Theo Walcott believes it has been a disappointing season for Arsenal, and that a lack of experience and leadership has cost them at the crucial moments.
Arsenal had a decent shout at the title until the last few weeks, but look set to end another season empty-handed after a shock defeat in the Carling Cup final.
Walcott is frustrated, and hopes that Arsene Wenger will sign some experienced players during the summer.
He said: “It has been a disappointment of this season.
“You feel like you need to score three or four goals to win at times. The Newcastle game…it shouldn’t happen, even if you go down to 10 men.
“If we want to be winning things, we can’t let a lead like that slip. That’s what we have been doing too much this season.
“We have had lots of disappointing results. Spurs beating us at home when we are 2-0 up was not good enough, especially for the fans because that’s the one they look forward to all year.
“Hopefully we will learn from it. We have to. If we want to win trophies we need to learn straight away. We can’t be using the excuse of being young players. We’re experienced, we’ve played in the Champions League.
“We need to stand up for ourselves and take responsibility at times, and I’m not sure we are always doing that.”
Walcott also pointed to the absence of Thomas Vermaelen, who has missed the entire campaign through injury, suggesting the Gunners have missed his leadership qualities.
He added: “A lot of people talk about the defence and the goalkeeper and those issues. But we’ve got top players. We’ve got Thomas Vermaelen coming back, which is great.
“He’s out training today. He’s a great leader. Maybe we need more leaders on the pitch. Cesc [Fabregas] and Robin [van Persie] are the main two who always try and inspire us. Samir [Nasri] as well. Maybe a few more additions like that.”
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