The pre-season glow is gone. The Community Shield shimmering lights dimmed. Arsene Wenger has never been good at managing expectations. Remember when he crowed “the quadruple” was on after Arsenal won against Barca in the home game, after which the Gunners abdicated the Carling Cup against Birmingham, crashed out of the FA Cup, lost to Barca away and on aggregate, and meandered to fourth in the league. And so the Gunners came up against the Hammers today in their opener with hype heaped on them as title contenders even before a single pass had been made in regular season.
You could see they thought it would be little less than a stroll in the park. Having Petr Cech in goal was going to give them 12-15 points. Isn’t that what John Terry said?
We can lay the fault for both goals on the former Chelsea goalie. Coming out gangbuster on a free kick with Arsenal playing its usual high line getting hopelessly caught out as Cheikh Kouyate got his head on first and then freezing on the second goal as Mauro Zarate took his chances with a snapshot from distance. But it’s too easy to lay the blame on Cech. On paper an attack with the likes of Olivier Giroud, Mesut Oezil, Santi Cazorla, Aaron Ramsey, Alex Oxlade Chamberlain, should have had the measure of the West Ham defence. But apart from a few half chances, Arsenal never really tested Adrian. The Ox remained the bright spot bustling down the right flank and using his direct style to test Angelo Ogbonna.
Mesut Oezil playing on the left looked like he needed an eternity on the ball. His head in the clouds. Once again, the challenge for Wenger is not to make Oezil play dazzlingly but to just make him just competent when he doesn’t. Because he was slow, slow, slow, and taking the ball from him was easier than …… but you know what I mean. It’s really an art looking knackered and how Oezil does it so well remains a mystery. This was also a match where Cazorla and Ramsey didn’t distinguish themselves. Cazorla was nowhere near sharp with his ball control and Ramsey was once again guilty of trying too hard to resurrect his form from two seasons ago.
Full credit to West Ham and Slaven Bilic for getting their tactics right. Fall back on defence, maintain shape, and make Arsenal go down the middle which they did like men pounding their heads in sand. On counterattacks, the slippery Dmitri Payet and the muscular Mamadou Sakho were thorns, troubling the Arsenal defence with only Koscielny able to keep up with their pace.
Two goals down, Wenger eschewing his usual 70th minute plan B, brought in Walcott earlier in the second half in the hope his pace would allow Cazorla or Oezil to slip in a pass. But too much of the play continued in front of the two banks of four. Winston Reid and James Tompkins put on a clinic. In a sign of desperation, Wenger brought in an undercooked Alexis Sanchez which did up the tempo with the Chilean able to jink his way into the box but his finishing was rusty. The Ox also served Giroud on a plate after a typical swerving run down the flank but the Frenchman’s flick was way off target. Sometimes you wish Giroud would be far more substantial with some meaty potshots at goal rather than the ephemera of flicks and dinks. It looks good when the side is in full flow. On days like this it looks like a salad leave offering when you’re hankering for porterhouse.
The spin on this loss is it came on the first day and hopefully it buries the miasma of hype. Wenger in his post match interview said, “no one looked convincing today”. Not only did they look unconvincing, they look like they had been mugged. It serves as reminder that no opponent in the PL can be taken for granted and there are sides who will replay this match and see enough to derive success. Arsenal two seasons ago had a shocker against Villa and then went on an excellent run. This time with most of the squad bedded in, the excuses are far fewer.
Extended highlights here >>