Bukayo Saka has identified an area that Mikel Arteta has helped him evolve as a footballer since becoming Arsenal head coach in December.
The 38-year-old has been in charge for just 15 games but in that time, has made drastic improvements to the side. First came the structure and style of play the Gunners adopted, then the tightening of the defence before wins started to flow just before the enforced coronavirus break.
Although Arteta has made on-pitch changes that are glaringly obvious - like the role of Granit Xhaka - the intimate detail he gives the players at London Colney makes just as big an impact.
"He's someone who understands the players, understands the club and all the ideas that he's bringing in," Saka told Arsenal's official website.
"He has a clear strategy of how he wants us to play and we're just really excited to work with him.
"He's teaching us little things that we didn't know before and just bringing in his own strategies, his own ways of playing. We can see that it's going to work, we're just looking forward to doing it."
Arteta's attention to detail has been evident throughout his short spell in charge of Arsenal so far.
From actively searching for a left-footed centre-back in Pablo Mari to 'be more unpredictable with what we [Arsenal] will do' and open up the pitch, to adapting the demands put on Ainsley Maitland-Niles at right-back to allow him to flourish, his understanding of the game has been clear.
One of the subtleties he has relayed onto Saka in the time he's had with him, however, is simply the timing of his passes and how to cope with being in space.
"Maybe one thing that I've picked up straight away is that when nobody's pressing you, you don't need to pass the ball," the 18-year-old added.
"What you can do is just get the ball, drive the ball forward a bit and wait for someone to come to you, commit a player, then pass it.
"Then that man will be free or that man will have less pressure on him. It's just attracting players before you pass the ball off, which will help our team-mates a lot on the pitch."
Becoming more spatially aware has not just impacted Saka when he is on the ball, however, as it plays a key role to the way Arsenal attack down the left flank.
With Xhaka tasked with dropping in between the fill-in left-back and the left-sided centre-back [often David Luiz], he would be the player to commit players to disrupt the oppositions shape. As a result, Saka had more space further upfield as Luiz had more space in the central areas of the pitch. This in turn frees up more angles for forward passes where the Gunners then start to put there patterns in motion.
Stopping the rot extremely quickly after arriving as head coach, the speed at which Arteta has moulded Arsenal into his image has exceeded expectations. Nevertheless, Saka feels this is just the beginning.
"He has his own way, his own philosophy and he's even talked about bringing his own philosophy to the club, to try to bring the club back to the direction we need to be in," he said.
"We need to win games and win trophies, so I feel like he has that vision and that strategy. He knows how he wants us to get there. If we can be on board and do what he wants us to, we'll do well."
