Gary Neville thinks Declan Rice and Martin Zubimendi will both be seething at Gabriel Martinelli after his ridiculous pressing just before Man City’s goal.
Martinelli opted to press high rather than sticking with Nico O’Reilly, who ended up breaking away just before City’s winning goal.
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The Brazilian winger came on as a substitute during the half-time interval for Noni Madueke, and he looked intent on pressing City high.
As Ian Wright points out, he will have been ‘afraid’ to disobey Mikel Arteta’s instructions; however, his inability to read the game state caused the Gunners a big problem.
Gary Neville slams Gabriel Martinelli’s poor pressing
Gary Neville believes that one of Declan Rice, Martin Zubimendi or Gabriel Magalhaes should have been screaming at Gabriel Martinelli not to press so high.
The former Premier League defender thinks the Brazilian took Arteta’s instructions to press the goalkeeper too literally, and he ended up leaving so much space behind him.
Neville told The Overlap: “If I’m seeing that, if I’m a right-back, or I’m a midfield player like Declan Rice or Zubimendi, who are really experienced, or I’m a centre half like Gabriel, you should be screaming at him, ‘don’t go!’
“You’ve got to imagine that he’s going to be a little bit of an idiot and go and try and do something stupid like press on.
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“So I agree with you in some ways, but for me, he’s probably been told, when the keeper has it, you make sure you press on. He took it literally.”
Martinelli cannot be blamed solely for the goal; however, small margins cost Arsenal the game at the weekend, and that was one of them.
Roy Keane slams Arsenal’s lack of game management
Roy Keane was far from impressed by Arsenal’s lack of game management and thinks someone should have recognised the team did not need to press so aggressively.
“In the time of the game, because again, you smell moments. Listen, ‘we’re under the cosh, I don’t need to go running in there’,” added Keane.
“Game management. We talked about it before the Bournemouth game. No one went, ‘lads, is it time to press?’ Of course. And it’s time to go, ‘Not now’. The pressure is on City to score.
“Pep said before the game, we have to win the league. So the pressure was on City. It’s 1-1. We’ll try to pick you off. We still have quality. They draw it on.”
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