2 weeks ago
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Jamie O'Hara has slammed Arsenal and Mikel Arteta for "killing the game" with the team's tactical approach.
It has been leveled at the Gunners by some that their defensive qualities are far superior to their attacking qualities, and it is an inescapable fact that they lack the free-flowing quality that Manchester City and Liverpool brought to the party in their pomp.
Three of Arsenal's six wins this season have come by a single goal, and the team has conceded a total of just three goals. Arsenal beat Fulham 1-0 on Saturday, with Leandro Trossard scoring the winning goal after Gabriel's flick-on from Bukayo Saka's corner reached him at the far post.
O'Hara, a former Tottenham player, has not been impressed with what he's seen from the table topper. "It’s like watching non-league at the moment, some of the football I’m watching," he said.
"Spurs at the weekend: territory football, head it out, [Kevin] Danso comes up, gets the towel out and starts throwing… it’s so one-dimensional.
"Jamie Carragher is right, I get it, some of the lesser teams like Brentford, if you’ve got a long throw then it can cause problems and maybe create a chance.
"But the top teams doing [long] throw-ins? I can’t believe what I’m watching.
"It’s all down to Arsenal, Arsenal started this. Arsenal started the long throw, the set-pieces. They’ve killed the Premier League in terms of fluid football and enjoyable football."
When it was suggested to O'Hara that the Arsenal team is still capable of producing attractive soccer, he responded: "No, they don’t, they don’t.
"Arsenal are the best at it, set-pieces and throw-ins, Arsenal are the best. But everyone is now copying what they’re doing and they can’t do it like that.
"I’m seeing teams do long throw-ins and they haven’t even got a long throw! It’s not even reaching the six-yard box. But everyone is trying to do it and it’s so one-dimensional."
He added: "This is the Premier League we’re talking about and you’re meant to be the best of the best.
"I can understand it every now and then or in the last five minutes of the game, you want to get the ball in the box and cause a bit of chaos. But every time we’re looking at long-throws: stop, start, stop, start.
"What happened to getting the ball down, moving it quick, crosses in the box, getting to the byline?
"Thomas Frank has been doing it at Spurs and I don’t like that. I’m not a fan of it and I think it’s killing the Premier League."
English (US) ·