Having beaten Chelsea in the Community
Sheifld curtain raiser last week, many were tipping Arsene Wenger side as
genuine contenders for the Premier League
title.
But the Gunners’ new campaign got off to the worst
imaginable start, as a series of errors saw London rivals West Ham claim a 2-0 victory at the Emirates
Stadium.
Wenger criticised his team’s 'collective lapse' against the
Hammers, with new goalkeeper Peter Cech in particular enduring a
debut to forget in the Gunners net.
And Graham, who won two First Division titles in his time
charge of Arsenal, believes their star players let the club down with a timid
performance.
“I was really disappointed and very surprised by Arsenal,”
he told the Alan Brazil
Sports Breakfast.
“Their pre-season form had been excellent and I thought,
‘right, let’s go at West Ham.’ But it amazed me that after the first 20
minutes, both sides had 50 per cent possession - when does an away team come to
the Emirates and get that sort of possession? Very, very rarely.
"I was really surprised Arsenal didn’t press the ball
and put West Ham under pressure, and maybe that just shows you the lack of
leadership at the club.
"I didn’t see anyone get a grip of the game.
"Arsenal have some brilliant players, but Ozil was very
quiet - you never really saw him - and Santi Cazorla was on the left wing in the first
half and he doesn’t like laying there.
“You’re looking for your big names, your big players, to
perform, and they didn’t do that yesterday.”
No comments:
Post a Comment