

Plenty of thought goes into the messaging at Arsenal, whether at the Emirates Stadium or the training ground (Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)

“One of them was ‘BASICS’ — B for Boxes, A for Attack, S for Shape, I for Intensity, C for Compete and S for Set pieces. It made it clear what we expected from them, and because he speaks that language every day, the players then speak it.

“He had many specific words he used but one was ‘collaboretition’ — collaboration and competition every day.”

Balvers quickly became a football analyst, a graphics designer, a motivational filmmaker and an interior designer all in one, such was Arteta’s desire to bring his colourful analogies to life.

“It was all the graphics and the motivational videos,” says Balvers. “There was a promo video the club made for the Liverpool home game last season, but he wanted a bit more energy to create a connection with the team and the fans. He had a different idea, so he came to me with it and the video you saw was the new one.

“When we went to away grounds, I made the banners with the crests of Arsenal and others with words from our game model that were placed around the changing room.

“When he was presenting to the board about his plan for the club financially, we did some really good stuff. We lost the first four games after I joined and I was thinking, ‘I could be out already’, but the strength of Mikel was that he could translate his vision and ideas about the whole organisation, not just the team. I think that’s why the board and owners believed in him.”

No stone was left unturned when it came to ensuring Arteta’s ideas became ingrained in the players’ minds. They sought the advice of educational experts to help understand the science behind how people best learn.

“We had people from different clubs and different sports coming over to speak to the coaches, which is how we picked up things,” Balvers says. “For presentations, we had an American come and share techniques which teachers use at university to bring across the message, how to get information into them and how to get information out of them.

“In tactical meetings, I learned from studies that if you put a dark blue background the players will learn the information more than white, black or red as the contrast is better. When speaking about defending, we made sure the text and areas highlighted were red and when attacking it was blue. This helps their brains know instantly what phase of play we’re talking about.”

Even more thought went into the presentations used to pitch the club to prospective new players.

“We spoke about how we saw them fitting in on the pitch, outside the pitch and had some pictures of them photoshopped in the kit already,” Balvers explains.

“For (Jurrien) Timber, we had some pictures of his family with the message that we are a big family and take care of everything. As I’m Dutch too, I put in some music from artists he was listening to, rather than English music. Win the dog was in the one for Kai (Havertz), as we knew he loved dogs and we explained we wanted a family feeling.

“That summer, we used an animation of a train. Mikel was saying, ‘We have our direction and we know where we want to go. If you want to keep going then jump in’. A lot of them said it was amazing as they felt like the club really wanted them in the team.

“Everything that was in Mikel’s mind, I was visualising and trying to make interesting but easy for the players to understand. It was really fun for me as I could be creative when he came to me with an idea and I had to think about how we could present it in the best way. It was the perfect job for me.”

Having spent three seasons at Arsenal, it was a wrench for Balvers to leave. But with a wife and two children, aged three and five, the lure of going home to his family in the Netherlands proved too strong.

There were difficult times due to the distance but the environment at Arsenal helped him get through those moments.

“Mikel is great at speaking about tactics but he’s interested in your family and if you have a problem at home, you could call him in the middle of the night,” he says.

“We had a few breaks before Christmas but in 2022 we only had one before the World Cup, so it was really difficult. I spoke with Mikel and Edu and told them I was struggling, that I could not do this another year. It was special that they just asked me what my idea was and let me work one week a month from the Netherlands.

“That’s the biggest example of why I love the people in the club so much, as it’s not a club just based on results, it’s a really warm place.”

Balvers was given a signed and framed shirt to remember his time at the club by, but his kids now have two red-and-white jerseys they wear playing in the garden after Daddy joined PSV, who have the same colours.

He left his own form of a leaving gift to the Arsenal squad after the final-day victory against Everton, his way of urging them to go on and complete the job of becoming Premier League champions for the first time in over 20 years.

“At the end of every season I always made a video showing the highlights of the whole season, but not just on the pitch. The team building, the barbecues, everything. They were really emotional videos,” he says. “This summer I tried to make the message that, yes, we tried to win and were disappointed, but we have to look back to the road and the story we have built together. We have been amazing, but we have to accept that Manchester City are amazing too.

“I’m not in doubt that, if Arsenal can make steps like they did last year, they can be the main team in the Premier League. Every club has its era.”

(Top photos: Getty Images; design: Eamonn Dalton)

Click to comment

Sports

Lakers' lineup changes pay off with a convincing win over the Spurs

Published

26 mins ago

November 28, 2024

Press Room

Lakers' lineup changes pay off with a convincing win over the Spurs

SAN ANTONIO — It was almost 4 a.m. Wednesday when the Lakers arrived at their hotel, their last two losses exposing some of the worst internal fears of the team.

The way they had played in the second half of losses to Denver and Phoenix had players wondering whether all the work the team had put in over the last two months had been worth it and all the effort and time spent trying to change had mattered.

When Denver pushed the familiar pressure points, the Lakers crumbled. When the offense went cold and the rims got tight in Phoenix, they folded.

Their body language said what no one dared mutter publicly: “Here we go again.”

But when the Lakers took the floor Wednesday evening, they took on the persona of their coach, JJ Redick, who said before the game, “I don’t think I’ve ever dwelled on the past.”

Energized in part by a new starting five and in part by a fresh chance to get back to winning, the Lakers played one of their most consistent games of the season on both ends of the court in a 119-101 win against the San Antonio Spurs.

“I’m very proud of our group,” Redick said. “The response was great. And it’s funny because it’s literally what I talked about with them before the game. It’s just you got to let go of the past. You got to let go of the recent past and you got to get on to the next thing. And like they’ve done already on several occasions, they’ve responded.”

Redick moved rookie Dalton Knecht back into the starting five, moving Cam Reddish to the bench, and the group responded by winning each of the four quarters.

Defensively, the Lakers caused havoc and dictated the game with their physicality, pushing Spurs phenom Victor Wembanyama away from the paint. Offensively, the ball popped, baskets almost always coming as result of crisp passing, the Lakers recapturing vibes that had evaporated during their three-game losing streak.

“We win games when we do that,” guard D’Angelo Russell said of the Lakers’ passing, which produced 31 assists.

When the Lakers have had 27 or more assists, they’re 9-1. When they’re below that number, they’re 2-6.

Knecht led seven players in double figures with 20 points, LeBron James had his sixth triple-double and Anthony Davis had 19 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists. Russell had one of his best games of the season, scoring 17 off the bench. Max Christie added 12.

Davis’ passing, in particular, energized the team and neutralized San Antonio’s defense.

“We’re just trying to get good looks, run our offense and live with the results,” Davis said. “And put guys in actions that we thought that we had an advantage with. We’re able to get some lobs, some pocket passes, some open threes. But we just stayed with it.”

The Lakers’ NBA Cup chances are still alive, but they need a win Friday against Oklahoma City, while needing the Spurs to upset the Suns.

More importantly, though, the Lakers found reason to believe that this version of themselves can be who they are moving forward — and not the rickety version from the previous three games, which featured, in one way or another, gut-churning collapses.

“We came out with force, came out with intensity,” Christie said. “Yeah, I don’t think we really slacked. I thought we did a really good job.”

Sports

Which songs will Kendrick Lamar perform during the Super Bowl LIX halftime show?

Published

8 hours ago

November 28, 2024

Press Room

Which songs will Kendrick Lamar perform during the Super Bowl LIX halftime show?

Kendrick Lamar said on his new album “GNX” that Nas congratulated him for being selected to perform at halftime of Super Bowl LIX in February.

Perhaps Nas will make a guest appearance on stage in New Orleans?

It’s hard to predict what Lamar will do with his upcoming performance — or with his music in general. He caught the music world by surprise in releasing his latest album on Friday, then releasing a video for the song “squabble up” on Monday.

The release of “GNX” gives fans a glimpse into additional songs that might be performed at Caesars Superdome in February. The Athletic in September rolled out early predictions and odds of the songs the Pulitzer Prize-winning rapper would perform during the Super Bowl halftime show. Here are updated predictions, which include some of the tracks from the new album:

‘Not Like Us’

When this song, considered by many as the knockout punch in the Kendrick Lamar-Drake rap beef, was released in May, rapper-turned-podcaster Joe Budden said Drake should be thankful it wasn’t the HBCU band season because it would be played at games repeatedly. Well, college football season is here, and marching bands are performing their renditions of the song. Pro teams are playing the song. Youth bands are picking up the song. It even became a theme for the Los Angeles Dodgers during their run to the World Series. It’s the new sports theme for this decade: “They not like us. They not like us. They not like us.”

Chance it’s played: 100 percent

‘squabble up’

When the “Not Like Us” video was released on July 4, there was a snippet of a song at the start of the video. The snippet had no title. That song turned out to be “squabble up” from the new album. The up-tempo start and the sample of Debbie Deb’s “When I Hear Music” is an ideal choice.

Chance it’s played: 99 percent

‘Like That’

This song, featuring Future and Metro Boomin, reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Lamar said in his verse there’s no “big three” in rap, declaring himself above Drake and J. Cole.

Chance it’s played: 95 percent

‘Humble’

The NBA used this track as its theme for the 2017 NBA Finals. It’s one of Lamar’s most recognizable songs. It’s hard to imagine it doesn’t make it into the show. If it doesn’t make the cut, “GNX” tracks might be the reason.

Chance it’s played: 90 percent

‘tv off’

Lefty Gunplay joins Lamar in this high-energy song off the “GNX” album. Lamar screaming “Mustarrrrrrd!” in reference to producer DJ Mustard quickly has become a meme-worthy expression. At the very least, Lamar has to yell “Mustarrrrrrd!” at least once during his performance.

Chance it’s played: 85 percent

‘Money Trees’

This song includes Jay Rock, as the two once were labelmates at Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE). Listen to “heart pt. 6” from “GNX” and be reminded how much Jay Rock means to Lamar’s career. It would be a great moment on stage for a reunion.

Chance it’s played: 75 percent

Kendrick Lamar will perform at Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans. Which songs will make up the set is still to be determined. (Briana Sanchez / Austin American-Statesman / USA Today)

‘DNA’

This is one of Lamar’s biggest songs. It’ll be hard to imagine it’s not part of the show.

Chance it’s played: 75 percent

‘All the Stars’

Lamar teamed up with SZA for this song on the “Black Panther” soundtrack. Lamar is no longer on TDE, but he remains close with those on the label. SZA would add soul as a guest performer.

Chance it’s played: 65 percent

‘Swimming Pools (Drank)’

It’s a slower tempo, but it’s a great song in a concert setting. It also was the song that introduced many fans to Lamar’s “Good Kid, M.A.A.D City” album in 2012.

Chance it’s played: 60 percent

‘King Kunta’

This is one of Lamar’s more danceable tracks from his “To Pimp a Butterfly” album from 2015. It’s a perfect concert song … but will it fit in his Super Bowl rotation?

Chance it’s played: 60 percent

‘Family Ties’

Lamar joined his cousin, Baby Keem, on this song off Keem’s “The Melodic Blue” album. Keem has toured with Lamar, so it wouldn’t be surprising for them to be on stage together in New Orleans.

Chance it’s played: 60 percent

‘Alright’

Lamar performed this at Super Bowl LVI at SoFi Stadium when he was part of Dr. Dre’s halftime show. That’s the only thing that makes it dicey as to whether it’ll be part of the upcoming show.

Chance it’s played: 50 percent

‘Collard Greens’

This was a highlight of ScHoolboy Q’s “Oxymoron” album. It’s an up-tempo song and would be another opportunity for Lamar to bring one of his former TDE labelmates onto the biggest of stages with him.

Chance it’s played: 45 percent

‘Rich Spirit’

I’ve heard this song live, and it hits hard in front of a live audience. That doesn’t mean it translates to the Super Bowl. It’s not a dance song, but it’s also not a slow jam. Nice, mid-tempo game that could lighten the mood a little, if needed.

Chance it’s played: 40 percent

‘B—-, Don’t Kill My Vibe’

A popular song, but the NSFW first word of the title means Lamar would have to work around it. It’s not impossible, as any song on this stage will have to be cleaned of profanity. There are parts of the song that would work.

Chance it’s played: 40 percent

‘Euphoria’

This was the first solo diss track from Lamar at Drake. It’s unlikely Lamar will want to turn the halftime show into 14 minutes of clowning Drake … but you never know.

Chance it’s played: 30 percent

‘6:16 in LA’

This Drake diss was never released on streaming services. It was only made available on Lamar’s Instagram. The song was a hit with fans during Lamar’s concert on Juneteenth, but again, how much time is he likely to dedicate to diss songs?

Chance it’s played: 25 percent

‘Meet the Grahams’

The darkest song of the Lamar-Drake feud. It doesn’t fit in this setting.

Chance it’s played: 5 percent

‘Bad Blood’

Taylor Swift is too big of a star to be a featured performer, but this surprise would send social media into a frenzy. There’s a better chance of Swift sitting in a suite cheering for Travis Kelce than joining Lamar on stage. The more the Kansas City Chiefs win, the chances of this collaboration happening shrink.

Chance it’s played: 0 percent

‘Mona Lisa’

This collaboration with Lil Wayne would have been an awkward fit during the show, but it might have been a hit with hometown fans of Wayne. Given Wayne’s public disappointment over not being selected to perform at halftime, in addition to his ties to Drake, it’s hard to imagine him taking the stage at halftime.

Chance it’s played: 0 percent

‘Poetic Justice,’ feat. Drake

Remember when Lamar and Drake made music together? This track was released in 2013. A lot has changed since then. Drake plans to be on tour in Australia on Super Bowl Sunday. No one expected to see him in New Orleans in the first place.

Chance it’s played: minus-1,000 percent

(Top photo: Santiago Bluguermann / Getty Images)

Sports

Paul-Tyson ring girl shares how fans thought she was part of 'staged' fight after Mike Tyson slap

Published

8 hours ago

November 28, 2024

Press Room

Paul-Tyson ring girl shares how fans thought she was part of 'staged' fight after Mike Tyson slap

Most Valuable Promotions (MVP) made sure to nix any speculation that the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson fight was compromised in any capacity, but in case you needed more evidence, one of the ring girls from that night is giving it.

MVP co-founder Nakisa Bidarian said in a recent interview with Fox News Digital that the fight was “100% real from beginning to end.”

The speculation was already present well before the fight, but one moment that prompted fireworks led to even more talk of possible staging.

Mike Tyson slaps Jake Paul during their weigh-in, Nov. 14, 2024, in Irving, Texas. Ring girl Sydney Thomas is shown at left. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

Tyson slapped Paul across the face at the weigh-in, saying Paul had stepped on his toe. Several people needed to separate Tyson from Paul, causing a melee on the stage.

Fans pointed to the ring girls behind them, who continued to pose and smile, as evidence that it was all planned. But Sydney Thomas, who has since nearly doubled her social media following, says they had no choice but to not react.

“I was so shocked that it happened. I was not expecting that at all. … But our job as event models is to stand there and smile, we’re not really supposed to react. You’re not supposed to change what you’re doing. You’re supposed to be in the background of all the pictures and not have these big reactions,” Thomas told Fox News Digital in a recent interview.

So, Thomas had to keep her cool.

Mike Tyson and Jake Paul are separated during their weigh-in, Nov. 14, 2024, in Irving, Texas. Ring girl Sydney Thomas is shown at left. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

PAUL-TYSON RING GIRL SYDNEY THOMAS REFLECTS ON NEWFOUND FAME, CAREER GOALS

“I’m like, ‘Oh! He just slapped him!’ But I have to hold this smile the whole time. In my head, I’m like, ‘No way. But keep smiling! They’re taking so many pictures, this moment’s going to go so viral. I got to be looking good back here!’ That was my thought process.

“A lot of people, too, had drawn a line [and] said, ‘This has to be staged. There’s no way that’s real. The models in the back didn’t even react.’ They were saying it was on us for the reason why it was looking so fake, because we didn’t react. That’s our entire job. We’re paid to stand there and smile. We’re professional at it. We’re not going to have these reactions. It was shocking, but that’s our job.”

MVP ripped any notion that the fight was rigged in any form.

“If you were to rig such competition, it is a federal crime. And myself, Jake Paul, Mike Tyson, executives from Netflix would all be going to jail. They would be risking their entire company, and we would be risking our entire lives to do that,” Bidarian told Fox News Digital last week. “It is preposterous that people even suggest that this was in any way anything other than a professional fight. … That was not the case in any Jake fight, let alone this one.”