We just have to admit that Arsenal are having serious problems in away games this season. They were massacred at Anfield and were bullied out of a win at Stoke, but then reached a real low in last weeks derby game at Watford. Our captain Per Mertesacker, who made his first League start last week (and scored the opening goal) thinks that his team is simply not prepared mentally to fight back, and he needs to try and change that quickly. “Even if you’re exhausted, even if it’s a game where you think you have to make every single step possible to avoid chances, you do it,” Mertesacker said after the defeat. “They were coming for us and were having a real go at us.
“Then you need numbers, you need players in the box and players wanting to defend that goal. We lacked that, totally, especially on that second goal. I need to do a better job in preparing our players, especially mentally to go that extra step.
“That needs to be done beforehand. Afterwards is easy because anyone can judge us on that performance and can criticise. That’s fair play, but we as players and me as captain need to make sure we are aware of that before the game, not afterwards.
“When you watch the video, everyone understands. That’s easy, so we want to learn from that, especially the feeling of disappointment we had after the game. We thought we should have won the game but we didn’t.
“These moments need to stick in our heads until we enter the pitch for the next time. We should be very, very disappointed with what we produced in the second half and the way we reacted when they scored.”
So, although Everton are far behind us in the League table, we are in danger of going a fifth away game in a row without a win. Can we get over the nerves and finally start fighting for the points? If not we are going to be dropping further down the table and looking very precarious….
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We have to. How can we claim to be a top team and not win any of our first 5 away matches. 4 is bad enough. 5 will start to be embarrassing.
Our home record is excellent. We were lucky against Leicester who really tested us and the other teams we beat were in the bottom half of the table but we are 4-0 at home nonetheless.
We need to up our performance quite a bit or we will be cast adrift even further.
Also Wenger needs to put the players in their best positions unless there are major injuries like we are having in Central defense
He’s saying the right thing and it’s good that he knows allot of that stuff does rest on the shoulders of you’re captain, others would need to step up too but it’s good he’s aware. I worry though that it might just end up being words from the aftermath. I know Per does have allot to do with those odd performances when players regroup without Wenger, and he does hold a certain fear factor esp if he’d lose his temper. I hope he drags them up by the scruff because effort is a bad way of letting fans down.
Also I’ll add, all our dropped league points, how many games/points would you say that Xhaka was a leading cause behind it. He needs a telling off big time Per, a slap around the ear at the first almost happened again. Bellerin giving penno’s way, tell him if he gives another way this season that you’ll leave a size fifteen up his ass.
I don’t think Arsenal could change their mentality so fast. They have been playing safe for many years and they are too scared to try more creative way of playing.
The only way to reignite the players’ motivation and force them to play with a new system is by replacing Wenger. The board were too afraid to sack him last season, probably because Wenger knows many secrets in club that he could expose to the newspapers, since he has been in Arsenal for more than twenty years.
The end of this season would be the perfect time to replace Wenger, if the board have the guts to do it. If they still keep him, Arsenal would still play ugly and it would be difficult for them to increase their fan base size.
It is a must win game.. simple as that. I don’t like it when the heat is on that’s normally when it all goes wrong