Arsenal Leader Urges Teammates To Be More Ruthless and “Respect The Game”

By The Editor
on 4th December 2023

Jorginho fires warning to his teammates…

Arsenal midfielder Jorginho has urged his team to develop a more ruthless streak at both ends of the pitch after we were forced to defend a narrow lead against Wolves on Saturday, the Mirror reports.

The team raced into a 2-0 inside 15 minutes thanks to strikes from Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard, but the third goal eluded us despite hitting the woodwork on multiple occasions.

With the game ticking over and heading towards a comfortable conclusion, a lapse in concentration at the back from Oleksandr Zinchenko allowed Cunha to halve the deficit for the visitors.

It forced Arteta to send on Jorginho and Jakub Kiwior to defend the lead and while Wolves didn’t have another effort on goal after that, the Italian international is rather annoyed to have found the team in that position.

As we prepare to enter the cauldron that is Kenilworth Road to take on Luton, we’ll certainly need ruthlessness in both boxes to avoid a negative result.

“It is a mindset to be honest because you have the game completely under control and all of a sudden you stop doing the simple things that you need to keep doing,” Jorginho told the press in the mixed zone after the game.

“The game looks easy and then you start to play around, trying to enjoy the ball but at the end, we need to put in our mind that we enjoy scoring goals and not just playing around and bringing pressure and situations that we don’t need.

“Yes, I think we need to be more ruthless, especially in the Premier League, the game is never finished. When it is 1-0, 2-0 you have to think you need three, four and respect the game,” the 31-year-old added.

Zinchenko had a few moments that caused a scare at the back in the game and one wondered if Arteta was set to substitute him as he usually does in the final minutes of a game.

However, with Takehiro Tomiyasu already exiting the game with an injury and Zinchenko only playing 45 minutes against RC Lens, the boss decided to leave him on.

While the 26-year-old’s strengths are visible, he is an obvious weak link in our back-line and must eliminate those errors – it will cost us points on another day.