Matt Smith interview: Trying to impress Mikel Arteta and playing pre-match Pictionary (original) (raw)

For Matt Smith, the pause in the 2019-20 season presented a unique opportunity in his bid to become an Arsenal player.

Rather than rotate youngsters intermittently, circumstances relating to the Covid-19 pandemic meant Mikel Arteta had to select a small cohort of academy players to become permanent members of first-team training once football returned in June.

It put Smith in the shop window for three months. Within weeks, he passed the first step by making it into his first senior matchday squad, against Southampton, a goal he had been working towards since joining the club aged seven.

He was included in six squads that season, including for the triumphant FA Cup final against Chelsea, when he spent the 90 minutes masked up, two seats away from Hale End team-mate Bukayo Saka.

While Saka has now made more than 200 appearances, those stints on the bench were as close as Smith — who joined Wigan Athletic on a free last summer — got to an Arsenal first-team debut.

“It is my best memory,” says Smith. “It was different due to there being no fans but the full day was an amazing experience. The medal is pride of place at my mum and dad’s house.

“I didn’t play but it will be one of those things at the end of your career you look back on and appreciate it a little bit more. I appreciate it now but my career is just getting started.”

It is a surprising outlook from a 23-year-old with more than 100 senior appearances for four clubs.

But after three varying loan experiences following that initial first-team flirtation, he chose to use the final year of his contract to pursue one last shot at Arsenal.

Smith never got close again as Arsenal’s vastly improved squad challenged for the Premier League title. He was not offered a new deal and was released after 15 years at the club.

“It was always in my mind that I might be coming on,” Smith tells The Athletic. “There were definitely times I think Arteta did consider bringing me on. I felt I was next in line_._

“He doesn’t dish out the debuts willy-nilly. That sums him up as a manager — he is very calculated in everything he does.

“It was frustrating but that’s football. You can think about what would have happened but at the end of the day, I didn’t get the opportunity.

“You’ve got to look at yourself and think, ‘Why didn’t I? Is there anything else I could have done?’. Then take that into your next club.”

Matt Smith featured in the 2018 FA Youth Cup final for Arsenal (Alex Pantling/Getty Images)

As a technically adept No 6, he was determined to find a club that suited his skill set.

In July, he signed for Wigan, who were relegated last season and started their League One campaign with an eight-point deduction.

Smith began the season well but a hernia issue kept him out for more than three months. He scored his first goal a couple of weeks ago in a 1-0 victory over Shrewsbury Town.

“I was considering going abroad before joining Wigan because I’ve had three other loans in League One and the way I play, this division is tough,” he says.

“I had a meeting with the gaffer (Shaun Maloney) and Gregor Rioch (sporting director) who ran me through the plan for where they see Wigan going over the next few years, what the manager thinks of my game and the style he plays. I came out and said to my agent, ‘That’s where I want to go’.

“It aligned with what I have been taught at Arsenal my whole footballing life. That has made the transition easier as it is rare in League One to have this setup. It was a perfect fit for me and I feel at home.”

Rioch, the son of former Arsenal manager Bruce Rioch, transitioned from academy manager to sporting director this season.

“He knows one of the coaches at Arsenal quite well who helps oversee the loans, Ken Gillard,” says Smith.

“It was my first time meeting him but all of my family support Arsenal so when I went home and told my dad, I was definitely only going one place then!”

Maloney has the difficult task of rebuilding a club under a new owner, local billionaire Mike Danson, but Smith has already witnessed a cultural revolution at Arsenal.

“I felt the mentality change. There are no passengers allowed with Arteta. He delivered that message from day one,” Smith says.

“Sometimes you get to a certain age and think you know football, that there’s not much more you can learn, but he made me see the game differently.

“He was a massive help with my development, showing me little movements to make the game easier, so I have nothing but good things to say about him.

“Martin Odegaard was club captain and it was great to be around him, not just to see the footballer, but the level of professionalism. It was next level.

“The way he carries himself, the training intensity, how he is in the gym. The way he applies himself to everything, even days off. He was a big influence on me.”

Although he did not step onto the pitch, Smith found some of Arteta’s pre-match motivational rituals to be outside the box but clever.

“We had meetings at the hotel before the match and there would always be a game or something silly to get everyone switched on and working together as a team,” Smith says.

“Some involved tennis balls and other times there were quizzes, which would be about the tactical information on the opposition we’d been learning all week. You had to get into groups and play things like Pictionary.

“It was an ‘are you ready for the game?’ type of thing but it was mad because, at times, it was only two hours before kick-off!”

Despite soaking up those experiences, he did not play a minute under Arteta.

The Arsenal manager recently conceded that the academy’s current crop is “a bit short” of the standard required, but does the outside world realise the heights you have to reach to break into Arsenal’s first team?

“They probably don’t,” says Smith. “I played with guys like Lino Sousa (who moved to Aston Villa in February and is now on loan at Plymouth Argyle) and Reuell Walters last year.

“They’re really good players but as a young player, it is a sink-or-swim environment. The way Arsenal are going, you’ve got to be better than the guy in your position, no matter how old they are.

“Bukayo always had the inner belief that he was better than the guy ahead of him.”

At Wigan, financial restrictions mean Rioch has needed to ensure the academy pipeline is flowing. Maloney has used 11 academy players, with several becoming regular starters. Six of the starting XI for the Shrewsbury game were aged between 19 and 21.

“It’s a young team,” says Smith. “For a few boys, it is their first season in professional football, so considering the points deduction, we’re on a good path.

Smith’s Wigan are mid-table in League One despite their eight-point deduction (Pete Norton/Getty Images)

“They have a strong academy here so I am probably one of the most experienced ones, which is mad. We should be even stronger next year.

“This season we’ve had some big wins against big teams, so we know we’re capable. It’s just about finding that consistency but that will come the more everyone plays together and the longer you work with the gaffer.

“Next year, we’ll be looking at being title contenders, 100 per cent.”

(Top photos: Getty Images)

Jordan Campbell is a football writer for The Athletic, who regularly covers Arsenal. In 2024, he was named in the 30 to Watch journalism awards. He previously covered Glasgow Rangers and was twice nominated for Young Journalist of the Year at the Scottish Press Awards. Follow Jordan on Twitter @JordanC1107