Arsene Wenger says Arsenal were lacking “that subconscious strength in the mind” in their Boxing Day loss at Southampton.
The Gunners missed the opportunity to go top of the Premier League as they slipped to a heavy defeat on the south coast.
Wenger admitted it was a poor day at the office, and said his side must give a strong response against Bournemouth on Monday.
“We were beaten in the challenges too much, we were not sharp enough to play our usual game and on top of that I think we were unlucky on the decisions for the first three goals and that was too much for us,” he told Arsenal Player.
“[We were missing] the sharpness, that subconcious strength that is in the mind absolutely to win the game. You could see that we relaxed a bit after Man City and didn’t switch on enough here. They were, and that made the difference.
“I think the players have a good mentality, a strong spirit and they will respond on Monday. We have to be intelligent enough to analyse what went wrong here.”
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