Same Old Arsenal: Arsene Wenger Must Address His Team's Mental Weakness

For 45 minutes, Arsenal seemed to be on the brink of a season-defining moment. Up 1-0 against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium, Arsene Wenger's side were more than worthy of their lead.

This was going to be looked back on as the moment Arsenal announced themselves as genuine title contenders, the challengers to Chelsea's supremacy. As it turned out, this moment will be looked back on for altogether different reasons.

Gooners used to chant "one-nil to the Arsenal" as an ominous battle cry. From that position, it became the convention of cliche, they would never lose. Now one-nil to the Arsenal is a sign of encouragement rather than foreboding doom to the opposition. From that position, Wenger's side have contrived to lose twice in a week. 

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The loss to Everton at Goodison Park was damaging enough, with the manner of their collapse raising questions over their mindset and strength of character.

Sunday's defeat to Manchester City in nearly identical circumstances, meekly surrendering a 1-0 lead with a Jekyll-and-Hyde performance, could have a critical impact on Arsenal's entire season. It underlined that there is something fundamentally amiss about Wenger's team.

Criticism of the Gunners over the past decade has focused on personnel, their movements in the transfer market and ability—or lack thereof—to keep hold of their best players. That latter point has become a pertinent discussion once more, with Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez reportedly demanding new contracts at the Emirates Stadium, as per Sky Sports. Whether they stay or not will indicate if Arsenal have made any progress in clinging to their best players.

But while Wenger could have done more in the summer transfer window to bolster his team, Arsenal's current struggles have nothing to do with the quality of their players. Instead, it is the mentality of their players that needs examining, not the club's transfer strategy.

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That is an easier debate to be had, that Arsenal haven't signed good enough players to sustain a title challenge. However, such discourse is too simplistic and ignores the real issue Wenger is facing.

Arsenal's squad is good enough to win the Premier League. The Gunners haven't been this strong in a decade, and after last season's second-place finish, they have a platform to build on. But they are mentally weak, as demonstrated by their successive defeats to Everton and Manchester City. Those losses, or rather the manner of them, were not the mark of champions. They were the mark of bottlers.

Wenger, however, chose to ignore such a glaring weakness in his post-match comments at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday, instead opting to blame the result on the officials and their failure to spot David Silva's offside involvement in the winning goal.

"It is well-known, the referees are protected very well like the lions in the zoo, so we have to live with those decisions," Wenger said after the defeat to City, as per Eurosport. Asked to clarify his remarks concerning Martin Atkinson and the match officials, Wenger added: "I want them to be very well protected, I want them to be safe, but if they could make the right decisions it would be even better."

This was a deflection technique, refusing to criticise his players for folding from such a position of strength in such a commanding position. But ultimately, Wenger is doing more harm than good by taking such a stance. Until he addresses his side's mental deficiency, Arsenal won't change. Same old Arsenal, forever.

Ozil bore the brunt of frustration over the defeat, with many pointing out how hasty the German playmaker was to throw in the towel of resignation. Social media was awash with videos showing Ozil strolling around the Etihad Stadium pitch, doing nothing to press City when they had the ball. Indeed, he won just 25 percent of his personal duels and lost the ball no fewer than 14 times, per BBC Sport's Phil McNulty. Ozil was the embodiment of how Arsenal folded when it mattered most. 

It is this passiveness that could hinder Arsenal's efforts to claim their first league title in 13 years. Wenger failed to respond tactically to the match as it was unfolding in front of him on Sunday, and so he deserves just as much criticism as Ozil. If the German wasn't doing the job, as he so clearly wasn't, why did he last the full 90 minutes? Why wasn't he hooked?

What was perhaps most disheartening about Arsenal's collapse at both Goodison Park and the Etihad Stadium was that they came after a stretch that seemed to suggest the days of the Gunners' soft underbelly were a thing of the past. The 1-1 draw against Manchester United at Old Trafford, for instance, was taken as a sign Wenger's side could grind out results when they barely deserved them.

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It's not so long ago that Arsenal were heralded for their dismantling of West Ham United at the London Stadium, in which Sanchez made his case for being the best individual talent in the English game right now.

Football is a fickle sport, and the course of the Gunners' season has been altered in the space of just a few games.

That in itself, however, hints at the flaw Arsenal have to face up to. They are an inherently inconsistent, volatile side. They have been for the best part of a decade now. The Gunners might have gone from the opening day of the season to December 13 without losing, but they all too frequently end such almighty streaks with almighty dips, like the one they are presently enduring. Title-winning teams don't do that.

Arsenal aren't out of the title race. There is still time for Wenger to correct what damage has been done, but he must recognise the mental and psychological development his side so desperately requires.

If Wenger doesn't understand that now, after all that his team has suffered over the past week, then he may never grasp the true nature of Arsenal's weakness.