Former Gunners slam mental fragility

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Patrick Vieira, Emmanuel Adebayor and Martin Keown have all had their say on Arsenal’s mental fragility this season.
Despite a strong run for the first two thirds of the season, since losing the Carling Cup final Arsenal have gone into free fall and will finish another season without silverware.
Vieira believes the team have forgotten how to grind out results when not playing well, something that won the club their last trophy, the 2005 FA Cup.
Vieira said: “When they are in trouble, they always concede a goal. A big team when it’s under pressure, it pulls together, it makes the trouble go away.
“Sometimes you know you have diffcult periods, even the best teams. You accept the opponent is stronger, you defend, you stay strong, more compact. You accept you have to suffer.
“We did it in that Cup final against United. I’ve no idea how we won. United were all over us for 90 minutes. We knew the only way to win was penalties. Some days are like this. It’s not your day.
“Accept it and find a different way to win. Fight for each other. It’s not the way you want, but what’s important is to win.”
Meanwhile, Adebayor has questioned Arsene Wenger’s motivational skills, and if he asks enough from his players.
He said: “Arsenal is a fantastic club, all the players are young, but at the end of the day you have to be harsh and be aggressive.
“You have to instil a mentality where you think you have to win, win, win every day. That’s the difference with Arsenal.
“Compared to Manchester United, Arsenal have the better players, individually, but they need something more. The manager has to ask more from them.
“He has to tell them: ‘you have done good, but you have to do better. You have to fight more, you have to run more and fight for every ball.’ That is what will win Arsenal titles. They are not far off.”
And finally, former defender Keown believes there has to be change at the club this summer, and that Wenger has relied on players who aren’t good enough for too long.
He said: “I think Arsene Wenger has almost over-estimated what they are capable of and they have let him down, so it is a shared responsibility when the team does not do well and collective praise when they do.
“I am sure everyone will look at themselves, and that they will bounce back.
“Arsenal are not far away it is not all doom and gloom with the right collection of players with experience and strength of leadership, then I think Arsenal can win something next season.”