Arsenal are incapable of doing two fundamental things as a team and their attacks have gone stale, according to Gary Neville.
The Gunners were left simmering after only emerging from their trip to Manchester United with a 1-1 draw, despite having the lion’s share of chances and possession.
Mikel Arteta stormed out of his post-match interview when asked about his team’s title challenge after the draw left them 15 points behind Liverpool.
It has been an injury-ridden season for Arsenal and they were again forced to field Mikel Merino as a makeshift striker, but Neville came down harshly in his post-match assessment.
‘Arsenal can’t counter-attack, and when they have the ball in possession in the final third, they can’t really innovate and play through,’ he blasted on the Gary Neville Podcast on Sunday.
‘So, the three ways you score goals in games – set-pieces they’ve been pretty good at, weren’t that great today but set-pieces they’ve been doing well on – the other two areas that you mainly score goals from are when you are in possession dominating the game as a top team, or when you’re counter-attacking and can really go quickly.
Arsenal cannot counter-attack or penetrate with innovation in the final third, says Gary Neville
The Gunners were forced to settle for a 1-1 draw with Manchester United after another frustrating match in front of goal, with plenty of squandered opportunities
Neville slammed the Gunners as ‘predictable’ and ‘safe’ after another challenging match
‘They find themselves always having to come back and recycle and play it across the field.
‘Predicable. Safe. They’re doing a good job at times but they need players who can interact with each-other and quicken up play in the final third. That’s what top players do.
‘Liverpool are better in the final third than them and the attacking metrics show that.
‘Arsenal are very good defensively, even though I thought United had three or four big chances in the second half, but they still only conceded one goal through their goalkeeper and back four.’
Arsenal were the toast of Europe just five days earlier as they romped to a 7-1 win over PSV in Eindhoven in the Champions League.
That was the most Arsenal had scored in a match since their 7-3 win victory over Newcastle in December 2012, and afterwards, pundits felt they had turned a corner.
‘Do they need a striker? I’m not so quite sure,’ Theo Walcott purred on TNT Sports.
Daniel Sturridge chimed in: ‘We talked about PSV giving it a go, but Arsenal were like, we’re putting these to bed, it’s time to go to sleep. They had that killer instinct, weren’t showboating or overly confident.
Their dull showing comes after their 7-1 smashing of PSV, which many saw as a turning point
Neville says this season is a ‘problem’ for Arsenal because they should have challenged more
‘They were fluid, created so many chances, it was a professional performances.’
That night was pitched as a turning point after Arsenal had gone two games without scoring and Arteta saw it as such.
‘It’s obviously given us a lot of joy, confidence and belief. In football, it’s not what we did three days ago or today, it’s going to be what we do tomorrow,’ he said.
However, Arsenal are now facing the same questions over their attack with Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz, and Gabriel Jesus all out injured.
This is not the first time Neville has ripped into them. Just last month, after they lost 1-0 at home to West Ham, he said: ‘Arsenal have become quite rigid, quite turgid to watch at times.
‘This obsession with set-pieces overtaking the whole game, exacerbated by the presence of the set-piece coach (Nicolas Jover) on the touchline and it puts more focus on set-pieces.
‘And it’s like, no, I think the freedom has gone a little bit from them.
‘And I know that they’ve lost (Bukayo) Saka, (Gabriel) Jesus, and (Kai) Havertz, which are big blows and that is a big problem for Arsenal, but I still feel they have to do the job against West Ham at home.
Neville has previously criticised the interference of Arsenal’s set-piece coach Nicolas Jover
Mikel Arteta has had to contend with an injury crisis, but Arsenal could have brought players in in January
‘It’s a defence but then you’ve got to plan for it. I know they didn’t want to do business in the January transfer window – they thought there wasn’t quite the value in the market or they couldn’t get the player that would come in and impact them.
‘But they have left themselves short, there’s no doubt about that, and they’ve fallen short. Even without players you’ve mentioned they still have to do that job.
‘The last two seasons they’ve gone very close and I’ve had a lot of admiration, felt you’ve gone very close.
‘This season is more of a problem than the last two, because when City weren’t going to be there, the team that had to be there were Arsenal in my mind, because of their growth and how close they were getting.
‘It’s not going to be them, it doesn’t look like, and that’s the big shock and surprise, and I think that’ll be the one that will hit hardest in the board room, and (with) Mikel Arteta, and the dressing room and the player, because they’re desperate to win a title there and they felt like they were inching nearer. It’s a blow.
‘Yesterday (Saturday), look, it can happen, and they might say Liverpool are doing well, but Liverpool have dropped points in these last eight games, Liverpool have drawn two in the last three, they’ve drawn four in their last eight (before the Man City win) – Arsenal have had a chance to get back closer. They could have gone within five points.
‘It’s a really big blow. Questions will start to be asked because, a little bit like that Leicester season when a couple of the teams didn’t win it, you start to ask questions of those teams, saying, “hang on a minute, Leicester went and won it.” It’s that type of season where it’s up for grabs.’
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