WE WERE TOO SCARED TO PLAY SAYS XHAKA

ARSENAL captain Granit Xhaka gave a damning assessment of his team-mates by admitting players were too ‘scared’ to play, as they threw away a twogoal lead and had to hang on for a point against Watford. Unai Emery’s side took a comfortable lead into half time after a double from PierreEmerick Aubameyang, but found themselves stung by the Hornets in an overwhelming second half. Sokratis was guilty of a horrendous mistake when playing out from the back from a goal kick which allowed Tom Cleverley to score Watford’s first, and it was a moment of madness from David Luiz that gave away a penalty for Watford’s second. Arsenal, so frail on the road in recent years, fell apart again when appearing in total control. For Xhaka, now in his third year at the club, self-destruction is becoming a bug-bear and a lack of mental strength needs arresting as soon as possible. ‘We were scared in the second half,’ said Xhaka (left). ‘We knew they would come at us and push us hard but we have to show more character and not be scared. We have spoken about it. We cannot give a performance like this in the second half. Nobody wanted the ball. Every team in the Premier League is strong enough to score, so you have to stay calm, be mentally strong and we weren’t.’ Watford, in Quique Sanchez Flores’ first game back in charge as manager, stuck to their guns with the message to play two separate games. ‘We lost the first match but the second half was a game we went to win,’ said Flores, accepting that his struggling side might have won three, rather than one point. For Arsenal’s Emery, mistakes were just mistakes, not a consequence of fear as his captain said. But he accepted his younger players have to learn harsh lessons if they are going to kick on when playing away from the Emirates Stadium. ‘Maybe it is a new feeling,’ he said. ‘I think in football you never need to be scared, you need to take the moment as experience. I can feel the players, me the same. We need to be strong in our mentality and to play our way.’