Mikel Arteta had changed the name of Arsenal's 'substitutes'

Mikel Arteta has decided he won't be making substitutes any more, because he's decided that he wants to call them something else.

When Arteta was shown at the start of this season holding a light bulb and playing crowd sounds at training, during the All or Nothing documentary, we all laughed.

'Unconventional' methods from football managers are always there to be ridiculed, especially when they seem extremely cringey to us.

Of course, when you then go and lose it's even easier to mock them, the crowd noise was to get his team ready for a trip to Anfield, and Arsenal subsequently lost 4-0 to Liverpool, oh Mikel.

However, things are different now and the north London side are riding high at the top of the Premier League and could win their first title since 2004.

That means that Arteta can get away with pretty much anything right now, including taking a big clock into the away dressing room at Fulham.

And now the latest innovation at the Emirates Stadium, with the manager revealing that he's changed the word 'substitutes' to 'impacters,' presumably meaning he'll now be making 'impactions' rather than 'substitutions.'

"It’s something that we wanted to change and I discussed it with a few people and we wanted to find something that is particular for us," the Spaniard explained.

"I think it was the best way to express how we feel about them and how they have to feel towards the team, especially on match day.

Arteta makes his latest impact. Image: Alamy

"I think it’s very difficult [to measure the difference it makes]. I think it is replacing somebody and making the team better, or doing things differently that are related to winning football matches and at the end your mentality should be only that, to impact the game to win it. That’s it, nothing else.

"I cannot measure that [difference]. I have to get into their brains, so far we don’t have anything like it.

"I think the way we describe it is more like we want it. If you repeat it more and more and more and you discuss it more and more and more, it will be closer to that and just being a sub."

Certainly some of his changes have made an impact recently, with huge comeback wins against Bournemouth and Aston Villa cementing their place at the top of the table.

However, it has a very Glass Onion 'disruptors' vibe to it, which is very much set out to be a cringey name that doesn't really mean much.

Calling replacements 'finishers' didn't help Eddie Jones with the England rugby union team, Arteta runs the risk of being mocked again if his side fail to have a big enough impact in the title run in.

Topics: Football, Premier League, Arsenal, Mikel Arteta

Ryan Sidle

Ryan is a journalist for SPORTbible with over eight years of experience. Passionate about all sports, he mainly covers football and F1 - Daniel Ricciardo once spent an entire interview referring to him as 'Ryan Gosling,' still his proudest moment.

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