5 hours ago
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Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher say Arsenal stars will soon question Mikel Arteta's tactics - if the Gunners boss refuses to take the handbrake off his side.
The duo took aim at the Spaniard's approach to Sunday's draw with Manchester City, where Gabriel Martinelli snatched a late equaliser after Erling Haaland's early strike. The Sky Sports colleagues accused Arteta of being negative with his team selection and "wasting 45 minutes", with a midfield trio of Declan Rice, Martin Zubimendi and Mikel Merino having been picked.
That meant £68m summer signing Eberechi Eze was left on the bench, and it was the England star who teed up Martinelli's late equaliser after coming off the bench. Arteta hit back in the week, insisting he has "the most attacking keeper in the league by far."
But Neville has doubled down on his claim and is adamant that Arteta's reluctance to attack big games will not be lost on his own players and that they will have had their own opinions on the team that was picked to face City on Sunday.
"I don't think 60,000 or 70,000 fans can be wrong in how they feel and I don't think any of us who were in the studio or in that stadium can be wrong either," the Sky Sports pundit said on The Overlap, presented by Sky Bet.
"The big thing for me is the players. He names that team on Friday afternoon or, let's say, Thursday afternoon in training and he leaves out Eze and he leaves out Martinelli and he puts in Trossard and Merino. I guarantee you that dressing room, straight away, are looking at him and thinking, 'Hmm, you've done the same again, you've done it at Anfield and a little bit at Old Trafford, but certainly at Anfield'.
"He could have been more attacking at Anfield and he wasn't and certainly against City from the start he could have been more attacking."
Carragher insisted: "I think he's done a brilliant job. He's spent a lot of money, but he has the best squad of players in the Premier League now.
"This isn't something we would accuse him of every week but it does feel like there are important moments, and he also chooses caution over courage. He always goes for that side of it.
"Arteta, you can argue is right [to say] 'We dominated Man City'. You can say that, but you can't get away from the fact that wasn't Liverpool at Anfield — that was Liverpool on the back of conceding two goals against inferior opposition."
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Arteta insists his philosophy is on of the most attacking in the Premier League, but that opinion doesn't hold weight with either Neville or Carragher.
The Liverpool legend said of Arteta's press conference comments: "I hope he's not doubling down on what he said there to his coaching staff and his players. What he was saying, I'm not sure stacked up. The team is there in front of you."
And Neville believes the Spaniard could regret his approach if he doesn't become more adventurous - particularly after spending big in the summer.
"He's going to regret this if he doesn't start to take the handbrake off," said Neville. "I'm going to repeat the comment '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 lost at Anfield, I've dropped points at home against City, I've dropped five points now in those two matches and I could have picked a more attacking team', and I think there's a problem that's starting to become a pattern for him."
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