Declan Rice, Martin Odegaard, and Mikel Arteta all made their frustrations clear to the Arsenal dressing room after Saturday’s win over Wolves.
Sam Dean reports for The Telegraph that Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard are understood to have spoken to the Arsenal squad following Saturday’s 2-1 win over Wolves to express their anger and frustrations at the performance.
Mikel Arteta also reportedly made his disappointment clear to the players before addressing the media.
There was no argument on the other side, with the squad in agreement that their performance hadn’t been good enough, and that they’d fallen way short of their usual level.
On the surface, it’s unusual for the team to be so disappointed with a win, particularly when secured with a dramatic last-minute winner. You’d usually expect jubilation in such circumstances.
But there were obviously other factors at play in this case. Arsenal were facing 20th-placed Wolves, at home, arguably the easiest fixture in the entire Premier League calendar.
The Gunners were also winning the match with 20 minutes to go, just needing to add another goal to kill the contest against the league’s worst defence, or to shut up shop against the league’s worst attack.
To concede an equaliser in the 90th minute in those circumstances is indeed very disappointing and frustrating. As Leandro Trossard put it afterwards, Arsenal’s late winner was more of a “relief” than cause for celebration.
After a couple of days off, Arsenal now need to channel those frustrations and use them inspiration for a better performance away to Everton this weekend.