Former England manager Sam Allardyce has slammed all the people who criticised Arsenal’s decision to start Kepa Arrizabalaga in the Carabao Cup final.
The Gunners were beaten 2-0 by Manchester City at Wembley in a game where Kepa made a big mistake to let in the opening goal of the game.
That has led to a lot of criticism, not just on Kepa but on Mikel Arteta as well, because it was his call to start the Spaniard over David Raya.
Allardyce, however, is not having any of that.
Arsenal fans, what is the biggest mistake Mikel Arteta made in the Carabao Cup final?
Sam Allardyce blasts people criticising Mikel Arteta’s Kepa Arrizabalaga decision
In hindsight, it is very easy to criticise Arteta for starting Kepa Arrizabalaga in the Carabao Cup final against Manchester City.
The Gunners hadn’t won the competition in over three decades, and lifting the trophy would’ve kept their quadruple hopes alive.
So, an argument can be made that Arteta should’ve started his first-choice goalkeeper, but Kepa helped take Arsenal to the final, and it would’ve been very unfair to drop him.
Sam Allardyce is of the exact same opinion, and he blasted everyone criticising the decision, including Ally McCoist.
He said on the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast: “Don’t talk about that rubbish! It’s not worth talking about. What about your end (City), putting your other goalie in? It’s all c–p!
“Just because he made a mistake, they’re all going on about it. I was listening to Ally McCoist. I thought better of Ally, who has been a manager at Rangers for all those years. He was saying, ‘what are they doing playing the second goalkeeper,’ and all that c–p.
“Shut your mouth, Ally and all you lot.
“He’s done it all the way through and got them to the final. Yeah, he made a mistake, but who’s to say that if you had put your number one goalie in, he wouldn’t have made the mistake?”
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Sam Allardyce is spot on about Arsenal and Kepa Arrizabalaga
We don’t always agree with Allardyce, but he is spot on here.
Yes, Kepa made a big mistake that eventually led to Arsenal’s downfall, but it wasn’t like his error came in the 90th minute and gave no time for the others to rectify it.
Every player who started, apart from William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes, was poor and did nothing to change the game.
Having a go at Kepa is the easy thing to do, but Arsenal just weren’t at the level required at Wembley and would’ve likely lost even without his mistake.
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