Arsenal edged ever closer to winning the Premier League title with a massive 1-0 win at West Ham and Roy Keane believes the time has now come to sing their praises.
Despite sitting top nearly all season and hardly conceding a goal in Europe en route to the Champions League final, the snipers have still been out for the Gunners.
So many pundits and fans have lamented the ‘boring’ style of play and defensive mindset of the team.
Furthermore, whenever a game has been lost, suggestions of Arsenal ‘bottling it’ have been rife.
Now, though, Roy Keane believes that narrative has to change.
Why Roy Keane praised Arsenal as they beat West Ham
In fairness to Keane, he has defended Arsenal a few times when others have lined up to take pot shots.
Indeed, speaking about today’s win over West Ham, Keane insisted that now is the time for Arsenal to get the praise they deserve.
“There’s been criticism of Arsenal, when Arsenal slip up it’s because they’re not mentally strong, they’re weak and they’ve bottled it and that stuff,” Keane said on Sky Sports.
“If people want to criticise them for that, when they’re slipping up then you’ve got to praise them for what they’re doing now, because even though they’re doing well, it’s like, oh no, it’s a bit forward, it’s a bit robotic, they’re strong at set pieces, but yeah, that’s the bit you were getting criticised for the last few years. So you have to give them all the praise.
“They’ve been patient. They’re doing the business. So you have to take your hat off to them.”
Keane will still be expecting Arsenal to go and win trophies as one of his big mantras is about teams actually getting over the line and being winners.
That looks certain to happen now, and might even culminate with two big trophies at the end of the season.
Then, we might well hear from a few more pundits who have been critical of the Gunners.
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