Ian Wright spoke on Goal Rush on Optus Sport about Arsenal fans’ criticism after our 1-0 defeat to Burnley on Sunday.
The Gunners played well and looked the favourites to break the deadlock at the start of the second half. Granit Xhaka, however, had other plans and the Swiss international decided to get himself sent off.
That gave Burnley a huge boost and they went on to win the game thanks to a Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang own goal. The defeat pushes us down to 15th in the table, just four points above the drop zone.
The pressure is well and truly on Mikel Arteta’s shoulders, with some fans calling for his head already. Ian Wright firmly disagrees and the Arsenal legend believes that the Spaniard is doing everything he can with what’s available to him.
Wright said: “I feel sorry for the manager. He’s probably going to come under a bit of stick, knowing the toxic nature of the way our fans react to this kind of thing.”
“This is the time when you have to say you have to stick together but experienced players doing that – what do you do as a coach? Are people honestly going to blame the coach? Come on – what more could he have done?”
Wright is right
Some of Arteta’s tactics and team selection can be questioned but Arsenal would likely have won that game if Xhaka hadn’t done what he did. There was nothing that the Gunners boss could have done to stop that incident, which makes the criticism towards him slightly unfair.
However, when the results aren’t going your way, the manager is usually the first one to blame. Arteta has no choice but to deal with that. But, it is about time that the players step up and take some responsibility.
The likes of Lacazette and Aubameyang are capable of winning games on their own, but they aren’t doing that. If that continues, it will be Arteta’s head that will roll, and that would be a real shame after everything he achieved last season.
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