Yahoo Sports Declan Rice questions Arsenal mentality as Mikel Arteta says: We were not good enough
Declan Rice questioned Arsenal’s mentality and Mikel Arteta said his side were “nowhere near” the required level as they ended the year with a second consecutive defeat.
Arsenal missed the chance to return to the top of the Premier League table and instead finished the weekend in fourth, one point ahead of fifth-placed Tottenham, after a shock 2-1 loss at Fulham.
A dejected Arteta described it as a “painful and sad” day for his team as he said his players were not good enough against Marco Silva’s impressive Fulham side. He also warned his team that they cannot afford to perform like this again if they hope to challenge for the title.
Arsenal took an early lead at Craven Cottage but conceded goals either side of the break. It was the first time in 48 matches, dating back to New Year’s Day in 2022, that Arteta’s side have lost a Premier League game in which they scored first.
“When you go 1-0 up you need to take more control, have more self-belief, more desire and the mentality needs to be better,” said Rice. “We need to demand more from each other.
“Once we went 1-0 up we had to push on again, go for more. In this league there is no room to mess up. There are so many good teams around you and obviously we want to be pushing up the top end of the table. It is a tough one to take.”
Arteta said the loss was a “very different story” to Thursday’s defeat by West Ham United, when Arsenal dominated the match but failed to convert their chances, and described the loss as his team’s worst performance of the season.
“A painful and sad day,” said the Arsenal manager. “We had the chance to be top of the table after 20 games, with the consistency that we’ve shown.
“We weren’t good enough. We weren’t good enough in ball possession — we gave too many balls away. We didn’t have enough rhythm, enough threat. Defensively, we were second best. We could not control the direct play. It was so easy for them to win that first and second ball and have the opportunity to run.
“We weren’t efficient enough. We didn’t have enough ball speed, enough movement. We gave ball after ball away. We feel sad because we were nowhere near the levels that we need.
“We certainly need that reset after today because that’s going to be in our tummy for a few days. What happened today cannot happen again because if you do that we will never have the chance to be where we want to be. We have to look at ourselves in the mirror because today’s performance is the worst we have played all season, that’s for sure.”
Silva said his players were worthy of their victory. “The best way to finish 2023,” he said. “I really believe we deserve it. Over the 95 minutes we deserved it more.”
