Arsenal are ‘nowhere near’ as Arteta reacts to ‘worst performance of the season’
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta branded the 2-1 loss to Fulham his side’s “worst performance of the season” as he felt they “second-best” Gunners were “nowhere near” where he wanted.
December has not been a fantastic month for Arsenal. They lost three times in the league – having only done so once prior to the start of the month – against Aston Villa, West Ham and now Fulham.
They also failed to take advantage of a game against Liverpool which could have seen them take a decent lead from the Reds in the league, as they drew 1-1.
Arsenal have picked up just one point in the last three games, and now find themselves fourth in the league. Arteta felt his side played well in the first and second of those, but were drastically off the pace in the third, and it’s the worst they’ve played.
“We had a great performance against Liverpool, against West Ham, this is the one you have to isolate as it is our worst performance of the season,” he told Sky Sports.
“We weren’t good enough. We lost three days ago when we deserved to win, but today we were nowhere near that level.
“We conceded two very similar goals, giving the ball away. Defensively we were second best.”
The manager made four substitutions in an attempt to get back in it, and while those changes didn’t work, he does not suggest there will be much of a change of personnel in January.
“I was trying to change the dynamic, add players inside and add more threat. That did not happen as we kept on giving the ball away, we were unable to get any momentum,” Arteta said.
“We have to do what we did in the previous 19 games. With the same players.”
Whether or not that is actually the case remains to be seen. Arsenal have been linked with a lot of players ahead of the winter transfer window opening, especially in the striker position, with Arteta’s attackers leaving a lot to be desired of late.
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