Gary Lineker was surprised by something Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta did against Manchester City on Sunday.
Arteta’s team snatched a point at the death against City, courtesy of a stunning late goal from Gabriel Martinelli.
The Brazilian ran onto a ball played over the top by Eberechi Eze, before lifting it over Gianluigi Donnarumma and into the back of the net.
This goal cancelled out Erling Haaland’s early strike, with this result ultimately leaving the Gunners five points behind leaders Liverpool after five matches.
Gary Lineker was surprised Mikel Arteta selected Leandro Trossard against Man City
Arteta has been criticised for his team selection against City, with many feeling Mikel Merino and Leandro Trossard shouldn’t have started for the Gunners.
The Spanish manager opted for the conservative option in Merino, looking to negate City by playing a functional and physical midfield.
Meanwhile, Trossard was presumably picked over Eze for his defensive work.
This approach backfired when City took an early lead, and Arsenal were left with a starting eleven on the pitch which wasn’t capable of reversing the scoreline.
Arteta quickly realised his mistake and made two appropriate changes at half-time, but the Gunners had arguably wasted the opening 45 minutes.
Speaking on the Rest is Football podcast, Lineker expressed that he was surprised by Arteta’s decision to start Trossard.
“He went with Trossard,” Micah Richards said.
“I was really surprised with that,” Lineker responded.
Richards then explained what he believed to be the rationale behind the decision.
“Everyone was surprised, but when you look at the game, Eze vs Athletic Club, basically, his defensive work wasn’t right at times,” the former Manchester City defender said.
“He didn’t know when to push up or when to drop. But he’s a luxury player, not a luxury player, but a player who wants to get on the ball, he doesn’t want to spend a load of time running back, so I understand, maybe, am I going to get overrun by Man City, maybe that’s the reason.”
What Micah Richards and Gary Lineker said about Man City’s defending for Arsenal’s goal
While there were a lot of negatives to take away from the game for Arsenal, the performances of Eze and Martinelli off the bench were encouraging.
The way the two players combined for the equaliser was exceptional and could be a pattern that the Gunners look to repeat in future matches.
Eze beautifully clipped the ball beyond the City back four to Martinelli, who made an excellent diagonal run in behind, before delicately lifting over Donnarumma.
Richards and Lineker waxed lyrical about the goal, although they were also critical of the defending from City’s point of view.
“The pass was brilliant, the timing of the run was perfect, but Man City had been dealing with everything throughout the game, so you know Martinelli’s best asset is running in behind, that’s what he loves to do,” Richards said.
“So I’m thinking as a defender, especially when you bring in [Nathan] Ake and [John] Stones, give yourself an extra man, because you know that’s what Arsenal are trying to do.
“But let’s not take anything away from the pass and the finish. It was quite naive from the experience of the Man City defenders at that moment in the game.”
“It was a surprise because it looked like they’d got the game done,” Lineker replied.
“Arsenal didn’t really look like scoring, they had a couple of efforts, but towards the latter stages it did look like it was going to happen.”
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