Mikel Arteta fears his Arsenal players have developed a psychological block in front of goal and has called on them to reset after Sunday’s 2-0 home loss to Liverpool in the FA Cup.
Arsenal dominated for the opening hour, spurning numerous chances – particularly in the first half. And they were reeled in by Liverpool who scored their goals late on; first through a Jakub Kiwior own goal and then Luis Díaz.
Arsenal have won only one of their past seven games in all competitions, with this a third defeat in a row – after those in the Premier League against West Ham and Fulham.
“Probably it has,” Arteta said, when asked whether the missed chances were becoming a psychological issue. “Especially after today – more than it was against Fulham or West Ham before that. That’s why I think we need to reset.
“It is very difficult. But if the team is getting hammered and not playing well and not deserving to win football matches I’d be much more worried. I’m worried because I love winning and we have to win many more games. That’s the thing we have to change and probably what has to be reset is up here.”
Jürgen Klopp was delighted to advance, especially as he missed the ill Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah, who is on Africa Cup of Nations duty – among many others. He saluted his players for their resilience. But it was Arteta that was the more quotable afterwards, especially when he cast doubt on Arsenal’s ability to sign a new No 9 in January. A section of the fanbase believe this is the only answer to the current issues.
“At the moment it does not look realistic,” Arteta said. “What my job is and what we have to do is improve our players and try to get better results with the players we have.
“I haven’t seen a team in the past six months that has generated what we have done against Liverpool in the last two games [including the 1-1 league draw at Anfield on 23 December]. We haven’t capitalised. Not just today but in the last few games as well.
“Merit-wise there is no question that we deserve to win the games but the results are very different. But when my team plays with that courage and attitude against probably the best team in Europe right now in terms of momentum what can I do but stick by them and support them?”
Arteta reported that Gabriel Jesus was missing after scans on his knee revealed a problem. “Hopefully it’s not something big,” he said. “It’s the same knee that he had [an injury on before] so we could not take any risks.”
Arteta was asked whether Jesus’s injury affected his mindset in terms of the January window. “One thing is what we need and another is what we can do,” he replied. “What we need to do now is stick behind the players, give them some love.”
