Roy Keane has slammed Arsenal as a ‘small club with a small mentality’ after their backs-against-the-wall defending in the 2-2 draw with Manchester City.
The former midfield hardman pilloried the Gunners for ‘just booting it’ after going down to 10 men and has argued that their similar showing against Brighton proves their minnow mindset.
Arsenal almost clung on for victory against City after playing the second half without Leandro Trossard – similar to their defensive display after losing Declan Rice in the 1-1 draw with Brighton in August.
Ian Wright felt Keane was too harsh in blaming Mikel Arteta’s men for resorting to a tactic that had them in the lead until John Stones’ 98th-minute intervention.
‘They were just booting it, like a small team with a small mentality,’ Keane told the Stick to Football podcast, brought to you by Sky Bet.
Roy Keane has slammed Arsenal as a ‘small club with a small mentality’ for their defensive mindset against Manchester City
Arsenal played the entire second half with 10 men after Leandro Trossard was sent off
‘Go back three or four weeks, Arsenal did the same thing against Brighton with 10 or 15 minutes to go – the goalkeeper went down against Brighton at home.
‘This idea that they’ve gone to the great Man City, their mindset against Brighton at home was exactly the same – that’s my argument.
‘I’m saying when you’ve got it, still look after it. When you do get it, try and get four or five passes together.
‘They were time-wasting against Brighton at home, so forget this idea it was Man City.’
Substitute Myles Lewis-Skelly, 17, was booked before he even came on and new footage obtained exclusively by Mail Sport shows him appearing to relay a message to goalkeeper David Raya.
Referee Michael Oliver booked Lewis-Skelly after the substitute trotted behind Raya’s goal line while warming up in the 65th minute as the Gunners led 2-1. Oliver observed the 17-year-old communicating with Raya before the Arsenal goalkeeper fell to the floor and stopped proceedings.
Wright clashed with Keane over his assessment of Arsenal’s performance.
He hit back: ‘We weren’t time-wasting (against Brighton), still going for it.
Ian Wright does not blame Arsenal for taking a conservative approach with a man missing
Arsenal youngster Myles Lewis-Skelly was shown a yellow card against Manchester City
New footage obtained by Mail Sport appears to show the teenager speaking to David Raya
Raya then went to the ground with an apparent injury, halting proceedings at the Etihad
Arsenal almost held on for victory but they were denied by a 98th-minute John Stones goal
Arteta watched on as his side let their lead slip in the eighth minute of stoppage time
‘We’ve seen what Manchester City do to teams that go down to 10 men, we [Arsenal] had to do something different – and it nearly worked.
‘I’m not going to lie and say I’ve seen that happen before where you don’t even have an outlet, because you need to give the defenders a breather at some point.
‘They were without Martin Odegaard to pass it out to somebody to get the foul, waste time or go down. I’m not going to criticise them, especially at Man City, with 10 men, trying to win a game.
Arsenal were aggrieved when, 10 minutes into first-half stoppage-time, Trossard was dismissed with a second yellow after kicking the ball away before a City free-kick after he fouled Bernardo Silva.
Rice had been sent off for the same offence against Brighton but rather than learning from the incident, Arsenal still simmered with rage.
‘It’s that obvious that it’s not necessary for me to comment,’ Arteta said. ‘It’s the second time. I’m 1727423838 expecting 100 Premier League games to be played as 10 against 11, or 10 against nine. Let’s see.
‘I think it is very obvious what people think of the red card. It is not my job to come here and judge what happened. My job is to survive in one of the most difficult environments there is in football for 55 minutes and try to get things done to survive.
‘It has already happened twice in five games which is very worrying to see in the best league.’
Arsenal’s defenders looked crestfallen after failing to see out victory against their title rivals
Erling Haaland toe-poked the ball past David Raya to score the opening goal of the game
The Norwegian’s strike was his 100th Premier League goal on just his 105th appearance for City
City took the lead nine minutes into the game when Erling Haaland ran onto a lovely through ball from Savinho and poked past David Raya to net his 100th goal for the club.
Arsenal, however, did not lie down and whimper.
Riccardo Calafiori scored a beautiful curling effort to level the scores and Gabriel headed home in stoppage time in the first half to give the Gunners a lead going into the break – despite Trossard getting sent off on the cusp of half-time.
It was a case of pinning their backs against the wall after the break and they held on resolutely against an increasingly frustrated City, who managed 33 shots.
The Gunners looked to have completed Mission Impossible before Stones capitalised on some pinball in the box and tapped home to steal a point.
Roy Keane and Ian Wright were speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, brought to you by Sky Bet.