Thomas Vermaelen has questioned Arsenal’s mentality following their awful defeat to Aston Villa at the Emirates on Sunday.
This of course wasn’t the first time Arsenal had failed to beat a lesser team and grab all three points be it home or away. Earlier this week, the Belgian defender was quoted on Arsenal TV Online saying:
‘Our mentality was not good enough, we can’t accept that as an Arsenal side and should work on it otherwise we are not going to win a lot of games any more.’
He finished off by saying:
‘The individual quality is there, but we have to work very hard to get three points in every game.’
Fans maybe tempted to ask where all the mental strength displayed by the team in such games as the ones played at the Emirates against Chelsea, Barcelona and Manchester United goes whenever a lesser known side faces the Gunners. They seem to lose it all and end up causing a lot of errors in the process, with most of the blame falling massively on the back four, which in most of the drawn and lost games, had one player in particular causing all the stress when present – Sebastian Squillaci.
Squillaci, who was thought to be a great replacement for an injured Vermaelen at the time, in fact turned out to be the exact opposite. His lack of judgment and decision making are the main traits that are visible for all to see, whilst he seems unsettled and nervous in his challenges.
As they say anxiety is contagious, it only takes one player to affect the whole team, but it takes the entire team to overcome that anxiety.
Following the loss to Aston Villa on Sunday, Manchester city overtook Arsenal in third place by beating Stoke City 3-0 at Eastland’s last night, giving the Blues an overwhelming advantage of gaining an automatic Champions League spot with one game to go.
Is it the fear of losing, or the lack of experience that contributes to Arsenal’s lack of mental strength? Of course only the team can answer that, but fans can certainly express their views on the matter?
My opinion on the issue is that we don’t play well under pressure, and predicting the result against Fulham at Craven Cottage this Sunday would be extremely foolish, especially taking into account our recent results and performances.
Some may believe that the Gunners are very lucky to still occupy a top four spot considering their recent form. Thankfully, Champion League qualification next season is assured, and the only pressure that remains on the team is bagging a positive result against Fulham to end the season on a high.
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Arsenal are not good enough, it is as simple as that, if we don’t get experienced and talented players for next season, then forget about winning anything and possibly even forget about finishing in the top four.
Unfortunately with 4th place a Champion’s League qualification is not yet secured. We have to get past a home/away qualifier for that to happen.
Arsenals first 15-20 minutes were as dire as I’ve seen at the Emirates, but as the half progressed the team the team improved. The 2nd half performance was good.
Had Ramsey (rightfully) been awarded a penalty at the end of the first half & Chamakhs (wrongly) disallowed goal stood, the media reports would have been of mental strength & resiliance for overcomming a 2 nil half time deficit.