Wow, I can’t believe what I am reading here, as the Arsenal keeper Bernd Leno has given a damning summary of what he believes is going wrong at Arsenal and it does not make for pretty reading I must say. Arsenal yet again struggled last night against Southampton, and yet again had a sending off thanks to Gabriel, and have now got their first point in five home games. No wonder Leno is upset!
One thing he is adamant about, though, is that this is definitely not Arteta’s fault and pins these labels clearly on his team-mates.
Read this and see what you think…..
Leno told Sky Germany when asked about the pressure building up on Mikel Arteta:: “That [pressure on Arteta] is not an issue at all. The coach is least to blame for the fact that we are in this situation.
“If you look at the way we were running around on the pitch at times, then the players are the only ones to blame. I have to be honest about that.
“We’re getting red cards, making mistakes, standing out of position. These are things that we have clearly addressed a thousand times. In the end, it’s a lack of focus on the part of the players.
“The coach is not an issue in the dressing room, there is no criticism of him. We criticise ourselves and the players know that they are responsible.
“We actually have quality, but all of a sudden there was this break. But nobody can pin it on just one person.
“The numbers speak for themselves that things haven’t been going well lately. Before that, we often lost deservedly.
“We did draw 0-0 at Leeds, but that was a lucky point. We deserved to lose against Tottenham, against Wolverhampton as well, against Aston Villa even 3-0. Those [games] were just far too many weak results and disappointing performances.
“The attitude is bad, the discipline is lacking and we have no self-confidence. There are many factors at play here.
“We have addressed this very clearly internally and everyone agrees that we have to change this very quickly.”
Well you can’t accuse Leno of beating about the bush! He has laid every single one of his cards on the table, and it should be an interesting chat the next time there is a team meeting in the dressing room.
We have long thought that there must be internal problems causing us to only gain 2 points out of six games, but now we have it straight from the horses mouth.
What do you make of that, then?