Mikel Arteta's 'bring your dinner' battlecry was Arsenal manager's latest failed gimmick - Gunners fans are being let down by the team, not the other way round

Heading into the Bournemouth fixture, Arsenal's first since beating Everton in dramatic circumstances on March 14, Arteta issued a rallying cry to supporters, wary that the Saturday early kick-off slot can be a banana skin.

"The closer we get [to the end of the season], the relevance and importance of the match increases, obviously," Arteta said at his pre-match press conference.

"And tomorrow is a big day for us. The players know it, our supporters know it. It's a 12:30 kick-off. It's an early kick-off. So get up early, have an early breakfast, bring your lunch, bring your dinner, as you say in England, and let's go all together for it because it has to be a big day."

It's a message that Arteta would have been better off aiming at his players instead, even if, to paraphrase Wayne Rooney, no one likes chugging down pasta at nine in the morning. Arsenal were second-best in most departments, registering a measly tally of 0.18 expected goals from open play. Living and dying by set pieces has caught up to the Gunners.

Arteta's 'bring your dinner' rant was actually similar to what he told Arsenal fans before last year's Champions League semi-final with Paris Saint-Germain.

"I want to tell our fans that against PSG they have to play every ball with us. Bring your boots, your shin pads, your shorts, your shirts," he said prior to the first leg.

Then, in a motivational video posted on social media and played to the Emirates Stadium crowd before kick-off, Arteta called on fans once more. "It's our time. It's time to make it happen," he said, staring straight into the camera. "I need you, I need the person next to you. I need that connection. I want you to play every single ball with us. Every pass, every tackle, every run, every decision. You need to live the energy of the stadium and the people next to you. I count on you. Let's make it happen."

The message fell flat. The tifo of the trademark cannon unveiled in the North Bank was underwhelming at best and embarrassing at worst, though again fans had no part in that. After Ousmane Dembele scored after four minutes, the atmosphere failed to get going again, with the home team doing little to appease supporters.

When Arteta first took over at Arsenal, the general public had a pretty neutral view of him. He was mostly remembered as the metronomic midfielder who had represented the Gunners in his playing days, while he was more of a focal point even further back at Everton.

Even through his first two seasons as Arsenal manager, Arteta did little to really sell himself as anything but inoffensive. There was a general acceptance the club needed a reset and there was barely any talk of him being sacked despite back-to-back eighth place finishes in the Premier League.

But when Arsenal and Amazon Prime released a documentary covering their 2021-22 season, that's when the mood shifted. Arteta came up with several gimmicks to inspire his players and come across as a motivator, but it was a Marmite tactic - you either loved his enthusiasm or hated his David Brent-like mannerisms.

Having battled with them for the title since, it's become noted in hindsight that Pep Guardiola and Manchester City have rarely, if ever, showcased to the world these sorts of shenanigans, even if they're going on behind closed doors.

Arteta has his fingerprints over every aspect of trying to unite Arsenal in a way not seen since their days at Highbury, which is to his credit and speaks to his relationship with the club. However, this is threatening to blow up in his own face.

Bringing in 'The Angel' as the club's new anthem makes neutrals wince, but it was about improving the stadium atmosphere, as was asking the announcer to repeat the name of the goal scorer as they do in Europe. Marginal gains, et cetera, et cetera.

When Arteta's side first emerged as title contenders in 2022-23 and 2023-24, the football they played was entertaining and befitting of the Arsenal name. They simply fell short, firstly due to a lack of experience in seeing out the job and then for starting too slowly. Last season exposed the lack of squad depth, which was rectified in the summer of 2025. Now, they have a huge squad but supporters, who pay among the highest ticket prices in all of Europe, have had to stomach the worst football in the league in hope it finally yields a trophy.

People have called Arsenal fans entitled for booing off their side after the Bournemouth loss, though this is ultimately why they did. If you play a pragmatic and ugly side built to win at all costs, you better actually win. These same people, generation upon generation, are watching their team fold again, only this time there isn't even any style to what they're seeing. They're the ones who have to go to work or the pub or wherever and put up with all the jibes that the players and manager, who earn a fortune, only truly see through their phone screens.

That, as much as anything else, feeds into the Emirates Stadium atmosphere. The nerviness and persistent groaning is embedded into the club's DNA more than any pre-match song or ritual from the stadium announcer. That is the final problem for Arteta to solve, and only winning the Premier League or Champions League will solve it.

Yet amid all this negativity, Arsenal's season is hardly dead. As Arteta said post-Bournemouth, everyone at the club would have absolutely taken being in this position heading into the campaign.

Wednesday night's Champions League quarter-final second leg with Sporting is a momentous occasion. The Gunners have reached the last four of the European Cup only twice in their history, yet they stand on the brink of achieving that feat in successive seasons. A semi-final with Atletico Madrid, who they smashed 4-0 earlier this season, is the most expected outcome.

Paradoxically, Arsenal need to treat this as just another game. No frills, no bells and whistles. Get the job done and don't beg fans to push you over the line - it's your job to galvanise them, not the reverse.

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