Gary Neville had a lot of feedback for Mikel Arteta after Arsenal’s shock defeat to Manchester United.
Michael Carrick beat Arteta’s Arsenal in 2021 and, upon returning to Man United in a second temporary role, he repeated history.
It’s back to the drawing board for the Gunners, who were unable to get the job done when all eyes were on them.
Arteta’s tactics were a problem for Arsenal’s attack, but, in the manager’s defence, when things weren’t working, he changed his team ahead of schedule.
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Gary Neville questioned Mikel Arteta’s substitutions against Man United
One ongoing complaint Arsenal fans have of Arteta is how late he can be to make substitutions.
Against Man United, this wasn’t the case, as after just 58 minutes, he hooked Gabriel Jesus, Martin Odegaard, Piero Hincapie and Martin Zubimendi.
The changes were unsurprising to fans, as the four players were very poor against United; however, Gary Neville wasn’t entirely sold on the stars Arteta selected to come on.
“He threw the kitchen sink at it, but threw the kitchen sink at it in a way which was he half threw the kitchen sink at it,” Neville said in reaction to the early changes when speaking on The Gary Neville Podcast.
“Merino came on. Ben White came on. Who I actually wanted to see was Martinelli.”
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Neville was so surprised that Arteta didn’t bring Gabriel Martinelli on that he asked Peter Drury whether the Brazilian was in the squad.
He was, which made Neville all the more sceptical of Arteta’s changes.
“So I was thinking Martinelli, Madueke, Eze, Gyokeres front four. You know, probably leave Zubimendi on with Rice and just change the front,” Neville explained.
“I just thought he would get those three or four on really and put the spontaneity and the instinctive play out on the pitch, but he still sort of went a little, but didn’t really go for it, if you know what I mean.”
Back in September, Neville said that Arteta needed to take Arsenal’s handbrake off, reacting to the boss’s team selection against Man City.
Concerningly, almost four months down the line, the pundit is suggesting that the same applies.
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Also in September, Arteta was similarly criticised for the team he selected to face Liverpool at Anfield.
After the match, Jamie Carragher claimed that Arsenal would never change under Arteta, and now, it has to be pondered if he was right.
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Carragher described Arsenal as a team that are ‘tough to play against’, but leave the handbrake on, noting that the manager’s way will never change.
What seemed petulant back then seems rather ominous now, as while Arteta is the reason Arsenal are where they are, he’s also the reason why the Gunners’ regimented ways make them lack fluidity as they do.
Risk-taking is part of the game, and a part of the game that Arteta lacks.
The strengths certainly outweigh the weaknesses, but we know that near-perfection is needed to win the Premier League.
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