Arsène Wenger last night accused his Arsenal players of being “naive” as they slumped to a damaging 2-1 home defeat to Manchester United through a catalogue of defensive errors. With 17 points from 12 matches, it is Arsenal’s worst ever start to a Premier League campaign.
There was further concern for Arsenal with midfielder Jack Wilshere limping off after suffering yet another ankle injury. Wenger feared the injury was serious as Wilshere has a history of such problems, but he still has to be assessed.
Wilshere was fortunate not to be sent off after pushing his head into United midfielder Marouane Fellaini’s face in a first-half clash between the pair. Referee Mike Dean did not even caution Wilshere.
“Defensively we were a bit naive,” Wenger said after Arsenal had gifted United both goals — an own goal by Kieran Gibbs after a mix-up and then a Wayne Rooney strike when Nacho Monreal was exposed to face a counter-attack — and lacked the killer instinct as they squandered chances.
“It is a game that we dominated for 80 per cent of the time and certainly we have not dominated matches against Manchester United like we did today,” Wenger said. “But we were not efficient enough in the final third and they took advantage of it. Their keeper [David De Gea] was the man of the match and that told the story of the game.
“When we were 1-0 down — we made a big mistake on the first goal we were too impatient — and gave a second goal away. I don’t know why we had nobody at the back at all. You can see two versus one in your own half that you will be punished against these players.”
Rooney, the United captain, said he felt the result could kick-start his club’s season.
“We want to build a bit of momentum going into the new year so today was a massive result for us,” he said. “It will give us a lot of confidence and belief and has come at the right time for us.”
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