The players of Dutch club PSV Eindhoven need to start fighting for each other and become more of a team to stand any chance against Arsenal in the Champions League on Tuesday, Croatia international Ivan Perisic said on the eve of the last-16 tie.
PSV go into the match after successive defeats to Go Ahead Eagles last week, first in the Dutch Cup semifinal last Wednesday and then in the league on Saturday, leaving them in second place and trailing leaders Ajax Amsterdam by eight points.
"We are not a team," the 36-year-old Perisic, who joined PSV at the start of the season, told a press conference.
"We are not doing well. We should be more of a team, which we are not now. We are not fighting for each other and that makes me angry.
"We need to change that quickly. We need to give everything until the end of the season, because it is far from over."
Persic said the players had discussed the problem as their slump in domestic form contrasted with progress in the Champions League, where they eliminated Juventus in the knockout round playoff last month.
"Why are we not a team? We talked about that. We create enough chances and score enough, but without the ball we need to do better. We need to fight and run for each other," he said.
Coach Peter Bosz added his own analysis, saying: “There are a lot of small things that are now preventing you from winning, but those small things are important."
Monday’s press conference saw both dealing with a majority of questions about PSV’s domestic form rather than their prospects against Arsenal, who they host in the first leg at the Philips Stadion.
"I understand that PSV's decline is now bigger news than the match we will play against Arsenal tomorrow, but that’s a great shame for football fans,” added Bosz.
“We are among the best 16 in Europe. It is impressive that we are here."