Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has confessed he struggled to come to terms with the Gunners' failure to win the Premier League title last season.
Arteta's side spent 248 days at the top of the table - a record for any team who failed to win - but could not get the job done as a late-season collapse in form saw Manchester City roar to what ended up being a reasonably comfortable triumph.
While injuries played an obvious part in Arsenal's struggles, Arteta confessed he found himself asking tough questions about his own abilities as a manager.
"The first few weeks were very tough, because I went through it," Arteta reflected. "The first thing you have to do is look in the mirror and understand ‘ok, is there something you should have done better, differently?’ and if that’s the case learn from it.
"And then judge yourself: are you still the right person to drive the club, the team, forward in the way that you want and do you have that energy and that belief that you want to do it. I think it took a big reflection but the answer is ‘yes’ and I feel with a lot of energy and positivity. But I don’t like losing and it takes me a while, and that was a tough moment."
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Asked what went wrong for his side, Arteta admitted Arsenal's momentum collapsed at the same time as City started to build theirs.
"In the key moments, when it should have gone one way - and in many situations in the season it went for us - it didn’t go for us," he reflected.
"It was one, two, three [draws against Liverpool, West Ham and Southampton] and then we lost momentum. They took momentum. That shifted, very much. Then you are talking about a team that has the capacity to win 25 games in a row, so the last thing they need is momentum and belief. We gave them that."
Arsenal will have the chance to exact some revenge on City when the two sides square off in the Community Shield on Sunday at Wembley Stadium.
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This article was originally published on 90min as Mikel Arteta admits self-doubts after Arsenal's Premier League title collapse.
