Gary Neville believes he knows what Arsenal’s players would’ve been thinking about Mikel Arteta before Sunday’s game against Manchester City at the Emirates.
Arsenal stole a late draw against Pep Guardiola’s men, courtesy of an outstanding 93rd-minute equaliser from Gabriel Martinelli.
The Brazilian ran on to Eberechi Eze’s perfect clipped ball, before delicately lifting it over Gianluigi Donnarumma and into the far corner.
The result leaves Arteta’s side five points behind league leaders Liverpool after five matches, and the Spaniard will no doubt be disappointed by his team’s display.
Gary Neville criticises Mikel Arteta’s team selection vs Man City
Gary Neville was frustrated by Arteta’s approach against Liverpool at Anfield, and the outspoken pundit was similarly bemused by the manager’s choices against City.
Arteta opted to select Mikel Merino in midfield once again, while Leandro Trossard started on the left wing, instead of both Eze and Martinelli.
Eze was introduced at half-time after it became clear that the original eleven that Arteta picked was not going to be able to generate the volume of chances needed to break City down.
Speaking on the Gary Neville podcast, the former Manchester United defender expressed his belief that Arteta’s pragmatic line-up choices would’ve filtered through to the players, who would’ve felt their manager wasn’t ‘going to win’.
“My narrative is Arsenal is thinking, ‘is he going to take the risk, is he going to send his players the message that I am going for it, that I believe in you?'” he said.
“The team sheet comes through and you see that Trossard, who is a very good player, and Merino are on it. I thought the same at Anfield, I can’t help thinking I’m not going to look at what a manager says, I’m going to look at what he does.
“And his actions at half-time were of a manager who, I think, got it wrong. If you’re making two subs at half-time, it’s not gone to plan, and you know that the players you started with are not going to win you the game in all circumstances. So you’ve given away 45 minutes in a big match.
“I think that, talking from my experiences as a player, not as a manager, Mikel Arteta is head and shoulders above me. But I played in a dressing room under a manager who knew how to take risks, and quite simply, the job of a football manager at the absolute top level is to get the most talented players out on the pitch without compromise to defence.
“So that means your best players have to be able to defend, it’s not the other way round. Get your safest players out on the pitch and try and pinch a game, that’s not what you do at a top club.”
Mikel Arteta’s team selection vs Man City was wrong
While Merino was a sensible choice for this game, he ultimately shouldn’t have started.
Neville’s right; the Spaniard’s presence in the starting eleven sent a message to City and his own players that Arteta wasn’t looking to take risks to try and win this game from the start.
However, perhaps the more bemusing choice was starting Trossard over Martinelli or Eze. The Gunners needed a winger who could either make direct runs in behind Abdukodir Khusanov or drive at the Uzbek with the ball.
Trossard’s strengths lie in his combination play, not in his off-the-ball movement or dribbling.
This was the wrong selection on the day and evidently cost Arsenal in an attacking sense. If Eze or Martinelli had been on from the start, the Gunners might have been in a commanding position to win the game late on.
However, Arteta did rectify these decisions to an extent by bringing Martinelli on for Jurrien Timber late on, throwing the kitchen sink at the game. That said, it was too little too late.
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