Per Mertesacker questions Arsenal's mental toughness after Champions League exit
PER MERTESACKER has made a startling admission after Arsenal's Champions League exit that raises question-marks over whether Arsene Wenger's side has lost the mental toughness to go the extra mile and lift a major trophy.
"Monaco were very underestimated," the World Cup winner said. "We missed in the first game that mental level you need to compete at the highest level.
"When you get knocked out in the last 16 you are far away (from winning the competition).
"You could see in the second leg how good we are as a team and how well organised we can be. We need to consider that every single day in training and in games. That's why we are so far away.
"We won 2-0 and were missing some good fortune, but we didn't deserve it because we played so poorly in the first leg."
It is the fifth successive season that Arsenal have exited at the last 16 stage. Presumably, it means they can focus on the league and cement a top four finish.
They would then be looking to qualify for the Champions League group stages and furthermore to reach the knockout round.
Only to exit against in the Round of 16 so they can focus on the league? It may sound like Groundhog day but in truth, Arsenal should be applauded for their consistency in reaching this stage
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Per Mertesacker, left, was frank about Arsenal’s shortcomings
The Champions League format was last changed to a 16-team knockout stage in 2003-4 and since then the Gunners have always been there. As have Real Madrid, and only Real Madrid.
In all, 10 teams have made it that far on more than six occasions. Arsenal and Lyon (nine knockout appearances) are the only two not to have lifted the Champions League trophy itself in the past 12 years.
Next year will be Arsenal's 18th campaign in the tournament. They remain the only team with more than 12 appearance not to be successful on at least one of those attempts.
The upshot is that it is an extraordinary achievement for Arsenal to have been good enough to be in contention so many times and not actually win it.
Yet in the last 11 years, that ability to be in the top four mix without ever rising to the surface has transmitted itself to Arsenal's domestic performances.
Immediately following the war, Manchester United were in the top four in the table for five successive seasons but even they had to escape from under the bushel long enough to win the title in 1952.
Newcastle v Arsenal - Premier League Preview
But the same club provides a more immediate parallel to where Arsenal are now and raises some pertinent questions.
At Old Trafford, Ron Atkinson managed the only other club in league history to finish five straight years in the top four of the league and not go on and win anything. He did, however, win two FA Cups - one more than Wenger in the last five years - and reach the last eight of European competition on two occasions - two more than Wenger in the same period.
In season six, amid a certain amount of resistance, he was relieved of his duties. Manchester United believed that it was not enough simply to plod along in the shadow of the big two, who at the time were Liverpool and Everton. They wanted more.
There was uproar from certain quarters when they decided to swing the axe only to replace him with some bloke called Alex Ferguson.
Yes, United took a few steps backward over the next six seasons - three times dropping outside the top 10 in that time. But eventually a consistently good team was turned into a brilliant one.
Fans, and the Arsenal board, must start to ask themselves if that is a risk worth taking to escape the current choking consistency.
Because, in more favourable circumstances, performances like the one the players produced in Monaco are certainly worthy of Champions League winners.
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