Hammered at London Stadium

Getting knocked-out of the Carabao Cup is not the worse thing that could happen when compared to disease, war, taxes or losing to Tottenham. However, while watching Wednesday’s performance v West Ham United at times I thought the men in the yellow kits were actually a squad from the fifth tier of English football. So, it might be a big, melodramatic stretch, but this match could possibly join my list of worse things that could happen.

I mean really, that’s the best our second team could muster against the Hammers? It was embarrassing, frustrating and downright difficult to watch. The Gunners lost all battles in this match, everyone, and if not for the determination and hustle of Martin Odegaard in the final moments of the match, Arsenal would have been shut-lout for the first time this season.

I rarely, if never, use these words, however, Ben White, Leandro Trossard, Alex Zinchenko, Fabio Vieira, Eddie Nketiah, Jorginho and Kai Havertz were downright awful and lackadaisical. White needed the rest, and with Takehiro Tomiyasu available, why didn’t Mike Arteta give the Japanese man the start, and give White the day off? Aaron Ramsdale gave it his best shot, but the rust was evident.

There are so many things about this match to discuss, but what good does it really do now? Arsenal has Newcastle United to face on the road in just a few days, and that will be an even bigger test then the one they faced in London Stadium.

Yes, the Gunners were hammered at London Stadium, and it was truly a sh*t show.

Here’s what Arteta told Arsenal.com following the Carabao Cup fiasco, “I’m very disappointed. Obviously I’m responsible for that, we are out of the cup and we wanted to play a very different game, and especially we wanted to compete in a game like this, which we discussed for 48 hours, in a very different way to what we’ve done.  We have tried to put out the team that we believed was the best to try to compete today in the right way to start the game, and the game took a different direction obviously because of the first goal and we can discuss that, but after that we still have to see much more from the team to earn the right to win in a place like this. First of all, there’s disappointment with myself, because obviously I wanted the team to play in a very different way and we haven’t managed to do that and every time that you lose a game, the pain is there and we have to use this pain for Saturday, that’s for sure.”

Look, I know every team has a bad day, but this was more than a bad day, it looked like a total collapse of everything that has become the Arsenal norm. The Carabao Cup is a competition Arsenal could possibly have won this season. Now we will just sit by and claim it means fewer matches to play in an already busy schedule, but that’s not how championship clubs are built. They are built to perform and to compete – every match.

Yes, I’m angry and frustrated, but I will bounce back and be ready for Saturday. Let’s hope the Gunners are ready as well.

COYG!

Gunner1953