A bad day all round for Arsenal, who were given a massive reality check with a crashing 2-0 defeat at home against West Ham United. The Gunners usually have a good record on the opening day of the Premier League campaign, however were outplayed all over the pitch on Sunday afternoon, and had no answer for a fantastic away performance by the Hammers.
Arsenal fans were full of confidence and optimism before kick-off, but come the final whistle the Emirates crowd (what was left of it) were frustrated, disgruntled and deflated. The fans that chose to stay until the end greeted the Arsenal players with a chorus of boos, and those fans will be expecting much better performances going forward.
Arsene Wenger spoke to the media after the game, and expressed his disappointment with the result: “I think our performance was not convincing. On the two aspects of our game, going forward and defending. Overall we were punished.
“On top of that, I feel we gave two very cheap goals away and they were at the wrong moments – just before and after half-time with two minutes to go, and just after half-time. We gave ourselves a mountain to climb.
Arsenal had a strong pre-season which saw the club win three trophies, however you wouldn’t believe it considering the poor performance today. West Ham have been involved in the Europa League qualifiers, and the competitive edge in those games may have contributed to their victory: “West Ham looked a bit sharper than us, more advanced in preparation than us. In the end we wanted, but it was not convincing, not agile, not quick. Our passing was too slow and in the end we were punished.
“West Ham are a bit more advanced in their preparation than us. They’ve played many competitive games in the Europa League. I knew before game it would be tricky game on that front. A big part of it was not to concede, even if we played for a 0-0. The way we conceded the goal just before half-time, with experience we have in our team, is difficult to understand.”
Wenger recently claimed that there was no pressure on his side to mount a title challenge. The pressures in previous seasons have been finishing in the top four, but this season could be a free swing for an Arsenal side who certainly have the players to mount a serious title challenge.
Many believed Arsenal would put a few goals past West Ham today and leave with an easy three points, however that wasn’t the case: “I felt we were a bit nervous and we rushed our game a bit. We didn’t always respect the basics.
“We wanted to be too quick going forward in first half. I don’t think we were too confident, I would rather say too nervous maybe.”
Despite having arguably one of the best goalkeepers in the world, summer signing Petr Cech had a debut to forget. Wenger didn’t single him out for criticism, but stated the whole team could have all been better: “I haven’t spoken to him yet. I can’t see many individual convincing performances today so it’s difficult to single someone out.”
When asked if he’d seen the goals, Wenger responded bluntly: “I [haven’t analysed it] yet, no.”
An abundance of attacking talent couldn’t manage a single goal, let alone two that would have earned the Gunners a point. Wenger was critical of his sides offensive display, and suggested his team should have been more ruthless with the score at 0-0: “Our passing was not incisive enough. I bought Walcott on with 35 minutes to go and I had no time to bring him on.
“We conceded the second goal [before]. After that they defended deep and gained time – the usual thing you face when you play at home and are losing. I believe that we are maybe guilty at 0-0 of giving them a goal as soft as that.”
Arsenal travel to Crystal Palace next weekend in another London derby, and will be expected to bounce back from this defeat by taking all three points at Selhurst Park. At the very least, they must turn out a better performance than they did today, as they host Liverpool the following week. Wenger said: “It’s difficult but it’s part of our job. A successful season is how you respond to disappointments
and it’s never a clear motorway.
“We have to respond quickly. We have a tricky start. Crystal Palace are a very good team, Liverpool are a very good team, and you could see again today that we are not completely there physically.”
West Ham new boy Dimitri Payet showed what a good player he is on Sunday, and it was his free-kick that caused the confusion for the opening goal. Wenger again refused to single out his players for criticism, and said the defending could have been better from everyone: “It was a collective one. I think there are many things to say about that. I knew that if the delivery was good, we would be in trouble before the free-kick was taken.
“The concentration and the organisation was not perfect. Positionally we were too far from our goal and gave them too much distance to run into. We killed ourselves.”
Was the goal Cech’s fault? He didn’t help himself by flying out of his goal, but Wenger claims his defence should have been experienced enough to deal with the situation: “Not only him. We have enough experience at the back.
“If you look at our back line, I think the youngest age is 30.”
Questions will undoubtedly be asked of Wenger’s potential actions in the transfer market, however he was quick to state he would not be panic buying because of one defeat. Arsenal have been heavily linked with Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema throughout the summer, but the boss, as he’s done before, insisted no business would happen unless something ‘exceptional’ could occur: “I would like to think that we are responsible to buy the players and the coaches, not the media.
“When you’re a pro footballer, you have to face your responsibilities and not always look at something else. Today we have to look at ourselves and think we were not good enough and not to think that these kinds of things are solutions for us.
“We were not good enough, we were not convincing. And that’s basically it.
“West Ham played well. Congratulations to them and hopefully we can bounce back quickly. Again, I can only repeat what I already said. If an exceptional solution turns up, we’ll do it. But after a defeat like that, it’s important not always to think we take a solution from outside.”
Arsenal have a number of talented youngsters in their ranks, but it was a 16-year-old West Ham midfielder who stole the show today. Wenger was seemingly impressed with Reece Oxford, who capitalised on a poor day for Arsenal: “He looked convincing but I need to watch it again. He did well. When we had the opportunities, our decision making was not always right, especially in the first half.
“We had made plenty of openings. Overall at 16 years of age it’s convincing what he did.”
