Do Arsenal lack winning mentality?

Wojciech Szczesny has claimed that he left Arsenal in order to join Juventus because of their ‘winning mindset’.

The Gunners have failed to win a league title since the Invincibles year in 2004, and you could argue that the club have failed to do enough to challenge the big spenders in order to mount a serious challenge, but it still hurts to hear one of our former players admit to it…

Szczesny has now claimed that he joined Juve because of their winning attitude.

“I came here because I need to win everything,” he said.

“I chose Juventus for their winning mindset. Every day in training I feel stronger and more ready to play for this club.

“It seemed a normal choice to me, when Juve call you, you have to go.

“When you play for Juventus the goal is always to win everything, and it’s no different this year.

“Scudetto rivals? There are a lot of strong teams, Napoli seem the most dangerous because of the quality of their play.

“But there’s also Roma, and [Luciano] Spalletti’s Inter have started very well this season.

“We have to be ready to win every game, but with our mentality we will be.”

When players move clubs it is always easy to talk highly about your new surroundings and the things you are happy about, and it doesn’t always have to be taken as a criticism of their former club, but it is always hard to ignore.

The reality however is that he would most likely have stayed at Arsenal had he been given a first-team role, but he found himself as third-choice and had to leave to save his career, and now he appears to have done so.

I’m happy for the Pole even if he appears to be having a little stab at our club, and he would still be our third choice if he were here…

Do Arsenal have the winning mentality? Is it something that disappears over time?

Pat J

Tags Arsenal Juventus Szczesny

21 Comments

  1. Yes, they lack the winning mentality. It is apparent from the way they pass the ball and it shows from the the current Premier League player’s stats (premierleague.com/stats/top/players).

    The top five of the most through balls list is dominated by Manchester City’s and Manchester United’s players. This means most Arsenal players do not have confidence to pass the ball forward and do not dare to be more adventurous.

    I think Arsenal’s manager, staffs and fans have pressurized the players to not produce misplaced passes, that was why most of them like to play safe with backpasses. And most Arsenal players cannot pass the ball more accurately, something that has to be fixed before the next match begins.

  2. Yes Arsenal does… He won’t be the first!! And he won’t be the last, you see these players, most of them are always scared of speaking the truth under Wenger but once they leave they all start admitting to the truth. Now you have to question what is going on?? This change needs to come from the board down to the coach and its staffs.
    We dont have the hunger to win.
    We don’t even show it.
    You can see the difference when we play and when other big teams play.
    They always play like they’ve got stuffs to lose.
    But Wenger has made the players feel like they have nothing to lose and you’ve even heard it from Cech that here, they just want to play ball, and if the winning comes it comes.

    They don’t go for the winning.
    So Szczesny is right

  3. We lack the hunger or we did anyway. We lacked the tactics too, the whatever it takes. We lacked on personnel. Not always but enough for all that to become a problem. To a degree we showed our hunger, tactics and personnel to be strongest. That was cup competition, it still means something, it means we don’t have a total lack of what it could take. Just not enough to be consistent in a long season.

  4. 6 major trophies in 4 years. Plus more to add this season on the domestic and European front.

    Lack winning mentality- I think not!!!

    1. RVP, at this point I don’t know if you’re still trolling or have truly lost it, but Charity Shield is by no means a major trophy…

          1. I’m with you buddy…this site has gone t**s up since anybody was allowed to join…i only joined in the last year and the standard of articles and comments have gone down imo….site now seems to be full of negativity, trolls and other teams supporters …too many similar articles being posted by admin..fed up hearing about sanchez, possible transfers in next window…i realise admin needs to generate clicks to generate income but it seems to be to the detriment of quality.
            Muff, fatboy and a few others gave the site a sense of humour along with good comments…where are you guys ? Missing you on here !!

            1. If you can think of something 9ntetesting to discuss during the interlull please send me an article!
              And I thought the above analysis was pretty good…..

    2. Still claiming Mickey Mouse non trophies as silverware , I see, Grimy. When will you ever stop! Don’t forget the trophy Wenger won as a nine year old for swimming a width in the pool. Why not claim THAT as an extra trophy too, dreamer? Plus all those Emirates cups we won , including this year when it was fixed so our one win , one loss, came in front of the team which won both games – and which I can’t even remember their name, so UNIMPORTANT was the competition. That must add up to about 18 trohies in about five years, which should thrill you, dreamer boy! The rest of us know full well we have won just three cup finals in the last four years,( two of which finals were against dross teams , one of which would have beaten us in 90 minutes but for a wrong referee decision to give us a corner against the “mighty” Hull, from which we equalised) and no serious challenge for the Prem for a decade and none for the CL since 2006. Be careful not to stray anywhere near reality land, fantasy boy!

  5. The team never had a leader who can push the team since Paddy left.

    Youngsters started to run amok with selfie and even smoking. The Management does little to exert discipline in those kids and rewards them after a mere good performance.

    The rot is deep and seriously, Management has to accept the responsibility.

  6. Do Arsenal lack winning mentality? It’s not even a valid question anymore, given how long the amount of evidence suggesting otherwise has been obvious to see.

    Not only is there a weak mentality within the club, it can also be found within many Arsenal fans. Those not wanting change at Arsenal, and now many hating on Alexis, despite him being about the only person within the club with a genuine winning mentality!

    1. Spot on the money, ThirdManJW. Thank God there are still some on this site with the ability to see the rot and state it fearlessly . Well done and keep it going.

  7. God, there are some plastics here. Arsenal have won three of the last four FA Cups. That’s an incredible feat. If you don’t think the FA Cup is a big trophy you know nothing about football.

    1. Yes we have won 3 FA Cups in 12 years but that is not a measure of success in the modern game. This is why the major clubs, including Arsenal, do not play full strength sides in most of the rounds. Big clubs only measure how well they are doing by the league and we have not competed in that in 13 years.
      Face facts the football world has changed in the last 20 years and at the moment we are behind the 3 most successful clubs of this generation in all matters; money, players, tactics and player motivation. Whilst Wenger did a huge amount to bring Arsenal in to the modern world of the late 20th Century he has not been able to keep up with modern football and we are slowly going backwards.
      The fact that The Wenger fans are doing cartwheels because we have beaten the likes of Brighton And West Brom says it all.

    2. And the biggest plastic fans are the AKB’s with their 3 Wise Monkeys approach to Mr Wenger; see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.
      Remember support the club not just the manager, especially one who is dragging the club down! COYG.

      1. Well said Ivan. Your three wise monkeys phrase is spot on. Some people would still adore Wenger if he set fire to the stadium, so brainwashed are they !

  8. When opponents lead from behind, you’ll see Arsenal players being deflated. Sczesney was sidelined because of smoking in the bathroom. Why he doesn’t mention his stupid action. He is a good player, and he was no.1 goalkeeper for a long time at an early age. He learnt it the hard way.
    Whatever people might say, Sczesney is where he is because Wenger gave him a chance

  9. Don’t fight for Arsenal guys. Its just different opinions which should be discussed in a more civilized manner. All be those fighting don’t benefit anything. Its only loss because you have to buy tickets to watch Arsenal. Use your data to make comments here, and pay sports channels to watch it from home

  10. szesny forgot hw he came up wit so many howlers that did cost our team so much while playin for us. He was given so many chances but gladly truned them dwn wit his childish lack-lustre performances. I remember that game against southampton when after he conceded that goal,went back to his water bottle and start sippin frm it like a kinder-garten kid. Omg!! He’s a loser

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