Arsenal players ignored my warning about West Ham before Carabao Cup defeat – Mikel Arteta

In the aftermath of Arsenal’s Carabao Cup exit on Wednesday evening, Mikel Arteta expressed his disappointment, believing that his players disregarded his cautionary words about the threat posed by West Ham.

The Gunners were eliminated from the competition as David Moyes’ squad emerged as deserving winners at the London Stadium.

West Ham took the lead with Ben White’s unfortunate own goal, followed by goals from Mohammed Kudus and Jarrod Bowen in the second half, securing their victory.

Although Martin Odegaard managed a late consolation goal for Arsenal, the team lacked the necessary sharpness and physicality.

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Arteta, acknowledging his responsibility for the defeat, revealed that he had emphasized to his players the importance of ‘competing’ with West Ham before the match.

‘I’m very disappointed with the result and the performance, and I’m responsible for that,’ Arteta said.

‘I tried to warn them for 48 hours that today was about how you’re going to compete in these games, and in the Carabao Cup away from home, we haven’t done that well enough.

‘Obviously, the game started pretty well for us, we had total control, but the goal changes a lot of things, and even though I didn’t think it was a goal, it’s not an excuse for the rest of the performance.

‘For sure, we have to use the pain that we’ve felt today to make sure that we’re on our best again on Saturday because that’s what’s going to be required to win.

‘But it’s also a good experience to feel the pain and when we’re not at our best, the performance has to be very different compete and to earn the right to win the game.’

When asked if the absence of Rice and Saliba had a big impact on Arsenal’s lack of physicality, Arteta said: ‘Obviously there are different players that bring something different to the table but it’s not about that, it’s about a lot of simple things that we didn’t do well at all today.

‘Some of them were competing, some were duels, 50-50s, but a lot of giveaways we have in areas that we didn’t allow us in any moment to be a threat in the final third and that’s something we have to improve dramatically from today.’

When asked if Arsenal’s fringe players had suffered a missed opportunity by struggling against West ham, Arteta replied: ‘You have to be fair on the players,

‘Some players haven’t had that many minutes, it wasn’t to do it straight away in the first game, in a different conversation surrounded by players that haven’t started is not a fair assessment.

‘But that’s something that is further from the assessment is about doing certain things that have to be required to win a football match, especially when you play away from home against West Ham, and today we haven’t done that good enough.’