LONDON -- Arsenal captain Per Mertesacker says his teammates were "not ready for a fight" in recent games and that the players must make the fans proud of them again.
Arsenal lost 2-1 to Liverpool on Saturday to fall out of the Premier League's top four and now face Bayern Munich on Tuesday having to overturn a 5-1 deficit from the first leg of their Champions League round-of-16 tie. Their recent disappointments also include a 3-1 loss at Chelsea that seemed to doom their title hopes in the league for another season.
And Mertesacker, who has yet to make an appearance after returning from a serious knee injury, said his teammates haven't shown the right mentality in those games.
"I think we saw on a lot of occasions that we were absolutely not ready for a fight, and that's what I want to see tomorrow: that we are up for a fight, to challenge something," Mertesacker said at a news conference on Monday. "We haven't competed a lot, like in recent games, we need to turn that around."
In Munich, Arsenal were level 1-1 at half-time but collapsed in the second half after centre-back Laurent Koscielny went off injured, conceding three quick goals. That loss means they will need an unlikely 4-0 win at the Emirates, where the fan atmosphere is likely to be tense after the recent disappointments.
"I think it's up to us to show a different face tomorrow. That is really something we are going to demand because we literally blew it away in the second half there [at Bayern] after being in a very good position. So it's really down to us now to make the first step to make our fans proud of ourselves again. That is really something that we need the emphasis on."
Arsenal are facing a tough week after it was reported on Sunday that Arsene Wenger had a fallout with Alexis Sanchez and decided to drop him against Liverpool after the Chilean stormed out of a training session last week.
However, Wenger said the claims were "completely false" in his news conference on Monday, and Mertesacker added that the focus should not be on one player.
"One thing about the Liverpool game is that there were 11 players on the pitch. We had a real chance to go for it, to push it and even without our best player on the pitch, to show that we are a real unit and we have to execute that," Mertesacker said. "It's not always the manager. It's hard for him now to select. He does it with his best knowledge and we trust him."
However, the defender said that the spirit in the Arsenal camp "is a little bit tense" at the moment.
"But that is normal when you have a stretch like this," he said. "And you can feel in every training session that we are eager to change something about the situation. For me that is most important and I need to make sure we train at a high level and are really focused on the next opponent because it will be tough one.
"But I am telling the players that we need to take the first step to get the fans on board again, and to be successful again we need our fans to back us up. We have done something wrong in recent games, you always do something wrong, but this time, in the last couple of games even more so, we need to analyse very well and come back with a stronger performance, and learn from the mistakes that we have made recently. The spirit is a bit tense, as I said, but that is normal in these circumstances."
Mertesacker has been given a one-year contract extension despite not having made an appearance since taking over the club captaincy last summer, while Wenger's future remains in doubt as he has yet to decide on whether to stay on.
And Wenger interrupted a question to Mertesacker at Monday's news conference about whether the players want the manager to remain in charge.
"Honestly, I don't think it's down to the players to choose a manager. Your questions are not adjusted to the press conference when preparing for a game," Wenger said. "I can understand that I am criticised after these results, but it's not down to the players to choose the manager.
"The players have to perform for this football club. I think we are at the best club in the world, and we have to show pride and commitment to defend the pride of this club. It's not about the politics. We are not at a political club here, we are judged on performance. I have to perform and the players have to perform."