Paul Merson has reacted to Arsenal’s 3-3 draw against West Ham today.
The Gunners came from three goals down to earn a point against David Moyes’ side.
The Hammers raced into a three-goal lead with some assistance from Arsenal’s poor defending.
But the Gunners showed a lot of character to get back in the game and it delighted some of their fans.
The Arsenal they want to see is the team that rallied back to get a point from the game, but the Arsenal of the first half is always lurking in the background.
Merson says the game shows that there are two sides to their game and they have to consistently perform as they did in the second half if they want to get into the top four.
He slammed them for being too inconsistent and says no one should play for Arsenal if they defend as the Gunners did at the start of the match.
He said after the match via Mail Sport: ‘That was Arsenal’s season in 90 minutes. One minute they’re poor, one minute they’re good.
‘They’re so inconsistent. It’s like a rollercoaster, Arteta’s got to sort that out if they want to be successful next season.
‘It’s unacceptable if you’re playing for Arsenal to start like that, or if you’re playing in the Premier League.
‘Fair play to them, they showed a lot of spirit to come back, but it’s the consistency – if they want to finish in the Champions League places they can’t play 45-minute football.’
Well said, but we need to be factual. These guys had a grueling game on Thursday. Whilst our opponent had all the time to prepare.
I’m not buying that. Only 5 (?) started that game. It was at home and 3 days to prepare should be ample. They are professionals!!!
We always seem to waste the first half and come out all gung-ho in the second. Why? This has been going on for far too long!!
Too true, Sue.
That’s what you have a squad for, plenty of options for Arteta to rotate. It was embarrassing the first 30 mins, dreadful defending and without a strong defense we will win nothing.
I’m very disappointed with the 3:3 tie, but very happy with the courageous effort displayed by the team to recover from such a disastrous start – yet again. This has been a major cause for concern, all season long. Something must be wrong with our pre-game routines.
Paul Merson knows what it means to play for Arsenal with strong leadership in the team. Players like Adams, Keown, Bergkamp and Wright wouldn’t have accepted that first half performance.
True, nobody should accept that performance first or second half, we shouldn’t be that far apart in performance, there are obvious problems with the set up and its not good enough for a club like Arsenal.