Mikel Arteta has vowed to prove Emmanuel Petit wrong after the Arsenal legend claimed senior professionals at the club viewed it as a ‘retreat’.
In the aftermath of Arsenal’s 3-0 humbling at the hands of Liverpool on Saturday night, Petit said there was a lack of passion among the senior players – who he feels are treating their time at the Emirates as a ‘vacation’.
The French World Cup winner branded them as ‘average’ and called for Arteta to sell half of his squad in the summer.
‘When I look at the older players in the team, it’s like they think it’s a retreat football club, somewhere you just go for a vacation,’ Petit told Ladbrokes. ‘They have ambition, but I don’t really expect them to win big games anymore.
‘If you took away the name ‘Arsenal’ and looked at that group of players… average.
‘At the end of the season, if I’m Arsenal, if I’m Arteta, if I’m on the board, to be honest with you, I think my main concern is getting half of the dressing room out. Honestly.’
Petit’s comments were put to the Arsenal manager, who expressed his wish to change the former Chelsea midfielder’s mind.
‘I don’t know. He said that, he knows the club really well and was here in probably the most successful years,’ said Arteta.
‘He’s got that opinion, I’m here to change that opinion, I’m here to give the evaluation of what I see every day and where we are.
‘I know where we are and where we want to go and we have to respect that.’
Asked about whether his players were showing enough passion, he added: ‘Showing it goes with the character.
‘There are people that are much more introverted and extroverted that show the body language in different ways than others, that doesn’t mean that they didn’t hurt.
‘For sure players that they don’t have that emotion, that passion and that commitment they won’t be in the football club.’
Follow Metro Sport across our social channels, on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
For more stories like this, check our sport page.
0 Commentaires