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http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,1563,1362518,00.html?gusrc=rss
Dominic Fifield
Tuesday November 30, 2004
The Guardian
Freddie Ljungberg has accused Arsenal of lacking the fighting spirit to
compete at Liverpool on Sunday, further exacerbating a crisis of confidence
that is gripping the champions, who have taken only six points from their
last six league games and are five behind Chelsea at the top.
The Swedish international was joined in his criticism by the captain
Patrick Vieira, who said the team have lost the togetherness that had carried
them through last season undefeated in the Premiership.
"Liverpool wanted to have a fight and it was a fight, a real battle,"
said Ljungberg. "We talked about it at half-time and we were not pleased
about how we'd played in that first half at all. When you want to play the
ball on the floor - and we do, there's no question about that - you have to
get it down on the floor, but sometimes you have to battle to get the ball
in the first place.
"That's part of the English game and how we'd normally play it.
So that was mainly what we talked about, that we need to win the fight
to get the ball. Some of us were saying that we weren't going into the
one-on-one battles 100% and that we lost most of them as a result.
We weren't pleased at that. We have to be harder, to win those individual
battles."
Ljungberg's comments would have been unprecedented a month ago when the
Premiership title seemed Arsenal's for the taking. They went into the game
against Manchester United on the back of a 49-game unbeaten run and with
apparently realistic hopes of going through a second campaign undefeated
But they were out-muscled in an ill-tempered match that saw their manager
Arsene Wenger subsequently charged with misconduct for post-match remarks
made about the United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy. Wenger now faces an FA
hearing on December 16.
Vieira backed up Ljungberg's comments. "The quality and hunger to keep
the title is still there, but it's not about the team, it's about ourselves,
"said the captain, whose yellow card for a foul on Xabi Alonso will rule him
out of next month's visit of Chelsea.
"We've lost a bit of the togetherness that you need to win games. Three or
four years ago we maybe would've won that game at Anfield." Arsenal's first-
choice side have now mustered only one win in their last nine Champions League
and Premiership matches stretching back to the 2-2 draw at Panathinaikos in
late October, and they are without a clean sheet in their last 12 games in
all competitions. They were beaten 2-1 at Liverpool through a last-minute goal
by Neil Mellor who had never previously scored in the Premiership.
Besides the Chelsea match, Arsenal's chances of progressing into the knock-
out stages of the Champions League will be decided in a pivotal final group
game with Rosenborg next Tuesday, a match for which Vieira is also suspended
after being sent off in the draw with PSV Eindhoven.
"It's about ourselves - I don't think the other teams are better than us
- and we have to look at ourselves and try to improve," Vieira said. "The only
way we can do that is to work harder and harder. I'm sure that will come.
"It's a fact that our only shot on target at Liverpool was the goal. That's
surprising for us. We just have to work harder and harder. If we do, then
hopefully the way we used to play will come back. If we really want it, we'll
do it."
The champions' meek first-half display on Sunday provoked a heated inquest
at half-time, led by Wenger. "The boss said: 'Come on, we're better than that.
We are the champions, but we're playing like we're bottom of the league',"
said Ashley Cole.
"We were flat after the defeat and the fact that we're not clicking is
not something we're used to," added Ljungberg. "Liverpool is always a difficult
place to go, and I think in the second half we were quite happy with our
performance but, when the luck is not with you, you concede a goal like we did
in injury-time. We have to deal with it and try to put things right."
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Go Gunners!
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