LONDON: Amid the ongoing poor run in the Premier League, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said that the club needs "fighters", who are ready to give everything, rather than "victims" who only bring negativity and blame their surroundings.
Seven back to back matches without a win in Premier League has put Arsenal in a difficult situation. The club is placed in the 15th position on the standings with 14 points. With the club in dire straits, the manager has called for fighter players, who can stand up to the challenge.
"I liked to look around me, whether it's the staff, coaches, players and I wanted to see fighters. Normally when that happens, you have two types of people: fighters and victims," the club's official website quoted Arteta as saying when asked what he was like as a player when things weren't going his way.
"You need fighters and you don't want any victims. Victims bring excuses, victims bring negativity and they start to blame anything that is happening around them or is not going their way. You need people who fight, people who contribute and people who are ready to give everything to the club in this moment," he added.
The club is currently gearing up for the Carabao Cup quarter-final match against Manchester City, slated to take place on Wednesday.
Asked if winning the Carabao Cup would be good enough for the club this season, Arteta said "isolating" one competition is not enough, adding that they have to play every competition with an aim of winning it.
"It's not enough, isolating just one competition. We have to play every competition to try to win it. Last season, we managed to win two of those and we have a really nice opportunity because we've done really well in the competition this year and tomorrow's game is another step forward to be closer to winning another trophy and this is what we are going to try to do. But this doesn't mean that it's going to reflect on the rest or it's going to look better because at the moment -- whatever happens in any other competition -- in the Premier League we're nowhere near where we should be," he said.