{"id":899,"date":"2026-04-06T19:50:24","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T19:50:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/?p=899"},"modified":"2026-04-06T19:50:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T19:50:24","slug":"former-chelsea-star-makes-worrying-arsenal-trophy-claim-theyre-not-ready-mentally-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/?p=899","title":{"rendered":"Former Chelsea star makes worrying Arsenal trophy claim – ‘they’re not ready mentally’ | Football"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n\t\t\"Southampton\t<\/div>
Mikel Arteta needs to inject freshmomentum into Arsenal\u2019s season (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Former Chelsea star Frank Leboeuf fears Arsenal\u2019s season is on the brink of collapse and is concerned Mikel Arteta\u2019s squad could yet end the season trophyless.<\/p>\n

Hopes of ending a six-year trophy drought by winning one of the domestic cups has gone up in smoke after successive defeats either side of the international break. <\/p>\n

An insipid performance at Wembley in the Carabao Cup final represented a major setback and Saturday\u2019s defeat at Southampton only served to heighten the suspicion that Mikel Arteta\u2019s side is set to crumble again at the business end of the campaign. <\/p>\n

The Arsenal manager must now inject fresh momentum into Arsenal\u2019s season with the first leg of the Champions League quarter final against Sporting Lisbon next on the agenda.<\/p>\n

Bournemouth, meanwhile, visit the Emirates on Saturday as Arsenal resume their Premier League title quest with an opportunity to extend their lead at the top, temporarily at least, to 12 points. <\/p>\n

Leboeuf, however, spotted worrying signs at St Mary\u2019s and questioned the decision making of both the coach and players which displayed hallmarks of a mentally weak group.<\/p>\n

He told ESPN FC: \u2018Arsenal are maybe the best team in the world but you have to show even with different players and individuals you have to show your strength and you have to win against Southampton. That\u2019s kind of a shame.<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\t\t\t\tGet your football fix\t\t\t<\/h2>\n

\n

Metro<\/strong>‘s weekly newsletter In The Mixer delivers punchy analysis and breakdowns of the biggest football stories directly to your inbox.<\/p>\n

Sign up here, it’s an open goal.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"Southampton\t<\/div>
Arsenal were beaten by Southampton in the FA Cup (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018I imagine the times I was playing against Arsenal with Vieira, Petit and Ian Wright, so many others like Tony Adams it would never have happened.<\/p>\n

\u2018Mentally they were too strong they were finishing all the work. You can see everyone is very fragile, coaching-wise because they don\u2019t make the right choices. <\/p>\n

\u2018But the players on the field don\u2019t do the job they are getting very shaky because we are touching and going to the end of the season. <\/p>\n

\u2018You can feel they are not ready mentally. They have to be stronger.\u2019<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n

\t\t\t\t\t

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tbrowser that
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsupports HTML5
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tvideo<\/a><\/p><\/video>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Arteta will address the media again later on Monday with his squad due to travel to Portugal this afternoon but he has already insisted it is up to him and his players to produce an emphatic response. <\/p>\n

Speaking after the defeat at Southampton, he said: \u2018We have the most important period in both competitions ahead of us, and it\u2019s now the moment when you have a difficult moment in the season, to show what we are made of \u2013 and it is now we have to show who we are.<\/p>\n

\u2018Obviously, we\u2019re very disappointed. We wanted to get back to Wembley as quickly as possible, and we haven\u2019t managed to do that \u2013 so first of all, congratulations to Southampton for being there.<\/p>\n

\u2018The game had moments, we had moments, where we had a lot of dominance from our side, and chances, and situations in and around the box that we didn\u2019t capitalise on enough. <\/p>\n

\u2018And then we have to accept we were poor in and around our box defending situations that normally we are excellent at. We paid the price.\u2019<\/p>\n

Arrow<\/title>\n<\/svg>MORE: FA make Gabriel Martinelli decision after Arsenal star shows referee \u2018total disrespect\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

Arrow<\/title>\n<\/svg>MORE: Arsenal warned \u2018perfect\u2019 Sporting hold one significant advantage in Champions League quarter-final<\/span><\/p>\n

Arrow<\/title>\n<\/svg>MORE: Wayne Rooney names the manager Man Utd \u2018100 per cent have to\u2019 appoint<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tComment now<\/title>\n<\/svg><\/span>
\n\t\t\tComments<\/span>
\n\t\t<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\tAdd Metro as a Preferred Source on Google<\/title>\n<\/svg><\/span>
\n\t\t\t\tAdd as preferred source<\/span>
\n\t\t\t<\/section>\n
\n
\n

Football Newsletter \u2013 In The Mixer<\/h4>\n

Punchy analysis, transfer talk and more from Metro’s football experts, sent straight to your inbox every week.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mikel Arteta needs to inject freshmomentum into Arsenal\u2019s season (Picture: Getty) Former Chelsea star Frank<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":900,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}