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Mikel Arteta's unusual tactic before Liverpool test after struggling to cope 'emotionally'

It was a particularly embarrassing result, given the lengths Arteta went to in preparing his players for the occasion. He took an unusual approach in the days leading up to the game in a bid to mimic the hostile atmosphere generated by Liverpool fans.

Arteta challenged his squad to keep their cool in a practice match with You'll Never Walk Alone blaring out on the training ground. Speakers were set up by Arsenal coaches before the players took to the pitch and trained with the song in the background.

Recalling his own experience with the Anfield atmosphere, Arteta said: "There is a word we use in Spain in cycling when a cyclist is going and looks amazing and, in one kilometre, he goes [down]. He looks stuck, and it's a word called 'bajara'.

"I had it once at Anfield. The game was going well and suddenly I could only see red shirts flying around, the game was passing all over me and I cannot react.

"People were saying 'what is he doing?' and I'm like 'I cannot do it'. I cannot emotionally, physically, I cannot cope. Everything was too fast. I only had that feeling in my career once and it was at Anfield."

The unusual training session, which was captured in the All Or Nothing documentary produced by Amazon, ultimately failed to have the desired effect.

However, then-Arsenal defender Cedric Soares was impressed with Arteta thinking outside the box in an attempt to gain a competitive edge.

He said: "Anfield is a very known stadium here. It's always difficult to play there because also the quality, we know the fans will be helping their team.

"Mikel tried to prepare it as much as he could and his idea was to bring speakers and create a bit of chaos during training so the players needed to adapt straight away.

"It's good also for the players to have something different in training and also for this in your mind. They will be there, they will be loud, but we still need to do our job."

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