‘Arsenal Haven’t Got A Winning Mentality’ – Gunners’ Fading Title Mirage Leaves Santi Cazorla With His Eyes On The Exit

Chris Wright

9th, April 2014

9 Comments

By Chris Wright

Soccer - UEFA Champions League - Round of 16 - Arsenal v Bayern Munich - Emirates Stadium

As anyone who had the misfortune of setting through their woefully submissive performance against Everton at the weekend will duly attest, Arsenal are feeling mighty sorry for themselves at the moment.

The Gunners spent a significant period of the early season on top of the table, though, alas, their title aspirations have proven to be little more than a mirage created by a heady cocktail of Aaron Ramsey briefly hitting the form of his life before Christmas, a smidgen of momentum and, arguably, a favourable early fixture arrangement.

They had us going for a moment, but nothing’s really changed and the famous Arsenal soft underbelly has been exposed in the end – and rinky dinky Santi Cazorla has had enough, openly stating that either the Gunners cook up a winning mentality smartish or he’ll be on his way in search of trophies and titles in the not-so-distant future.

Speaking to Dubai-based website Sport360 and quoted by the Telegraph, Cazorla said:

“We haven’t got a winning mentality and we have to believe in ourselves. Sometimes you can get used to not fighting, but we can’t do that.

“Arsenal is and will always be a historic football club, we have to look forward.

“We’ve been unlucky in several games. We had a lot of chances to win against Manchester United and there was Ozil’s penalty (against Bayern Munich). We couldn’t recover after going out against Bayern in the Champions League.

“And the defeat against Stoke finished us. You can’t lose against Stoke if you aspire to be the next champion.

“I want titles and that is why I came to Arsenal. Every football player wants to win titles.

We’ve gone many years without winning one – and if not, what I’ll look for in my next destination is to have the chance to win.

“I don’t want to close doors, but nowadays I’ve a contract with Arsenal for two more seasons, when (I’ll be) turning 31.

“I’ll evaluate myself and I’ll choose the best option. In which case, I would be delighted to come back [to Spain].”

Poor old Stoke, eh? Always the barometer for Premier League shittiness.

As for Cazorla, he’s merely echoing the sentiments of the many, many grumbling Arsenal fans out there – and no doubt he’ll take flack from the very same supporters for doing so.

Any thoughts, Pies (especially Arsenal) fans?

Posted in Arsenal, Newsnow

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9 Comments

  1. Anonymous says:

    Cazorla performances this season have been poor,especially away away matches

  2. Anonymous says:

    sack arsene wenger our patience have got exausted

  3. Chris says:

    No player has the right to slag off their club – especially if they are not playing to their potential. Thats arrogant.

  4. Joel says:

    The mention of “glass houses” and “stones” not to mention “pot”, “kettle” and “black” would seem to be very appropriate.Whilst there is no denying Cazorla’s skill,his ability to positively affect a game has been largely negilgible.Against the better ranked and more physically atuned sides he largely goes missing.By now I would have expected a far greater improvement in his performances on a more regular basis.So,my response as an Arsenal supporter of 40 years would be to suggest that he would probably be more useful to a side in “La Primera Liga” than to his current team in the Premier League.Another lightweight “punt” from our esteemed Manager results in yet another underwhelming result.Put him in the same category as so many other Wenger purchases that have proven unsuitable-far more failures in recent years than successes!!

  5. Andrew R says:

    As an Arsenal fan I agree with him completely, however, I’ve never really understood players who come out saying things like this… Is he critiquing the team and not including himself when saying this? I know you don’t have to have a solution to be able to identify that there’s a problem, but I would like to know if he did maybe have a specific reason with solution to the club’s issues rather than a general, unspecific, “we lack ambition/winning mentality” statement, which gives the air that he is above all this and lacking in fault.

  6. Kyle says:

    Between wanting to win titles and being delighted to go back to Spain, he realistically only has 2 options in La Liga…

    Neither of which he is good enough to play for.

  7. Wale says:

    Arsenal players are not man enough,they are not fit as footballer suppose to be

  8. Mig says:

    Says the man with an Intertoto Cup only to his name…

  9. A bomb says:

    When Arsenal lose to big teams, it’s often because teams press them, steal the ball from Cazorla and counter attack with pace. Cazorla has been one of the most culpable when playing poorly. But, he was great in the Liverpool win (early in the season) and the Dortmund win (early in the season). So, when all of Arsenal’s best players got injured (Ozil, Ramsey, Walcott) we needed Cazorla to step up and lift the team. He didn’t. It’s not a coincidence that Arsenal play like champions when their best players are fit and loose heart when they have a string of injuries. They needed Cazorla to be decisive in this part of the season and it seemed well… he lacked a winning mentality.

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