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Campbell goes Awol
Premiership
Arsenal 2,
West Ham 3
WEST Ham piled on the woe for Gunners fans last night (Wednesday)
as Arsenal plumbed new depths.
Sol Campbell was substituted at half time after making the
gaffs that led to West Ham’s two first half goals.
But afterwards Arsene Wenger downplayed the substitution saying
the defender was “very down”.
He said: “It was better for him personally, it was exceptional
circumstances.
“He was very down, his confidence has not been at its highest,
it was a gamble because we had no defenders on the bench.
“But there was no row when he came off, Sol was just showing
his frustration.”
Arsenal started brightly enough, Robin Van Persie hit the post
and Freddie Ljungberg got in the way of a goal-bound volley
from Thierry Henry.
But the Gunners’ attack faltered and on 25 minutes, Campbell’s
air shot let Nigel Reo-Coker in to nutmeg Arsenal kepper Jens
Lehmann.
Minutes later, Kerrea Gilbert limped off – Arsenal’s
seventh injured full-back.
Campbell was then caught out of position after a charge upfield
and misplaced pass and Bobby Zamora ran through to score.
Henry spared his team’s blushes, deflecting in Robert Pires’
low shot on half time.
Campbell’s schoolboy errors saw him substituted for Seb
Larsson, with Philippe Senderos switching to centre back.
Substitute Dennis Bergkamp came close and Henry shaved the post.
But the visitors scored on the counter attack, Matthew Etherington
bundling in a cross on 80 minutes.
Hundreds of home fans walked out at that point and though Arsenal
scored again through Pires, they couldn’t find a third. |
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