Baffling Defeat at West Ham shows Arsenal’s problems haven’t gone away

This game showed a reality of our squad that the Sheffield United game masked. We don’t create enough chances. I don’t buy the whole ‘we’ve sacrificed this for more contro’l, did it look to you like we were controlling the game? It’s not just this game, it’s been this the entire season.

Our goal difference is basically made of the Bournemouth and Sheffield games. Eddie Nketiah is not good enough. I don’t care about the hat-trick, we needed a new striker, yet because he’s Mikel’s favourite he played 80+ minutes.

The truth is we haven’t replaced Xhaka. There’s a position in this side (the left 8th) which nobody wants to take, or they aren’t good enough. We haven’t replaced Partey either. He’s the one player who makes our transition work. I love Rice and he’s been probably our most consistent player this season, but there’s a glaring issue going forward. There’s an awful lack of ideas.

I think there are a few players resting on their laurels – Ben White was absolutely shocking. We should’ve subbed him for Tomi instead of Zinny. He hasn’t been great all season. I think he’s part of the reason why Saka’s form has gone down.

Speaking of wingers, there’s an alarming lack of cover for Saka and Martinelli and if they are poor our attack is screwed. Imagine if we signed Moussa Diaby instead of wasting 65 million on Kai Havertz. All the people who called for Ramsdale, the guy was utterly shocking, especially that 3d goal.

Odegaard has been poor, not that he was particularly involved in this match, but why’s the manager even bothering bringing him on? If you wanna win, do it at half time. Give him a chance to make an impact. We got an immediate warning early in the second and subs were late again.

I enjoyed how we played last year. There was an energy and purpose to our attack which has evaporated this season. Zinchenko was horrible again. You can bet Tomi will start at Newcastle, but boy we’re in for a hammering there if the performance is similar.

Their reserve squad is winning 2-0 at half time at Old Trafford. I am seriously worried. We’ve gone backwards this season. We’ve resorted back to Jorginho who I honestly thought was one of our better players. But we’re playing him because Partey is out again.

Partey and Jesus are 2 fantastic players, who unfortunately can’t stay fit and we need an upgrade. I know we’ve been unlucky with injuries, e.g. Timber looked a real player, but the manager had to recognise the fitness issues and address certain positions.

We had enough in the first half to produce a goal. If we had a better striker maybe? Then why did we drop so much in the second, and why were the subs so late? I’m worried that this manager cannot motivate the players.

This cup with City and Spurs out of it was a trophy well worth looking at. We’ve bombed ties against Olympiacos, Villarreal, Benfica, all ties where we are the favourites. Last season when the title looked so close, we couldn’t handle it.

To win in this country in this day and age takes the closest to perfection there is. When City rotate players, I expect them to win. They lost Gundogan and Mahrez and everyone still thinks they are the best team.

We shouldn’t be so overreliant on certain players. More worryingly, we’re missing the spark from last year. I know we didn’t win it, but I was excited. There was something about us, which I just don’t see this season after 200 million spent.