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Oh to have been a fly on the Arsenal dressing room wall during half-time of their FA Cup third-round tie with Leeds United.
The Championship leaders were well on top in the first half at Emirates Stadium with 15 efforts on goal and the Gunners seemingly not having turned up.
Dismayed by his side’s lacklustre performance, Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta hit the roof at the break.
“The manager shouted a lot,” said striker Alexandre Lacazette, with goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez adding he was “really angry”.
But whatever went on in that dressing room seemed to work. Arsenal were a different side entirely in the second half and went on to win 1-0 courtesy of Reiss Nelson’s scuffed shot.
So with Arteta’s rant single-handedly seeming to turn the game on its head, BBC Sport takes a look at some of the other team talks that have hit the headlines.
Brown’s on-pitch bashing
Can you believe more than 11 years have passed since Phil Brown gave THAT team talk on the pitch at Etihad Stadium with his Hull City side 4-0 down to Manchester City at half-time?
Yelling, finger-wagging, the players shifting uncomfortably on the turf, it had it all – a public dressing-down in front of the Tigers’ 4,000 travelling fans in December 2008.
“It was nice and cold, and I thought I would keep the boys alive because they looked as if they were dead,” Brown said at the time.
“Our fans deserved some kind of explanation for the first-half performance and it was difficult for me to do that from the confines of a changing room.”
But whatever Brown said to his players seemed to do the trick – kind of. The scoreline remained 4-0 until the 80th minute when Craig Fagan pulled one back for the Tigers, only for Stephen Ireland to put the final nail in Hull’s coffin with a goal two minutes later.
But it was a team talk that went down in football folklore. And some 10 months later, when Hull returned to the Etihad, the team talk was repeated.
Only this time it was delivered by midfielder and renowned joker Jimmy Bullard, who celebrated his goal by re-enacting Brown’s tongue-lashing.
“The whole thing was timed to perfection. I couldn’t deliver my post-match speech I was laughing so much,” said Brown.
‘Majestic’ Fergie sees United home in Turin
This wouldn’t be a complete list of memorable team talks if we didn’t include Sir Alex Ferguson.
During Manchester United’s 1999 Treble-winning season, Fergie’s side found themselves 2-0 down at Juventus in the Champions League semi-finals. They were level by the break, but it was Sir Alex’s half-time team talk that inspired United to finish the job.
“It was majestic,” former United striker Andy Cole told BBC Radio 5 Live. “He said: ‘It’s a European semi-final, you’ve got to leave everything out on the football pitch, there’s no way you can come in after the game regretting anything’.
“To a man we all looked round the dressing room and we were properly revved up, you got a boost from somewhere.”
Cole went on to score the winner in the 83rd minute, sending United into the final.
“To this day, [Alessandro] Del Piero still cannot believe we beat them,” added Cole.
We could feature Sir Alex extensively, but we’ll only mention one more example. He is, of course, known for his famous hairdryer treatment, but no such treatment was needed when he once entered the United dressing room before a match against Tottenham.
Three simple, yet effective, words were all that were needed, according to his former captain Roy Keane.
“Lads, it’s Tottenham.”
Calm Benitez inspires Liverpool to Champions League glory
It’s 25 May, 2005. A date forever etched in the minds of Liverpool fans. That unforgettable night in Istanbul when the Reds won the European Cup for the first time in more than 20 years.
But, as we all know, it was far from plain sailing. As half-time arrived, they were 3-0 down. The players returned to the dressing room, utterly despondent.
Yet one calm head remained, in the form of Liverpool’s manager, Rafa Benitez. As his broken players sat around him, he coolly outlined his plan.
“We have nothing to lose,” the Spaniard said in broken English. “If we can relax, we can get a goal. And if we get the first goal we can come back into the game.”
He continued: “We have to fight. We owe something to the supporters. Don’t let your heads drop. We are Liverpool. You are playing for Liverpool. Don’t forget that.
“You have to hold your heads high for the supporters. You cannot call yourselves Liverpool players with your heads down.
“We have worked so hard to be here, beaten so many good teams. Fight for 45 minutes. If we score, we are in it. If you believe we can do it, we can do it. Give yourselves the chance to be heroes.”
And heroes they became. Second-half goals from Steven Gerrard, Vladimir Smicer and Xabi Alonso took the tie into extra-time, before the Reds won the title in a penalty shootout.
Chelsea’s masseur works his magic
Jose Mourinho was in his second spell in charge of Chelsea when he decided to take a day off from giving his side’s pre-match team talk.
With 14 games left to play of the 2013-14 Premier League season, the Blues beat Manchester City 1-0 to move level on points with the eventual champions in second.
It was City’s first league defeat of the season and the first time they had failed to score in a home league match since November 2010.
But who had inspired Chelsea to this title-race-twisting victory? Not Mourinho. It was in fact the team’s Scottish masseur, Billy McCulloch.
“I didn’t speak,” Mourinho said. “It was Billy the masseur who spoke to the team.
“He was screaming so much in Scottish that I didn’t understand him. I am serious! But the players were clapping. It was Billy’s team talk and he was fantastic.
“I didn’t understand but it looks like the players understood. The last time I spoke to the players was midday.”
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No pleasing Neville
Inspiring team talks don’t always have to come during adversity, however. Sometimes, managers just aren’t happy no matter the scoreline.
That’s what England’s Lionesses faced when, during their final match against Japan in the 2019 SheBelieves Cup, they went into the dressing room at half-time three goals to the good. Manager Phil Neville was not a happy chap.
“He still went mad,” former England winger Karen Carney told BBC Sport.
Asked what about, Carney added: “Standards. He’s right to be fair. I think we can play a lot better, you know, but that’s Phil isn’t it.”
We guess there’s just no pleasing some people.
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