Arsenal: Words are useless, even from Per Mertesacker

Per Mertesacker has stated that he and his Arsenal teammates must not show mental toughness. While he is right, his words are meaningless; action is needed.

Stop me when you think you’ve heard this one before…

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After Arsenal’s 2-1 loss to Watford, their third away defeat in four games this season, the general outcry from the fans, the media, and even the opposition has centred on the Gunners lack of ‘cojones’. Their character, their desire to win, and their mentality has all, justifiably, been called into question.

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But after the game, as he should as club captain and one of the more experienced and established members of the squad, Per Mertesacker, in a bullish and forefront manner, bemoaned the missed opportunity that Saturday’s loss given the one-goal lead and the number of quality chances to win the game, while also proclaiming that he and his teammates must show the mental toughness that everyone else is doubting they have:

"“We were not good enough against Watford because we missed a chance and the majority of players were still thinking about that chance. Those things, switching on, need to be quicker. We had everything in place. We scored from a set-piece away from home, we protected the goal well for the first 60 minutes, we had a couple of chances to go further ahead – but we didn’t. Then you need to be really resilient in those tight moments, and make clever decisions, but that’s what we lacked basically. We want to be more clever in defending our own goal”"

These comments, though, (and I would recommend that you click through to the article, as there is more that he says that is extremely interesting) mean very little. Words, on the whole, mean very little. Football is a game of action. Unfortunately, that is something that Arsenal often tend to forget.

From Wenger and the board right down to the reserve players, the Gunners have always talked the talk. Their PR department is able to spin a positive out of anything. There is always something to be hopeful about; there is always something to look forward to, even if it is changing past mistakes. And this is just another example of that.

Mertesacker’s words, on their own, are excellent things to hear from the club captain. He is showing his leadership qualities. But after years and years of the same mistakes, the same weaknesses, the same shortcomings, speaking of change does not mean anything. Only change does. And Arsenal have not shown themselves capable of that.

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For how many years have they been lacking mentally to grind out the tough victories? That is a question that I don’t want to know the answer to. Mertesacker’s intentions are good, but without genuine, significant, and sustained change, they mean nothing. Arsenal must act, not speak.