Gary Neville says one Arsenal player ‘couldn’t have been any worse’ vs Man United

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Gary Neville has shared his thoughts on Arsenal’s 1-0 win against Manchester United.

There has been a lot of discourse about Arsenal’s victory at Old Trafford after Mikel Arteta’s side earned three points from a poor performance.

A lot of attention has been on Viktor Gyokeres’ struggles against Man United, but the Swedish striker was handed an impossible task alongside a series of underperforming teammates.

Gyokeres is getting a lot of unfair criticism for his display, but in truth, the 27-year-old was one of the better performers on the day.

• READ MORE: Gary Neville says Mikel Arteta made a decision during Man Utd game that actually made Arsenal a lot worse

Gary Neville slams Declan Rice’s performance vs Man United

It wasn’t a game to remember for Arsenal’s forwards, who struggled to create anything during the contest. 

Still, some of Gyokeres’ strengths were noticed, with one advocate of the new signing’s impact on the Arsenal squad being Gary Neville.

Speaking on Sky Sports Monday Night Football, Neville shared his thoughts on the striker, crediting Matthijs de Ligt for keeping Arsenal’s number 14 at bay.

“Gyokeres, I wasn’t actually negative about Gyokeres at all yesterday. I saw some things in that game.

“I thought that De Ligt did well against him. So, I thought De Ligt had a fantastic match, but there were moments where he was a bit uncomfortable with him. He was wrestling with him and I think he’ll do well for Arsenal.”

It wasn’t all positive from Neville’s point of view, however, as the pundit then drew attention to one of the worst performers on the pitch for the Gunners.

“So, Zubimendi didn’t have his best game yesterday, but again, I think he’ll slot in well. Declan Rice couldn’t have been any worse yesterday.”

Rice was incredibly poor against Man United, as Neville noticed, with the midfielder having one of his worst performances in an Arsenal shirt.

Rice caused Arsenal so many problems 

One game into the new season, and there are already concerns about Rice and Martin Zubimendi’s partnership.

Naturally, the duo will need time to adapt to each other, but Rice isn’t doing his new midfield partner any favours by performing so poorly at Old Trafford. 

There’s no doubt that the England international will turn things around, which he needs to do promptly, given how integral he is to Arteta’s squad.

There was no cohesion between defence and attack, making Arsenal abhorrently poor in transition, an area in which Rice normally thrives.

The 26-year-old was seen leaving Zubimendi stranded at the base of midfield countless times, causing an imbalance in the middle, but his sacrifice contributed to very little going forward.

It was a match to learn from for Rice, who must do a lot better against Leeds United to better support his Spanish counterpart.