Arsenal being bullied makes my blood boil

ARSENE WENGER needs to sit up and take notice at Troy Deeney’s claims that this Arsenal team can be bullied. Deeney said that Arsenal lack ‘cojones’ and that if you go hard into the first challenge against them, they will back off. Very rarely does an opponent give you such an insight into your weakness. If you are an Arsenal player, that is pretty damning. Those comments got my blood boiling and I’m not even playing, so goodness knows what Wenger and the players must have thought. The pinnacle for Wenger is the technical brilliance of Barcelona. But look at his teams who won the Premier League. They were technically superior but also had a steeliness and ruthlessness to win games. Arsenal have improved in recent weeks. Before this game they had not conceded for 444 minutes and until Richarlison dived to win Watford a penalty, Arsenal were heading for a workmanlike victory. But Wenger cannot hide behind the penalty. What concerned me was the way his team capitulated once Watford had equalised. Where are their physical players? I was fortunate to play in the 1997-1998 Arsenal side. It was a team equipped for all occasions. That team was capable of passing opponents off the pitch but equally if anyone wanted to go to war with us, they would be in for one hell of a battle. If a player like Deeney had come off the bench then I would be wanting to fight fire with fire and make sure I am winning every header. Deeney argued that as Arsenal are no longer able to dominate teams with their technical ability, you can knock them down by testing them even more physically. As it is, Arsenal look set to lose their best techinicians in Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil. All the uncertainty over their futures has felt like a pantomime. The sooner we draw a line under this issue, the better. Going forward, Wenger needs to recruit a different type of player who is prepared to graft and scrap. Of course we want to see players who are great athletes and extremely skilful but Wenger needs more players in the mould of Sead Kolasinac — men who are solid, determined and direct. Right now, this Arsenal team look a million miles away from becoming champions.