Banfield Blasts ‘Over-Confident’ Gunners

Arsenal reserve team coach Neil Banfield has branded his players 'over-confident' after a demoralising 4-1 home defeat at the hands of Aston Villa.

The Gunners' team, which contained several players who had demolished Sheffield United in the Carling Cup last week, such as Jack Wilshere and Gavin Hoyte, were taught a lesson of their own against Villa's young charges at Underhill yesterday.

Banfield accused his troops of believing they have 'a divine right to play' and insisted they will learn the hard way if their attitude doesn't improve.

"It was very good play from Aston Villa but I think also a few of our players are a bit blasé, a bit over confident and think they’ve got the divine right to play football and they’ve got their backsides spanked tonight,” said a furious Banfield.

"People talk about having guts and being brave but you’ve got to play. If people put you under pressure you need to be able to cope and deal with that. Fair play to Aston Villa, they closed us down but we’ve got to be able to deal with that.

"I learnt that a few of them think they’re better than they are. We will get on the training ground tomorrow and we’ll start working and hopefully they will take this lesson. To be honest it could have been six or seven tonight.

“They've come out with the wrong attitude. No one's going to allow Arsenal to play football, you’ve got to earn the right to play. If the players won’t deal with it, they wont make the grade."

In a game where scholar Emmanuel Frimpong and Tom Cruise earned their first starts for the team, the Gunners were comprehensively outplayed, with Henri Lansbury's red card capping an awful match for the youngsters.

[Guardian-Series]