Arsenal seek spirit of 2008 as they tackle Milan in Europa League last 16

Arsène Wenger has urged his players “not to forget” their qualities as they head into the Europa League tie that represents their last chance to salvage a stricken season. Arsenal arrived in Milan at a low enough ebb for their captain, Laurent Koscienly, to bring up the dreaded phrase “negative spiral” before a difficult challenge at San Siro.

“We need to be together,” Koscielny said. “That’s the most important. It doesn’t matter what’s going on outside. We are in a negative spiral and it’s difficult to get out of this. We need to have positive advice in our heads because the brain dictates to the body and the legs. We have to be positive to have a good result and, step by step, we will come back stronger.”

Wenger acknowledged this has been a very deflating period for his team. “First of all we are a bit affected by what happened. These players want to win, but in life you forget quickly how good you are. When you have a bad week players change their mind about their qualities. We have to not forget we have good players. We have to fix reachable targets, be pragmatic, focus on what we can do better and not to be too scared about the consequences of a bad result. We need to defend better, play quicker and do more things together.”

The psychological state of a team who have lost four successive matches – against Östersund, Manchester City (twice) and Brighton – underpinned Arsenal’s preparations.

“This is an opportunity we have to take, of course,” Wenger added. “It increases the pressure even more on this competition. At the moment, it is certainly difficult when you go through a patch like that but I believe as well it is a good opportunity to show you have the quality and the strengths. You can only show that when it is difficult. On the longer term, it will make the team even stronger.” This last-16 tie may do that. Conversely it may make things worse.

Source: theguardian