Mead: Arsenal players ‘need picking up’ in tough times | OneFootball

Beth Mead called on Arsenal fans to help pick the team up at a difficult time for the club, following a 2-1 defeat to champions Chelsea in the Women’s Super League.

Arsenal have won just one match from their first four WSL games, and the loss to their London rivals ramped up the pressure on Gunners boss Jonas Eidevall following a tough week.

Lioness and Arsenal striker Mead insists players are doing their best, and that the scrutiny being put on the team and the manager are not helping.

She said: “Players just need a bit more confidence, we’re in a tough place at the moment, people need to help us a little bit.

“I think there’s not so many nice things being said about us as a team right now and it’s not the place or the time for doing that for us, we need to be picked up.

“We are really trying as players, trying to sort it out on and off the pitch and that’s all we can do, keep going, keep believing in each other, stick together and hopefully the results will start coming.

“We’ve got to concentrate on ourselves as players, and as a collective we’re sticking together. The rest of it will sort of speak and sort itself out.”

Arsenal opened their WSL campaign with a promising 2-2 draw with Manchester City, followed by a 1-0 win away at Leicester, a match where Leicester could have snatched a point.

But Saturday’s defeat followed a disappointing goalless draw to Everton and a midweek Champions League defeat to Bayern Munich, where Arsenal lost 5-2, conceding three goals in the final 25 minutes.

The Gunners took Chelsea to the final day of the WSL two years ago, but have been unable to match Chelsea’s efforts since then, despite being tipped as a title contender this season.

Saturday saw 20 chances created by the home side with only one finding the net through Caitlin Foord, but Mead insists the players are doing their best and have been unlucky.

“Disappointment and frustration,” Mead added. “I thought arguably we were the better team throughout the whole game.

“We haven’t seemed to have had a lot of luck at the moment as a team. I’m really proud of the team for what they put out on the pitch – it’s been a tough week, a draining week, a busy week.

“They scored two early goals that put us not in a good place against a team like Chelsea but I thought we dominated. Speaking to the Chelsea girls, [they said] it was the hardest game they played all season.

“I thought we put in a good performance but ultimately it didn’t win us the game. We don’t seem to have that luck to put a few more goals in the back of the net – it’s hitting the crossbar, it’s frustrating.”

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