Arsenal have endured a tumultuous season in the Premier League, and goalkeeper Bernd Leno has admitted that the atmosphere had soured.
The Gunners dropped to within touching distance of the relegation places, before rising back up to mid-table where they currently sit, and are now hoping they can push on and secure European football.
It will certainly not come easy, and some believe their best chance of achieving such a thing would be via winning the Europa League, which is never an easy task.
Goalkeeper Bernd Leno admits that the club had ‘big problems’ earlier in the campaign, but they have since turned things around.
“We were completely lacking the consistency,” Leno told German outlet Kicker . “In [the] autumn, we had big problems, a bad atmosphere… and we turned the corner.
“Now we’re at least getting a taste of the Europa League again. [To qualify for the] Champions League will be very, very difficult.”
Arsenal do appear to be in a much better position than they were around December, and appear a much stronger unit than they were showing, but it may turn out to be too late for them to climb back up into the European places.
Is it normal for the atmosphere to sour when results aren’t going your way?
Patrick
Same Overrated approach. derby win doesn’t put us at the top of the table. nothing can justify our bad position in the table. leno made lots of horrible mistakes in different games. this type of attitude will sink arsenal.every player wants to discuss ucl after victory in a single game. this arteta side is so overrated. even manager is overrated. i don’t know where arsenal is heading but it’s terrible.
Maybe if the club wasn’t in a shambolic state from of over a decade of neglect, when Arteta arrived, we’d be doing better.
Problem is, some fans are expecting instant results, whilst simultaneously ignoring all the problems Arteta’s had to overcome. It was only as recently as January that we got rid of a bulk of our deadwood.
And what a difference that has made by them not being there. They now act like a team pulling together
TMJW and Sue P, two excellent and above all RELEVANT posts!
I’m concerned about Arteta’s player management skills or lack of. There’s something fishy about the Aubamayang incident and this is already now part of the many fall outs he’s had with certain players. I don’t believe in player power but neither do I subscribe to a view that the manager’s arse should be kissed in order to remain in his good books. It’s clear that certain players in this team are beyond reproach while others have been singled out or driven out. In retrospect the Aubamayang incident should not come as a surprise. His body language has often suggested a bemused indifference as if to suggest, ” yeh whatever, I’ll just go with the flow”. Arteta comes across as an intense person who lacks humour and doesn’t like to be contradicted. I hope he grows up a bit himself otherwise he will do long term irreparable damage to the club.
preach Joe S., he reminds me a bit of Wenger when people were beginning to ask questions…he became so fragile that he didn’t even want strong personalities in the room…Wenger was so concerned by the notion that someone would usurp his authority in the room that he shipped players out, seemingly adopted a revolving captain’s armband and only allowed yes men assistants, like when Bouldy became a permanent lump on the bench…it’s a little disconcerting, to say the least
Your insistence on blaming AW for everything that’s going wrong at Arsenal has gone beyond ludicrous very sad in fact.
The big follow up question to Bernd Leno is “what caused the atmosphere to sour at Arsenal?”
ozziegunner, it seems that some still seem to harp back to the days of AW for comparisons 😂😂😂😂
Perhaps the answer lies with the current encumbent and the players he now has?
There didn’t seem to be any friction during or after the game on Sunday, so I suggest Leno is, for what reason, trying to compare now and then…. what a pity that some of our fans are doing the same thing – it’s gone, it’s history, it’s time to move on.
maybe you were a little confused Ken, but when you want to reply to someone’s posting there’s a little red square in the bottom right-hand corner, simply click on it…if you dare
Yes Ken is factually wrong on the player power issue.
It became a massive problem at Arsenal and was born out of years of allowing players to run their contracts down under AW/IG, thus giving all the power to the players. It all came to a head, when these two completely lost the plot with Ozil and Alexis contracts. Gross mismanagement of the highest order possible!
Spot on TMJW…please keep in mind that Ivan has managed to overhaul a rather poor AC team since leaving our club, which makes me think that the other party involved was the overriding problem
Ken, your response doesn’t appear to be relevant to the question I asked?
I blame Emery ,Arteta is still trying to rid his stench from the club ,it was always going to take time to get us out the mess he left us in ,it’s just taken a lot more time than most expected .
I guess some of the players still bare scars form his hideous time at the club and it’s obviously effected them more than they knew .
I just feel bad that Emery couldn’t overcome the massive problems he inherited from Wenger. It was such a shame he left the the club/squad no where near as good a state as he himself inherited back in 1996.
I think some of the blame must be pinged at George Graham also , the bribing scandal must still effect the players .
Dan kit, don’t forget Sir Henry Norris, as he was also believed to have been involved in shady deals that brought toxicity to the club…. perhaps that’s what Leno is alluding to when he talks about the problems?
That was my point too OG…he was obviously on a recruitment tour, which clearly didn’t materialize as he had hoped…Cheers
Don’t want to gang up on you Ken but you’re easily riled when it comes to Arsene Wegner. There’s only one, I think All Arsenal fans will pay homage but we wouldn’t call the his final few years, the best of times, would we?
Joe. S my friend – I would never argue that his final season wasn’t a good one and I have also produced an article listing what I thought was his downfall at the end.
However, this article was about Leno describing the difference in attitude etc between now and the beginning of this season… all under the supervision of Mikel Arteta!!!
Now if some fans can try and link that message from Leno to someone who left three years ago, then they are welcome to try.
I just point out the absurdity of trying to do that from the message Leno was sending out regarding THIS Season.
Hope that clears up your misconception and, of course, we still await the promised article on how AW can still be linked to situations as described by Leno in this article……………
I don’t know what AW has to do with Arteta weeding out players he doesn’t want sullying the atmosphere in the squad. He wasn’t, for example, responsible for Guendouzi’s behaviour. It is the here and now and like him or not Arteta is doing it his way. I think it is more than noticeable that the atmosphere has changed since some of the players have moved on.
Exactly the point Sue P! That bad atmosphere has gone now that Ozil, Kolas, Mustafi, Sokratis and Guendouzi are elsewhere.
Coincidence? I RATHER THINK NOT!!!
You will have seen me post about getting rotten apples out from any club ASAP. MA has done exactly that and he gets my applause for so doing, among many other fine things he is doing too.
Jon
There is such a difference now those players have departed and what a stink it caused among JA posters, especially regarding Ozil who was godlike to some of them. None of them are missed by me either.
I can’t deny I got the wobbles over my support for Arteta often as a result of of unpleasant replies but you have never wavered and I have fingers crossed that the results and harmony continue. The rookie manager seems to have the players on his side