Jamie Carragher believes Mikel Arteta’s rebuttal of criticism over his ‘handbrake’ tactics does not ‘stack up’ – and has taken aim at some of the manager’s more bizarre claims.
The Arsenal boss has faced a fierce backlash for his team selection in the 1-1 draw with Manchester City on Sunday, with accusations from fans and pundits alike.
Ahead of Arsenal’s Carabao Cup tie this week, Arteta hit back, defending his actions by pointing to the offensive qualities of almost all of his side – including goalkeeper David Raya, who he called the ‘most attacking stopper’ in the division.
But in the opinion of former Liverpool defender Carragher, these comments simply do not match the reality of the side he selected for their Premier League clash against an undercooked City.
‘[Arteta] started with the goalkeeper, saying “we’ve got the most attacking goalkeeper in the league”,’ Carragher said on the Stick to Football podcast.
Jamie Carragher believes Mikel Arteta’s rebuttal to criticism over his ‘handbrake’ tactics does not ‘stack up’
The Arsenal boss has faced a fierce backlash for his team selection in the 1-1 draw with Manchester City on Sunday
Arteta defended his actions and even labelled goalkeeper David Raya as the ‘most attacking stopper’ in the division
‘Then he mentioned something about his full backs and I thought “that’s not right”, because his full backs are centre backs. I played in a back four under Gerard Houllier, it was four centre backs. That’s not far away from what Arsenal have got.
‘He then mentions [Martin] Zubimendi, okay a creative player in the No 6. He then talked about a wide player playing centre forward last season. He was almost trying to argue against it but wasn’t really making that much sense.
‘I can understand him defending himself and not listening to the pundits but I thought I hope he’s not doubling down on what he’s said there to his coaching staff and players.
‘Because what he was actually saying, I’m not quite sure stacked up in proving they are a really offensive team. The team is there in front of you.’
Arteta was blasted after Sunday’s game for his cautious tactics, which saw him start a midfield three of Mikel Merino, Martin Zubimendi and Declan Rice, with Leandro Trossard on the left wing.
That left Ebere Eze and Gabriel Martinelli, who scored in injury time, on the bench before being brought on.
Gary Neville also questioned whether the Gunners believe they can win the league, claiming Arteta had to ‘take the handbrake off’ against a City side who had just 32.8 per cent possession – the lowest total of Pep Guardiola’s league career.
Carragher went further, accusing Arteta of ‘wasting’ the first 45 minutes of the crunch match.
Arteta was blasted after Sunday’s game for his cautious tactics, which saw him start a midfield three of Mikel Merino, Martin Zubimendi and Declan Rice
The draw left Arsenal five points behind leaders Liverpool ahead of a tricky trip to Newcastle this weekend.
On top of criticism for his cautious team selection, Arteta’s side have also been hammered for their failure to create chances in open play and their over reliance on set pieces.
‘It almost feels like it’s down to set pieces if they can win the league,’ Carragher added. ‘They’ve got the best defence, they’ll end up with the most clean sheets.
‘And it almost feels like if their set pieces work, they’ll have half a chance and if they don’t they won’t.’
