Jamie O’Hara and Jason Cundy clash on talkSPORT over West Brom 6-0 defeat v Arsenal
Jamie O’Hara and Jason Cundy clashed on talkSPORT on Wednesday night as they disagreed on Arsenal’s 6-0 win over West Brom at The Hawthorns in the Carabao Cup.
Albion were knocked out of the competition with ease by the Gunners as Valerien Ismael opted to name what was effectively an Under-23s line-up which also had a few senior players like Adam Reach, Robert Snodgrass and Kenneth Zohore.
Mikel Arteta, who’s under major pressure at the Emirates, named a very strong line-up and it was no shock that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored a hat-trick in a side that also featured Bukayo Saka, Nicolas Pepe and Martin Odegaard.
O’Hara claimed after the game that Arteta had proven some of his critics wrong with the big win over the Baggies but Cundy wasn’t having it.
“I’ve been hammering them and I think tonight (Wednesday) showed actually they’ve got something about them,” O’Hara said in a clip as shown on the talkSPORT Twitter account.
Cundy argued back, saying: “Tonight showed us nothing.
“Tonight, we’ve not learned a thing about Arsenal. We haven’t.”
O’Hara clearly disagreed and said: “Come on, Jase.”
Cundy then asked: “Okay, what have we learned?”
Ex-Wolves and Tottenham player O’Hara replied: “They won 6-0. Aubameyang can score hat-tricks, Saka’s lively, Odegaard looked very good.”
Cundy interrupted O’Hara’s ramblings to say: “You know what made me laugh? Aubameyang walking off with the ball reminded me of [Mesut] Ozil when they played the Ludogorets farmers.”
Well done, you beat a bunch of kids
Arsenal fans really shouldn’t be pleased with seeing their side beat what was effectively a Championship club’s Under-23s side.
Albion’s Under-23s were poor in Premier League 2 last season with the academy completely torn apart in recent years with staff members and players moving on.
It was always going to be a tough ask for the players to do anything against such a strong Arsenal side and the defeat itself lies at the feet of Ismael.
He could have named a stronger starting line-up than he did but was the Frenchman potentially sending a message to the board saying, ‘look, I need new players because this is my second-best starting line-up’?
West Brom signed Jordan Hugill on loan from Norwich prior to kick off on Wednesday but he’s unlikely to be a regular starter.
Matt Clarke is injured for up to six weeks, leaving Ismael very short of options in his squad.
Albion need three or four new signings at least before the window closes on Tuesday.
In other West Brom news, Kevin Phillips claims this player would be an “amazing coup” if they sign him on loan before the deadline.
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