After Mikel Arteta fought back against the claim that Arsenal should release a meek “handbrake” with a “dominant” display in a 1-1 draw with Manchester City, Jamie Carrager exposed the gunners manager retort for nonsense.
Arsenal needed a final gasp equalizer from Gabriel Martinelli to save the Emirates’ points on Sunday.
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The Gunners boss responded by passing the lineup and chose the player who proved that his XI was willing to attack in his opinion. But Carragher doesn’t have it.
“(Arteta) started out as a goalkeeper, saying, “I have the most offensive goalkeeper in the league,” Carragher said on the stick on the soccer podcast.
“Then he mentioned something about his fullback and I thought ‘That’s not right’ because his fullback is centre-back. I played back four under Gerald Holier, which was four centre-backs. That’s not too far from what Arsenal has.
“He’s then mentioned (Martin) Zubimendi. Last season he talked about the wide player who was moving forward last season.
“I can understand that he’s protecting himself and not listening to critics, but I thought he hopes that he’s not doubling what he said there to his coaching staff and players.
“I’m not sure they’re stacked up on proving that they’re really an offensive team because it’s something he actually said. The team is in front of you.”
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I’m sure most Arsenal fans will prefer Ebelech Eze’s performance. Perhaps one of Ricardo Calafioli’s four centre-backs, Gabriel Martinelli, is Gabriel Martinelli after a game-changing impact from the bench that beats the Champions League athletic club.
But it’s not the assumption of critics that they’re so pleased with Gary Neville, acting as their spokesman to air the complaints, nor is it the assumption of critics that all 70,000 fans in the Emirate who went to the bathroom that scored with Martinelli at the time of the suspension were so frustrated by his approach to the game.
“I don’t think that 60 or 70,000 Arsenal fans in the stadium are wrong how they feel. I don’t think that we were in the studio or watching on TV at home are wrong,” Neville said.
“The big thing for me is the players, he named that team on Friday afternoon and he puts in Ez, Martinelli and he puts in Torosad and excludes Merino.
“He may have been attacking more at Anfield, but not. He may have been attacking more at the city.
“I regret this if he doesn’t start taking the handbrake. He has players who need to play in these games, so I’ll repeat my comments about handbrake. I can’t look back at the end of the season and say, “I’ve lost five points in these two games and I could choose more offensive teams.”
