Mikel Arteta is not the only coach at Arsenal thinking outside the box to motivate his players.
Jack Wilshere embarked on his first coaching role last summer when he returned to the club as Under-18s manager and has got creative to get the best out of the “Instagram generation”.
After retiring last July aged 30, Wilshere says coaching has reignited his “real deep love for football” and, in particular, he is relishing the challenge of helping young players fulfil their potential.
“I have done some quirky things which I won’t tell you,” says Wilshere, with a grin. “I think when I was coming through there wasn’t really that side of coaching going on – Arsene [Wenger] never brought a lightbulb through or played music before a game – but part of me feels it’s genius.
“With this generation, with Instagram, they’re looking at motivational videos and things to get them motivated all the time. If you have an understanding of that like Mikel does – he’s a really intelligent coach, but also a person, and knows how to motivate people. Maybe it’s a bit the age thing that I can connect with the players.
“Also maybe being a parent helps. My kids are closer in age to my players than I am, so I can see what they need and what they want.”
Wilshere will be thinking of ideas for his team talk on Tuesday, when his U18s side face Manchester City at Emirates Stadium in the semi-finals of the FA Youth Cup.
His usual routine involves speaking to the players two hours before a match, mainly discussing tactics, but a few minutes before kick-off he assembles the squad in the dressing room and tries different motivational ideas.
“I’m not going to tell you what they are – some of them have worked, some of them haven’t,” he says.
Others at Arsenal have helped provide motivation for games, too. Academy graduates Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe sent the squad good-luck videos before their quarter-final win over Cambridge.
Saka regular speaks to the academy players in the morning, visiting them while they are having breakfast at Arsenal’s training base. Wilshere says Saka is inspiring the next generation, even if he is raising the bar for what it takes to make the grade at Arsenal.
“For me it’s easier to come into a better team,” says Wilshere. “Of course you have to be at a higher level as a player.
“That’s why I think credit to Emile and Bukayo as well because, and I don’t think Arsenal were quite at rock bottom, but the team weren’t playing as well as they are now.
“And then they came in and all of a sudden everyone was looking at Bukayo and Emile to make the difference - and they did.”
Coaching at Arsenal has given me back the real deep love for football... I didn’t know I’d lost it
It is clear listening to Wilshere speak that his passion for coaching burns bright, even if that was not always his dream.
“When I did my coaching badges [at Arsenal] it was my B Licence in 2017,” he says. “I only did it because Per [Mertesacker] had been offered the academy manager job, but he needed his B and then A to get it.
“I was in the bomb squad, I called it, had come back from Bournemouth, broke my leg, been told I could leave and had a year left on my contract.
“I was like: ‘I’m not in the squad or playing, I’ll do it with you Per’, went to Hale End and did it, but I didn’t really have that much interest.
“It was when I started doing my A Licence and came back here [last season] that inspired me. The want has changed. I didn’t want to do it before, now I want to do it and want to get better.”
Wilshere is constantly learning in his first year of coaching and that is particularly the case when it comes to getting the best out of players. Especially at academy level, there is no ‘one size fits all’ for players and each individual has to be treated differently.
“You say the day of the hairdryer has gone, but I don’t think it has,” Wilshere says. “Some players actually respond better to that. Some players want to be told.
“When I was young, Bouldy (Steve Bould) was my coach and he would say to me: ‘You’re good at this, you’ve done that really well’. But I wouldn’t hear that.
“So now I have to understand: not every player is like that. Some players will only hear: ‘Oh you were really good at that today’ and then when I say: ‘But you need to do more of this’, they don’t hear that.
“They just want to hear: ‘I’m good, I’m good, I’m good’. So I think being honest at the right times is key. Some players you can be brutally honest with. Some players you need to dress it up a little bit more.”
The key for Wilshere is about adapting to the player and situation, which is a strong part of his coaching philosophy.
“Let’s say if I want to be a first-team coach one day, and I want to bring this style to a team, then I can only really go to Barca, City or Bayern maybe – the top teams,” he says.
“I’m not naive enough to go: ‘Wherever I’m going this is the way I’m going play.’ You have to adapt and see what you’ve got.”
A senior coaching role surely beckons for Wilshere in the future and he is currently doing the FA International Player to Coach Programme, which recently involved a mock head-coach interview with some former technical directors. That is one side of coaching Wilshere is learning to love.
“Obviously, it was a different world I was entering [when I came back to Arsenal in the summer],” he says. “The corporate world, all the emails, I was like: ‘What’s going on here?’.
“But now I’m in a place where I’ve worked that out, I’ve structured my day better.
“I love it, honestly. I’ve said this before, but it’s given me back the real deep love for football - and didn’t know I’d lost it to be honest.”
