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Back for the new 2015/16 season with a bang here's this week's OV coming live, direct and angry from North London...

"We should be grateful that we've had our optimism absolutely shat on at the very start. Get rid of foolish title hopes and settle down for our perrenial top four scrap. We've got a whole season of the same old shit to come. The team bought into their own hype and took West Ham for granted, who were brilliantly drilled and fit enough to close us down every time we were on the ball. There was a reason Cech lost his place at Chelsea and we've been reminded why very quickly."
- Kano

"Man for man we have a far better team than West Ham. We had more than enough talent on that pitch to win that game comfortably yesterday. Unfortunately, yesterday showed that mentally we are still a long long way off. We just aren't professional enough, and there's always an excuse. [Like] Wenger saying yesterday that West Ham were fitter and more ready than us because they have had a couple of competitive matches.

They are paid vast sums of money to do a very privileged job. They should have been absolutely raring to go yesterday, they came out literally like it was a kick about in the park. It's only one game of course, but it's still a massive blow. To lose a home game against West Ham. From the evidence, I just don't think we've learnt any lessons from where we've gone wrong the last few years."
- goonerwarsh

"I've taken the trouble to watch that absolute dross of a performance again. Our lack of midfield control was our downfall. Bilic have the beating of us. I thought West Ham set up pretty well today, like how his Besiktas side troubled us last season. Payet was incredibly impressive and intelligent the entire match, he will be a revelation for West Ham."
- Cirnc

"I didn't see a lack of effort on Sunday. I saw an opponent with a detailed game plan combined with a couple of errors that swung a game in their favour. If we play West Ham 10 times, we win nine.

Each and every West Ham player on the pitch knew his job in and out of possession. With Arsenal, Wenger tends to set out his side based on whether the last game was a win or not. It doesn't matter how many individuals you have that are better than the opposition, if you are not prepared for them tactically and physically, your technique and one-twos count for nothing."
- Big Poppa

At one point we had Ramsey, Ozil, Cazorla, Chamberlain, Giroud, Walcott and Alexis on the pitch - and we were unable to score a damn goal at home against West Ham! Then you have one of the best GKs in the world in Petr Cech and he makes an error which leads to a West Ham's first goal. The lack of urgency we displayed at the second goal was horrific."
- Proof



"I think we'll challenge for the title. I'm not going to overreact after one game, that's the media's job. By all accounts Chelsea were pretty rubbish and could have lost, they got lucky with a deflected goal. [Manchester] Utd were rubbish too and only won because of an own goal. We were actually pretty decent, we had 'one of those days' in front of goal and, of course, their 'keeper was excellent. West Ham only had two shots on target all day and scored both (how often does that happen against us?)"
- Letters

"The Hammers were playing a diamond meaning the middle was going to be congested whilst leaving us space on the wings, when the player was free wide the ball carrier would refuse to play a quick pass into their feet even when they were in acres of space which is just inexplicable. Also this talk about Oxford shutting Ozil down is nonsense, Ozil was neutralized by West Ham's shape not one player marking him. We had chances we should converted, we failed to, West Ham converted, they retreated, making it harder for us to penetrate, they score another goal, GG.

The diamond is an absolute bitch to play against, remember Dortmund having similar sorts of problems to us against Juventus. It's even a bitch formation to go against on FM, just overloads the middle defensively and offensively, overwhelming your centre backs."
- BobP

"I'm giving all our players a pass for this performance. It would be unfair to single someone out because all of them were fucking awful.

"On the crowd today. It was if we expected to just walk over West Ham as if it was nothing. We forget we need to back our team. The crowd today was so flat and just 'expected' to win and thought 'this is like playing FIFA and the best team just win'. It was bad enough the players and Wenger badly underestimated West Ham but the crowd did as well, it's like we all collectively got what we deserved, a reality check. For me it's almost as if we as fans are becoming more and more divorced from football and we are starting to look at the players as if they are robots like we view players on FIFA."
- elkanofan

"We can point the blame at Cech, Ramsey, Ozil, Coq etc but the main problem for the team is one man - Arsene Wenger. You cannot blame lack of money for the horrible formation and team tactics he has been putting out for nearly a decade. The same shit has happened every season - playing CMs on the wings, not having enough width, buying the same kind of player etc. The billionaire excuse is just stupid now... at some point, you have to just give up and blame the one person who is responsible for the shit you watch."
- fakeyank

"The midfield was appalling today. They were all so square. No movement. Ozil had no movement in front of him and our ball retention was terrible. We didn't work as hard as West Ham and were second to every ball. The defence was sloppy and slow and the keeper looked like a lumbering oaf. All in all? Fucking crap."
- LDG


* Comments originally posted at goonersweb.co.uk, arsenal-mania.com and goonersworld.co.uk

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