The opening weekend of the Premier League is something that brings excitement to the faces of millions of fans across the world, and I’m no different. A victory against the champions last week, however unconvincing it may have seemed, gave me a lot of hope for the season. In front of 60,000 fans eagerly anticipating the start of the season, and to see just how different, if at all, their team were to perform from the previous season. Unfortunately, as it always seems to be with Arsenal, optimism was quickly shot down at the hands of opponents who looked weaker on paper.
The fans were roaring and the players looked ready to go. The new season was finally here. There was just the one new signing for fans to see, and Petr Cech’s name was met by huge cheers, just as he was every time he touched the ball in the early stages. Once we kicked off, however, the noises in the crowd quickly turned to groans and there was looks of disbelief as to how Arsenal players were seemingly scared to go anywhere near the West Ham goal.
I’d be lying if I said that the lads didn’t give it a go at all. The early parts of the game seemed bright, Oxlade-Chamberlain proving to the boss exactly why he deserves an extended run in the first-team. He looked like the only player who actually gave it his all, while the likes of Olivier Giroud and Mesut Özil may as well have just not bothered being on the pitch.
The first half was certainly where Arsenal looked the better side, though the closest they came to scoring was through over hit volleys from Aaron Ramsey and the Ox. It was, funnily enough, the closest they’d come the entire game. Once West Ham got into it, they looked a lot more like the Arsenal side everybody expected to turn up. The first goal for the Hammers was as predictable as ever, conceding from a set-piece, almost bringing back haunting memories of most games between 2009 and 2013. Simple ball over the top, Arsenal players fail to mark Cheikhou Kouyate whatsoever and he heads it in, which was made even easier by some…well…interesting decisions made by Cech and the rest of the Arsenal team.
It’s only been two years since Arsenal lost to Aston Villa on the opening day, but as the half and the game wore on, it seemed to become more and more like that game, where nothing was going right for Arsenal, but everything was for the opposition. The half-time whistle couldn’t come soon enough, and some fans (the few hundred surrounding me, anyway), proceeded to boo the team off as they walked down the tunnel.
Players were out early for the second half, which made everyone think that Wenger had told them like it was, exactly what needs to be done to get back into the game. So, why were they even sloppier in the second 45? West Ham knew they had a chance to have the perfect start, out of the Europa League during the week, they were out to impress the few thousand fans who made the short trip from east to north London, and fully deserved what they came out of the game with.
Straight from kick-off, it was West Ham on the attack, and 10 minutes into the second half, there was a second goal. A weak shot from Zarate, which could easily have been saved, somehow made its way beyond Petr Cech and into the net to send West Ham fans mad, and rightly so. It wasn’t so much Cech’s mistake that frustrated me personally, but the reluctance of every Arsenal player to close down the attackers. Just before Zarate hit the shot, there were nine (yes, NINE) Arsenal players behind the ball, which begs the question: Why wasn’t an easily preventable goal stopped?
It got to a point where West Ham were all over the Gunners. They had full control of the game, though time-wasting seemed to be part of their game as well, it seemed. In fact, before the end of the game, it could’ve easily been four or five. Tactics were all over the place. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was even moved to right-back at one point, which is probably the best way to describe just how poor some of the boss’ choices really were.
Two subs came on in an attempt to bring something back, and even though he played 20 minutes and only returned to training this week, Alexis Sanchez looked the most determined player on the field. Chasing after every ball as he always does, while others stood and watched, doing nothing whatsoever to help him out.
Boos at the end of the first game of the season (again, sound familiar?) from the few thousand fans who actually stayed the full 90 minutes – if we’re looking at it in a positive light, not that there’s much to actually take from the game in the first place, the last time we lost on the opening day, in came Mesut Özil. Is it too much to dream that Karim Benzema becomes that sort of purchase?
A game to forget for the Gunners, and another tough test at Palace next week. Last time Arsenal tasted defeat on the opening day, they went on to top the table for over half the season, signing Özil along the way. Was this the sort of performance Arsenal actually needed to give the players and management a kick up the backside?
If there’s one big factor to pick out from today’s game, the biggest is something that Arsenal fans, and most pundits have been saying for a while now: Olivier Giroud is not the striker that Arsenal need to win the league.
It’s very rare to get a good run of games from the Frenchman, and he seems to cause more headache for fans than he does happy moments. Is this the sort of performance to make Wenger think that maybe, just maybe, change is actually needed in the attacking department? Walcott also did little to impress when he came on, and with Arsenal having 22 shots in total and failing to score a goal, that should really tell anyone just how poor the finishing really was.
The fans seem to know what’s right and what’s wrong at the club in terms of who plays and who is mentally strong enough to help Arsenal challenge for the title. Here’s hoping that Wenger and the board soon see it the same way.
