Arsenal Vs Leicester City: What the f*** was that?

Arsenal lost to Leicester City 3-0 on Sunday afternoon in truly humiliating fashion. There is just one thing to say, ‘what the f*** was that?’

Pressure is a funny old thing. Diamonds are made with it. Champions thrive under it. And even the simplest of tasks can sometimes seem like climbing Everest when the insatiable demands of pressure are bearing down on your shoulders.

Find the latest episode of the Pain in the Arsenal Podcast here — Pragmatism, clean sheets, and Unai Emery

As a kid, I went to a sports camp. During the lunch break, a few other friends and I were around a bin throwing a ball into it. It was easy. We almost never missed. The coach leading the camp stopped us. He then brought all of the other kids at the camp — around 100 — to watch and asked us to make the exact same throw. We all missed.

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The coach went on to explain that pressure was what made us miss. We were capable of making the shot. We had all done it. But when the crowd was watching and the pressure was on, not one of us could perform an action that previously was easy. Pressure is a funny old thing.

And it does not matter how proficient you are at a skill or sport or action, pressure will still affect you. The technique might waver, the tiredness hurts that bit more, the silly mistakes slip in.

Some individuals relish pressure. Lance Armstrong, prior to his drug-fuelled Tour de France victories, was said to hum with anticipation if he was in a position to win a race in the final 20 kilometres, and not because winning was possible, but simply because he relished the competition.

This week, Arsenal had pressure on them to perform and to win. They had a terrific opportunity to seize a top-four finish. And with opportunity comes pressure. The Gunners did not relish it. Instead, they crumbled.

Three games. Three defeats, the latest of which was the worst of them, a 3-0 shellacking at the hands of Leicester City in which Arsenal had just 33% possession, forced one save, and had four times fewer shots than their hosts. You could make an argument that these were the three worst performances of the season. This recent deplorable run is not down to bad luck. It is down to not performing.

From the players on the pitch to the owners in the board room, everyone must take responsibility. Unai Emery mismanaged his team selections on all three occasions, the squad he had in the first place did not provide him with the options he required, and the players that he did choose let him down.

Arsenal have been shambolic all week. They were most shambolic on Sunday, just when it mattered most. Pressure is a funny old thing, and the Gunners must learn to master it.