By Chris Wright
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?