Arsene Wenger trusted us and we let him down, admits Per Mertesacker
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Former Arsenal star Per Mertesacker has revealed that the club and the players let down former manager Arsene Wenger towards the end of his career. The Frenchman, who won three Premier League titles with Arsenal, ended his 22-year tenure with the club in 2018, allowing Unai Emery to take over.
Arsene Wenger’s tenure at Arsenal finally came to an end in 2018, after a long and sordid 22-year spell, making him the club’s longest-serving manager. It also made him their most successful manager, with three Premier League titles and seven FA Cups. However, his last league title came at the end of the 2003/04 season, with Arsenal struggling to dominate after that.
But now in his autobiography, Per Mertesacker has revealed that Wenger was let down by the Arsenal team post-2004. He further goes on to add, that their best chance was during the 2015/16 season but Arsenal failed to live up to their potential. In the end, Leicester City had a fairytale season and won the league title, but Mertesacker considers it Arsenal's best chance post-2004.
“Every team has its poor phases over the season, the trick is minimising them. You have to draw quick lessons from defeats and immediately remind yourself of your own strengths. Other teams were better at that. They managed setbacks better, not letting themselves be intimidated by those first negative waves and ignoring what people on the outside were saying. We didn’t have the ability to shift quickly and keep our faith after a disappointment,” revealed Mertesacker in the Big Friendly German, reports the Evening Standard.
"You couldn’t win the League on eight defeats a year. Arsene Wenger was always the kind of manager whose belief in his team’s qualities was steady as a rock and who approached matters with never-ending patience. He didn’t lose his nerve during losing streaks, either. He stuck with his convictions and his players, no matter how strong the wind was blowing. It was his greatest strength. First and foremost, Wenger saw us as human beings and he had a lot of faith in us, which is why he stood by us.
Ultimately, we as players need to ask ourselves whether we did everything possible to justify his trust. Did we implement his instructions perfectly? Were we pulling together? Did we learn from our mistakes? No. Wenger has won three Premier League titles, which is proof enough of his standing as a Âmanager. The team, on the other hand, had fallen short since 2004,” concluded the German.
