Arteta 'handbrake' retort exposed as Neville the spokesperson for '70,000 Arsenal fans'

After Mikel Arteta hit back at claims he should release the “handbrake” on the back of Arsenal’s meek if “dominant” display in their 1-1 draw with Manchester City, Jamie Carragher has exposed the Gunners manager’s retort for the nonsense it was as Gary Neville speaks for “70,000 Arsenal fans”.

Arsenal needed a last-gasp equaliser from Gabriel Martinelli to rescue a point at the Emirates on Sunday, and the aftermath saw Arteta heavily criticised by Neville and other pundits, who couldn’t get their heads around what on paper (and on the pitch for that matter) was a very stodgy-looking defensive lineup.

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The Gunners boss responded by going through his lineup, picking out players who proved how attack-minded his XI was in his opinion. But Carragher is having none of it.

“[Arteta] started with the goalkeeper, saying ‘we’ve got the most attacking goalkeeper in the league’,” Carragher said on the Stick to Football podcast.

“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.”

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We’re sure most Arsenal fans would have preferred to see Eberechi Eze playing, maybe Myles Lewis-Skelly over one of four centre-backs in Riccardo Calafiori, perhaps Gabriel Martinelli after his game-changing impact off the bench in the Champions League win over Athletic Club.

But we’re also not sure they would be all that pleased with Gary Neville acting as their spokesperson in airing grievances, nor the pundit’s assumption that all of the 70,000 fans in the Emirates who went potty with Martinelli scored in stoppage time were quite as frustrated with the starting lineup and approach to the game as he was.

“I don’t think 60 or 70,000 Arsenal fans in the stadium can be wrong in how they feel, I don’t think any of us that were in the studio or watching on the television at home can be wrong either,” Neville said.

“The big thing for me is the players. He names that team on Friday afternoon and he leaves out Eze, Martinelli and he puts Trossard in and Merino, I guarantee that dressing room are thinking, ‘you’ve done the same again’.

“He could’ve been more attacking at Anfield and he wasn’t, and he certainly could’ve been more attacking against City and he wasn’t.

“He’s going to regret this if he doesn’t start to take the handbrake off. I’m going to repeat my comment about the 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 dropped five points now in those two matches and I could’ve picked a more attacking team’.”

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