Former Arsenal star Perry Groves condemns West Ham player Konstantinos Mavropanos' mistake in Fulham goal
Former Arsenal star Perry Groves believes Konstantinos Mavropanos committed a “cardinal sin” with his West Ham mistake against Fulham.
In the first ten minutes in east London, Hammers Defender Mavropanos tried to knock down and control a Alex Iwobi Long ball.
However, the center back deflected his first touch and fell into the path of Andreas Pereira who shortly after shot Fulham.
Mavropanos had an attacking player behind him, but opted to pass the ball over the goal, causing his team to concede.
Speaking on The Sunday Session on talkSPORT, former Arsenal The Groves man was quick to criticize the Greek's defense.
“I'm old school, should your centre-half try to get the ball into his own 18-yard box?
“The ball comes from Iwobi on the right, reaches Mavropanos, passes the laces, takes a firm lateral foot and takes it out of the six-yard box.
“He doesn't even realize that Pereira is behind him, so when he touches the ball it goes back across the goal. Another cardinal sin is not putting the ball back into your own goal.”
Then he added: “It's shocking to defend Mavropanos.”
West Ham could have gone ahead in the early moments, but Michail Antonio shot from inside the area.
The Hammers are looking to respond to their 2-0 Europa League quarter-final loss to Bayer Leverkusen on Thursday night.
European qualification is still up for grabs for David Moyes' side, but their current position in eighth place leaves them with work to do.