Don't blame Arsène or Čech. This one was my fault, lads.

Our 2015-16 campaign, the one that's been touted as the best since the Invincibles, has gotten off to a shocking start. After a preseason full of vim, vigor, and victory, we barely showed up to offer West Ham any resistance as they waltzed to an 0-2 win in our own stadium. It would be all too easy to blame Arsène, Čech, or anyone else who was on the pitch on Sunday, but the cold, hard reality is that it's my fault. I dropped the ball. For the first time in ages, I didn't wear my lucky shirt. Forget tactics, formations, set-piece defending, and all the rest. One fan's failure opened the floodgates.

Arsenal 0-2 West Ham: Vote for Player Ratings/MotM

The season has gotten off to a shambolic start as sloppy mistakes allowed West Ham to score two goals, the first when Kouyaté found a seam in our infamous set-piece zonal marking to head one home just before halftime, and the second when Oxlade-Chamberlain conceded possession just outside the area and Zarate's shot confounded Čech. At the other end, we generated plenty of chances but never really tested Adrián in the end. Too many tame shots and waste chances. Let's remind ourselves that it's just one match. Not much comfort that, to be honest, but enough to help a few of us climb down off the ledge. Give the lads what they deserve in the poll below...

Ten minutes of stoppage time?

As it turns out, we can't complain or point fingers. Skrtel had a bloody head wound, and it seems only fitting that the man beaten by Debuchy for one headed goal should find himself free and clear to head home the second in the stoppage earned through his own injury. Call it karma or poetic justice; one thing we'll have to agree on calling it was shoddy, shoddy defending.

Tactical Analysis: Set-pieces, zonal marking, and counter-attacks

As we prepare for Galatasaray on Wednesday and look to Chelsea on Sunday, a palpable sense of dread hovers in the air. But for a few inches on Saturday, a sharply driven header from Mertesacker would have bathed him and glory and perhaps won us the NLD. It was one bright spot in a match full of headaches, namely, how often we tried to head in. Fifteen corner kicks.Why do we do it? Why, when we bemoan our own vulnerability in conceding from set-pieces on our end, do we insist on trying to score from them at the other end? It's high-time that we set aside this silly set-piece situation and attack with greater purpose—which will allow us to defend in greater depth along the way.