Arsenal News: Robin Van Persie and Ian Wright slam Unai Emery after draw vs Manchester United in the Premier League last night.
Manchester United played host to Arsenal in the Premier League last night. Despite their fall from grace in the last decade or so, many expected them to go all out against each other and resurrect the rivalry that defined the Premier League in the past.
Also read: Arsenal provide the worst free kick routine vs Manchester United in the first half
What happened instead was 90 minutes of boring play from both sides with the first half in particular lacking in any real quality. The match would eventually end with the scores tied at 1-1. David De Gea however believed that United deserved to win the match.
Draw is a fair result but Emery holding Arsenal back
His former teammate, Robin Van Persie begged to differ with De Gea’s assessment of the match and claimed that the draw was a fair result. However, he agreed with Ian Wright’s criticism of Unai Emery that the Spaniard was holding Arsenal back by being too careful.
“The disappointing thing from my side of it, when you look at chances created, Arsenal did do as much in the second half but I think his selection initially [was wrong],” Wright told Australian television channel Optus Sport .
“With [Granit] Xhaka being the captain it then takes it away from [Lucas] Torreira, because I think Torreira should start and he did.
“But I do believe [Dani] Ceballos should start. They could have the protection of Torreira and [Matteo] Guendouzi and a bit more creativity.
“If you get a midfielder on it who is going to at least try to get the ball into areas where he can run on to it, if he gets another chance, he [Aubameyang] may score another goal,” he said.
“I think the manager is just being a bit too cautious.”
Go at it!
Van Persie, who has played for both clubs added:
“The way they started in the second half they should have started the first half. More pressure, chasing the game.
“Even though you’re just starting the game, try to win it. Try to play positive, try to attack.
“They waited 45 minutes for that, it’s too late playing in a game like that.”
“Even though it’s away, it doesn’t matter, this is a big game. Just go at them and try to win the ball high, play in their half, play positive.”
“I would like to see a better game plan. It is like in the first 25 minutes of the game, you could see they were dropping back a lot, quite deep. If you choose as a coach and as players to do that, it’s fine, but then you need to have runners. You need to have at least two runners once you get the ball which I didn’t see.”
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