I was quite surprised that Arsene Wenger did not make more of the decisions that went against Arsenal in the midweek defeat to Swansea City. The boss did speak about the clear foul on Ozil in the build up to the first Swansea goal but he did not even mention the fact that Ashley Williams was offside when the free kick that he scored their second off was taken.
Perhaps the Frenchman realised that talking about these incidents would just make people say he was passing the buck and blaming everyone but himself and the Arsenal players for our recent struggles and he would have been right. But he might also have become so used to decisions going against us that he no longer sees it as worth a mention.
I really hope it is the former because I think the players need to feel that everything is against them. This is not an excuse for their failings on the pitch but it might just give us that extra bit of attitude that could help to spark us into some decent form.
That ‘us against the world’ mentality has often been used by teams, armies, businesses or anyone to overcome adversity and it would not be hard for Wenger to point to a number of decisions or things written or said by the football media this year to show that we really are up against it.
So is it time for the boss to instill a bit of that siege mentality into the Arsenal squad and see if it helps?