Former Arsenal Manager, George Graham has attributed the gunners’ opening game defeat to a lack of leadership at the club. Graham, who led Arsenal to two league titles during his tenure as the club’s manager, singled out Mesut Ozil for criticism after West Ham secured a deserved victory at Emirates Stadium.
“There is a lack of leadership at the club,” Graham told talkSPORT. “I don’t see anyone get a grip. Ozil was very quiet, we never really saw him. I expect more from him and boss games.
“[Santi] Cazorla was on the left wing in the first half and he doesn’t like playing there. You are looking for the big names to perform, but they just didn’t do it. I was very disappointed and very, very surprised. Their preseason form has been excellent and I thought let’s go at them right from the first 20 minutes.
“Yet after 25 minutes, both sides had 50 percent possession. When does the away team have that at the Emirates? We saw the normal good passing movements at times, but that came late on when the game was almost finished. You would like to think it is a blip and they will go on a run and climb into the top two or three positions. Before the season started, they were one of the favourites to win it and they still can do that. Let’s wait until October and then we can see where we are.”
Petr Cech struggled on his Arsenal debut as he was singled out on both of West Ham’s goals, but Graham, who also lost at home to the Hammers during his reign, felt the shot-stopper’s defence was at fault for the second strike by Mauro Zarate.
“He made a decision to come early on the first goal and he never got there,” Graham added. “When you make that decision, you have to get there. It was a big mistake, his fault. “The second one, I have some sympathy for him because [Laurent] Koscielny stood back and invited the guy to have a shot from 20 yards. I thought he was a bit blinded by Koscielny as well. “Cech has been used to playing with defenders at Chelsea who close the ball down and there is no better player at doing that than John Terry. Two Arsenal defenders stood back and asked the West Ham player to have a shot and they paid the price.”