Arsene Wenger has described the team that made a disastrous start to the Premier League campaign as “too nice” and lacking a competitive edge.
Arsenal crashed 2-0 at home to West Ham at the Emirates in one of the shock results of the opening day.
And that came despite fielding a starting XI featuring 10 internationals with 515 caps between them.
Wenger was also able to bring on two more international stars – Chile’s Copa America hero Alexis Sanchez and England regular Theo Walcott.
But they were outfought by a West Ham outfit featuring 16-year-old Reece Oxford – and Wenger said: “Sometimes, we are maybe too nice.
“If you want to say our aggressive level last Sunday was not big enough, then I would agree with you.”
The result and the performance were all the more surprising considering Arsenal’s build-up: a 6-0 humbling of leading French outfit Olympique Lyon and an impressive 1-0 win over champions Chelsea in the Community Shield.
That gave the Gunners confidence – maybe too much.
“It is maybe linked to the fact that we were too confident and thought we could win anyway,” said Wenger.
Arsenal now face a testing afternoon against revitalised Crystal Palace.
Wenger may decide to juggle his team in the wake of the West Ham result with the place of Nacho Monreal under threat.
Although £10million goalkeeper Petr Cech received criticism for the West Ham goals, Monreal must take his share of the blame for the first as he allowed Chiek Kouyate a free run to head into the net.
That may signal a recall for Kieran Gibbs at left back and Wenger is also giving serious thought to giving Walcott a start.
But he knows no matter what team he selects, they must show more resilience.
“Alan Pardew has done a good job at Palace,” said Wenger. “They will give everything against us. But we always expect that.
“We just need to be at our best and produce a different performance from Sunday.”
Wenger also spoke of what he called the “lost generation” of footballers produced by the academy system in England. “What the academy has corrected is that the training is better structured,” he said.
“A very important thing is the last phase and the integration into the first team and being confronted with top-level competition.
In pictures - Arsenal 0-2 West Ham:
“To integrate very young players into the Premier League becomes more difficult because the level has gone up everywhere and you have no margin any more.
“You have a generation of players who are lost between 18 and 20. When a guy that age doesn’t move forward he loses motivation.”
Wenger believes there is a case for imitating France where players of that age play in Division Three as a reserve team.
“You get competition against adults,” said Wenger. “In England, you have created the Under-21 league. I am not a fan of it because it is not the same as playing in competitive games.”