SPINELESS!
Neville: ‘Look at the players walking... they’re walking! Don’t walk at Wembley. You’re losing. Run!’
Redknapp: ‘It was like a fire drill for their fans with 30 minutes to go — they all left!’
ARSENE WENGER moaned about bad luck and claimed Arsenal’s attitude was not a problem in the face of stinging criticism from all angles at Wembley. Gary Neville launched a scathing attack on several players during Sky Sports’ TV coverage of the Carabao Cup final defeat, labelling Arsenal ‘spineless’ — and he was not alone as Arsenal were widely condemned for failing to perform.
Neville described Shkodran Mustafi as ‘pathetic’ and picked on central midfield pairing Aaron Ramsey and Granit Xhaka for a lack of effort.
‘Look at Ramsey walking,’ Neville told viewers during the second half. ‘ He’s walking, Xhaka’s walking, Ozil’s walking, they’re walking. Don’t walk at Wembley. Don’t walk on a football pitch. It’s impossible. You’re 2-0 down, run.’
Arsenal went on to concede a third goal shortly after, when David Silva thumped past David Ospina. Neville let rip again.
‘I mentioned the walking and then the retreating runs of Ramsey and Xhaka ambling and jogging back... an absolute disgrace they are,’ he added. ‘They are an absolute disgrace. Walking on a football pitch at Wembley, giving up. Spineless.’
TV cameras cut to a young Arsenal supporter crying in the stands and thousands streamed out of Wembley in protest. Only a couple of hundred were left by the time Vincent Kompany lifted the trophy.
Referring to the tearful youngster, Neville said: ‘That’s what you cause. All a fan wants to see is a player running as fast as he can and as hard as he can.’ Sky Sports colleague Jamie Redknapp added: ‘It gets boring to talk about Arsenal at the moment. It gets boring talking about Arsene Wenger because it’s the same problems year in, year out.
‘There are no leaders, the problems they have defensively without the ball. I’m a massive Arsene Wenger fan and of what he did for football.
‘There’s a reason why Pep Guardiola goes to a club for three or four years, because you have an impact and then you move on again. But for some reason at Arsenal it’s so stale.
‘I felt sorry for the fans today. It was like a fire drill. Half an hour to go and everyone’s gone. That’s not right. This is Arsenal Football Club. One of the greatest clubs in football but I’m looking at them now... what is their direction? Where are they going?’
Wenger preferred to deflect blame towards the officials and video assistant referees, claiming City’s 58th-minute second goal from Kompany was offside. ‘ We were punished but the second goal is offside,’ Wenger said. ‘The VAR… it’s a mystery to me how you can watch that on a replay and not give offside.
‘The referee didn’t give the (correct) injury time. I asked him why he didn’t give longer and he said, “Why do you want more time?” I said it’s not down to him to judge.’
Asked if this will be his final season in charge, Wenger said: ‘Who knows?’
That will add doubt over the manager’s future and the performance of his players did likewise.
Wenger admitted individual errors had gifted goals to City — particularly Sergio Aguero’s opener after Mustafi was barged off the ball — but struck back at criticism by pundits and suggested Arsenal will not prioritise the Europa League for the rest of the season, with AC Milan on the horizon.
‘We controlled them well in the first half defensively,’ he added. ‘ They looked quite nervous.
‘When you lose a game like that, everything is questioned. TV personalities are the same when you don’t win a game. Not all of them have played at 200 per cent. It’s difficult to come back. The result was self-inflicted because we had an unbelievable chance at 0-0.
‘We gave them a goal. We were a bit unlucky in the second half. You can’t ever say you’re not disappointed after the way we conceded. There was no need to concede the corner for the second.
‘We have to prioritise the next game before we speak about the Europa League.
‘We have to win big games and we have to do that in the Europa League. There are many good teams in there. We’ve got a big team to play now.’
Neville slammed Mustafi for his failure to stand tall with Aguero and instead pleading with referee Craig Pawson to give a foul.
‘He has to be stronger,’ said Neville. ‘That is pathetic defending, to claim that as a foul is terrible defending.
‘It’s schoolboy stuff. It is just shocking defending in all forms of football. This is a dark day for Arsenal.’
On the same issue, Wenger said: ‘I’ve not seen a replay, but Mustafi thought it was a free-kick. The push was not obvious. He expected a free-kick.’