‘I guarantee that dressing room are thinking’ – Gary Neville warns Arteta not to put doubts in his players
By La Liga
Copyright pulsesports
Gary Neville has warned Mikel Arteta that he may regret his defensive approach if he does not stop experimenting with his team.
The Arsenal manager had faced criticism for his team selection against Manchester City following their 1-1 draw.
Despite his side securing a late draw thanks to a brilliant Gabriel Martinelli goal, Arteta’s decision to start Mikel Merino and Leandro Trossard over the more attacking Eberechi Eze and Bukayo Saka was heavily scrutinised.
This follows a similar defensive setup at Liverpool last month, where Eze was also dropped for Merino, who has frequently been selected for big games against top-six opponents.
Neville advises Arteta
Arteta defended his choices, arguing that Arsenal dominated the match against Pep Guardiola’s side. However, former Manchester United defender Neville believes the Gunners’ boss may come to regret his cautious tactics.
“I don’t think 60 or 70,000 Arsenal fans in the stadium can be wrong in how they feel, I don’t think any of us that were in the studio or watching on the television at home can be wrong either,” Neville said on the Stick to Football podcast.
“The big thing for me is the players. He names that team on Friday afternoon and he leaves out Eze, Martinelli and he puts Trossard in and Merino, I guarantee that dressing room are thinking, ‘you’ve done the same again’.”
“He could’ve been more attacking at Anfield and he wasn’t, and he certainly could’ve been more attacking against City and he wasn’t,” Neville added.
“He’s going to regret this if he doesn’t start to take the handbrake off. I’m going to repeat my comment about the handbrake because he’s got players there that need to play in these games.
“You can’t look back at the end of the season and think, ‘I’ve dropped five points now in those two matches and I could’ve picked a more attacking team’. There’s a problem there which is starting to become a pattern.”
With Martin Odegaard still recovering from injury, Arteta faces further selection issues in the coming weeks, with the Norwegian, Eze, Martinelli, Saka and Trossard all competing for starting positions.
They are set to travel to Newcastle United on Sunday for their next Premier League fixture and will be looking to get back to winning ways.
