Arsenal were on the receiving end of a major cup shock on Tuesday evening as they were dumped out of the Capital One Cup by Sheffield Wednesday following a thumping 3-0 defeat at Hillsborough, and Arsene Wenger is not happy with his squad’s young players.
While the Gunners fielded an unfamiliar line up, they still boasted a side full of internationals with the likes of Petr Cech, Mathieu Debuchy, Per Mertesacker and Mathieu Flamini all starting for the Gunners.
Olivier Giroud led the line, with Nigeria international Alex Iwobi alongside him.
Arsenal were dealt a blow when both Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and his replacement Theo Walcott were removed with injuries inside the first 20 minutes, but their woes truly started on 27 minutes when Ross Wallace opened the scoring for the home side.
Lucas Joao made it 2-0 before the break, and Sam Hutchinson added a third from close range soon after half time.
Arsenal, who were disjointed and lacking conviction, managed only two shots on target during a truly miserable showing.
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Speaking to Sky Sports after the match, Gunners boss Wenger admitted that the side’s young players were not ready for the clash with the Championship side.
“It was too much for them,” the coach began. “They are not ready to play at this level, none of them.”
The coach also highlighted the injuries suffered by the England pair as the real negative to take from the evening.
“It was a bad night for us because we lost two important players in the first part of the game,” he continued. “After that we were not at the level needed to play a team of the quality of Sheffield Wednesday.”