Arsène Wenger said Arsenal had “killed” themselves with the defensive lapses which helped West Ham United to a shock 2-0 win at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday lunchtime. The Arsenal manager did not pull any punches when he assessed his team’s performance, saying that they were not convincing at the back or up front, slow and lacklustre with their passing and, in terms of physical conditioning, second best to West Ham, who were deserved winners.
But it was the concessions that particularly infuriated Wenger, with the goalkeeper, Petr Cech, who was making his Arsenal debut, at fault on each occasion. Cech came for and missed the free-kick that Cheikhou Kouyaté headed home in the 43rd minute and he was slow to get down and across to Mauro Zárate’s low shot on 57 minutes.
Wenger refused to single out Cech and blamed a collective breakdown for the first goal, which served to shape an afternoon to forget for Arsenal. He said he knew his team might be in trouble from Dimitri Payet’s free-kick simply because their defensive line had been too high.
“The way we conceded the goal just before half-time, with the experience that we have in our team – it’s difficult to understand,” Wenger said. “It was a collective lapse. There are many things to say about that. I knew that if the delivery was good, we would be in trouble, even before the free-kick was taken. The concentration was not completely there on the set piece, the organisation was not perfect. The positional play – we were too far from our goal. We gave him [Kouyaté] too much distance to run into. We killed ourselves.”
It was put to Wenger that Cech, a £10m summer signing from Chelsea, was supposed to provide that organisation. “It’s not only him,” Wenger replied. “We have enough experience at the back. If you look at our backline, the youngest one is 29. I haven’t spoken to Cech. I can’t see many convincing individual performances today. It’s difficult to single one player out.”
Wenger was asked whether Christophe Lollichon, the goalkeeper coach who worked with Cech at Chelsea and remains at Stamford Bridge, would be coming to Arsenal, as has been suggested. The question irked him. “When you are a professional football player, you face your responsibilities and not always look at something else,” he said. “Today, we have to look at ourselves and think that we were not good enough and not think that these kind of things are solutions for us. We were not good enough, we were not convincing and that’s basically it. And West Ham played well. Congratulations to them.
“Going forward and defending, we were not convincing and we were punished. On top of that, we gave two very cheap goals away. And at the wrong moments, just before half-time and just after half-time. We were not convincing, not agile, not quick. Our passing was too slow and not incisive enough.
“West Ham looked sharper than us, more advanced in their preparation than us. We were a bit nervous and we rushed a bit our game. We didn’t respect the basics. We wanted to be too quick going forward in the first half. I don’t think we were too confident. I would rather say too nervous.”
It was the perfect start for Slaven Bilic to his Premier League managerial career at West Ham and he could revel in a series of positive factors, including the performance of the 16-year-old, Reece Oxford, in defensive midfield.
“It’s a great result, a great performance,” Bilic said. “This is the best proof that we are doing something right – to get something on paper, three points. It’s a great start but it’s only a start. Reece is definitely going to be a big player, because he has everything. We have to manage him. We want him to stay on the ground and progress.”
Wenger was asked whether he would look to make any further signings before the transfer window closes. “If an exceptional solution turns up, we do it,” he said. “But, after a defeat like this, it’s important not always to think that we take a solution from outside.”