Arsenal bow out of the Carabao Cup in just round 4. After a dominating win against Sheffield United on the weekend, Arsenal fans would have been hoping for the same type of performance against West Ham United in the League Cup.
But we were sadly surprised by the dominance West Ham showed at home, walking away 3-1 winners and knocking Arsenal out of the cup. Arteta made 6 changes from the game against Sheffield United and was hoping to give some lads some needed minutes.
The game started off well for Arsenal, they looked to be on the front foot and had most of the ball, with a few early chances denied from the West Ham keeper and their defence, Arsenal looked to play themselves into the game and were dominating the possession from kick off. But only 16 minutes in West Ham were awarded a corner that was whipped into the box and landed on the head of Ben White who headed it into his own net past Aaron Ramsdale, putting West Ham 1-0 up and in the driving seat.
The first half was filled with plenty of chances, but Arsenal was not clinical enough to get back into the game before the half ended. Walking into the tunnel at half time a goal down, but still very much in the game. But unfortunately, the hope was short lived and West Ham came out in the second half looking up for it and with a lot of energy. Only 5 minutes into the second half they managed to go 2-0 up, after an unbelievable switched ball out from the West Ham defence was whipped out to Muhamad Kudus who some how controlled the ball, dropped his shoulder and slotted the ball through Gabriel’s legs and into the bottom left corner, beating Ramsdale.
Only 10 minutes later, West Ham looked to put the nail in Arsenal’s coffin and a ball was crossed into the Arsenal box from the wing and was cleared but only went as far as Jarrad Bowen who was waiting to pounce, Bowen took a shot from outside the box that deflected off Jacob Kiwior’s hip, hit Ramsdale’s flailing arms and into the back of the net, putting his side 3-0 up and out of distance for Arsenal to get back into the game.
In the dying seconds of the game, recently substituted Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard managed to slip one past the West Ham keeper to minimize the damage and the game ended 3-1.
A poor performance from the Arsenal lads and maybe some blame lands on Arteta for all the changes and maybe underestimating West Ham’s resolve to win Cup competitions. Paired with the fact their star boy Declan Rice was returning to his old club for the first time since joining Arsenal, it looked to be a cup final to West Ham and they certainly wanted it more than us.
A disappointing result but that’s football, we now focus on the League, The Champions League and The FA Cup. A tough one to swallow for Arteta and his squad, but we move forward to our games against Newcastle United on the weekend.
What’s your thoughts Gooners? Was it just a bad day at the office that is unlikely to be repeated?
Daisy Mae
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What went wrong?
Midfield
Havertz- has no impact (all season)
Vieira is weak physically and is brushed aside
Jorginho- slow, no forward momentum
Attack
Nketiah- does it against low low sides only
Trossard- an impact sub only
Nelson- ditto for 5 years.
In short
Lousy team selection
Even shorter
Arteta
SPOT ON!
Silentstan
Perfectly worded, and to the point.
Havertz has been a massive letdown, Vieira should be on loan or in the gym, and Jorghino completes a weak midfield.
We don’t have a striker who is a consistent goal threat (Jesus or Nketiah) and scoring goals wins matches, not running around and pressing.
Nothing.
Firstly,you have to give credit to West Ham. They had a game plan which they executed brilliantly. They allowed as to keep the ball as was expected,soaking pressure and hit us on the counter whenever they had the chance. We did well enough in the first half but they managed to be ahead through the controversial Ben White OG which could well have been ruled out had there been VAR-Ramsdale was clearly fouled.
That said,the game was won in the second half. I feel like their midfield outperformed ours after half time. I think their midfield had physicality whereas ours lacked that. Our midfield was also unbalanced imo. You can’t really blame the coach or the players on our midfield being lightweight and unbalanced because there really were no options. Rice was not an option because he needed the rest(Odegaard too), that leaves just Elneny. Perharps a midfield of Elneny,Jorginho and one of Viera/Havertz would have been more balanced but I think Elneny wasn’t considered fit enough to start. With that midfield,therefore, defeat was always going to be a possibility,as long as West Ham fielded their strongest possible side, which they did. We also missed the pressing of Odegaard.
Some have been blaming the forwards,but forwards can’t do much if the midfield is unbalanced or dysfunctional. We all saw,for instance,how even Haaland struggled in the games City missed their midfield enforcer Rodri. If we had Partey,our chances of winning would have been much better. With the options we had,losing was a possibility. I think that lose highlights the need for another strong,pacy midfield enforcer. I’m not sure we can depend on Partey,Jorginho and Elneny anymore-for various reasons.In a nutshell,to answer your question, nothing went wrong per se. Simply,the better,more balanced team on the day won.
Great comments. An understated, quick strong midfielder is required to regain the ball and be a simple passer is required in January. That midfield trio is never going to win any game together unfortunately. Partey is a massive loss for us.
Well said Onyango.The match highlighted how much we missed Rice and Partey and I am pretty sure Arteta , his support team and scouts will be aware of the urgent need to strengthen our central midfield area.Like you ,I feel the criticism of our front three was over the top, and indeed, I thought Nelson did well for someone who has hardly kicked a ball in a competitive match this season.