2 days ago
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Jamie Carragher has fired back at Gary Neville for misrepresenting his views and sought to set the record straight regarding his remarks about long-throws and set-pieces.
The former Liverpool defender had utilized a segment of last week's Monday Night Football, a day after his former club's defeat to Manchester United, to demonstrate how long throws have emerged as a tactical approach employed by Premier League sides.
Subsequently, during the most recent instalment of The Overlap podcast, Neville criticized Carragher's stance on long throws - maintaining he's fond of them.
He remarked: "Carra said the other night on Monday Night Football... I thought it was really interesting because to be fair I disagree with the point, but he's not here - I wish he was here... he said he hates long throws and somebody else said it yesterday. They hate long throws. I'm like I love long throws."
However, responding to Neville, Carragher posted on X: "For the 100th time I didn't say I hate set-pieces or long throws!!!! What I don't like is every team taking long throws and the time it's taking out of the game. I totally get teams doing it who struggle and lack quality of getting the ball in the box, I also like seeing how teams cope with them."
He then continued: "But teams who have great technical players and have spent (£) 100 millions on them should be getting the ball in play as quick as they can to get these players on the ball. I'm no football snob but this is taking the game backwards!"
Roy Keane and Ian Wright have voiced their support for the reintroduction of long throws, describing it as an 'entry into the box'. However, towards the end of last season, Jamie Carragher criticized Arsenal's set-piece coach, Nicolas Jover, following a 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace.
He stated: "In terms of percentage, only Man Utd are worse than Arsenal set piece-wise this season.
"So when we make a big deal about the set-piece coach... he's absolutely out of this world in terms of going forward, but they've got a big problem defensively. So should we be cutting his wages in half? Do they need a defensive set-piece coach?".
"It's been one of the stories of the season and rightly so. It's unbelievable. You feel like they are going to score a goal from a set-piece in every game, or come very close to scoring.
"Of course, he's had a huge impact, but it is funny that they are having huge problems themselves."
Despite these criticisms, the Liverpool legend believes that Arsenal are currently the best team in the Premier League. On Sunday night, Carragher said: "I am looking at Arsenal right now and they look by far the best team in the country right now.
"It's very early days, and of course it is, but they need to capitalise on the situation they find themselves in because they could get a sizeable lead in these early stages."
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