‘I’d Stick Them All On The Transfer List’ – Gary Neville Delivers Excellent, Venomous Post-Mortem Of Arsenal’s Meek Display Against Liverpool

Chris Wright

28th, August 2017

10 Comments

There’s no two ways about it, Arsenal were at their gossamer-thin worst against Liverpool on Saturday, with Arsene Wenger’s expensively-assembled melange of meek and mild succumbing to a 4-0 defeat at Anfield.

Of course, a palid Arsenal performance is nothing but good news for the pundits and co-commentators of the world who, wide-eyed and partially inebriated by their blood-thirst, were gifted yet another chance to clamber over themselves and begin tearing strips of easy meat off the carcass laid so readily before them.

Gary Neville, covering the match live for Sky Sports, was in particularly ferocious form, with the Gunners’ ever-present defensive fragility turning the ex-Manchester United full-back positively ravenous.

Arsenal deserve battering. [This is] the most disappointing Arsenal you could possibly wish to see.

The general attitude, and lack of respect towards the shirt by three or four of the players. They (the Arsenal fans) must be livid.

Honestly, I’d stick them (the players) all on the transfer list. Ain’t many of them will get a better club than where they’re at now.

Still seething but having been given a little time to elucidate, Neville then offered a similarly stinging epilogue in the studio after the match:

When you’re at a football club, you all take the blame. I can’t personally look any further than the players.

I don’t think the team is correct. setting up with [Granit] Xhaka and [Aaron] Ramsey in central midfield at Anfield, with Sanchez and Ozil just outside them is never going to be enough with Liverpool the way they are. I’ve never understood the lack of attention to the opposition.

You have to pay attention to the threats and Arsenal never do that in games.

The issue today I had in the first 15 or 20 mins – and why I was as scathing as I was – is because [Mesut] Ozil, [Alexis] Sanchez, [Alex] Oxlade-Chamberlain, Xhaka, Ramsey, they didn’t do most basic things I think every fan, manager, and player knows: when the ball goes past you and it goes towards your goal and your team-mates are struggling, you run back as quickly as you can.

He’s not fibbing either – just look at this inattentive nonsense from Ramsey in the build-up to Liverpool’s first goal…

Neville’s excellent diatribe continued as he set about chastising Arsenal for making basic errors that should have been drummed out of them as children:

You’re told that at the age of five. Aged 12 or 13, you’re told to get into your shape quickly and when you get into the first team you’re told about transition – give the ball way, get back in, transition, transition.

I’m naming those five – there may be more – but that is absolutely disgraceful. That doesn’t represent the Arsenal shirt or what they’re about and they’ve let themselves down as individuals. In terms of who’s to blame, I can only start and end with that.

In terms of the tactics, the football, the mistakes, you’d need five Monday Night Footballs to analyse what went wrong there. But the simple premise of working hard, getting back towards your own goal – it’s just unacceptable.

Nev then referred back to his earlier comments made during the match, about Arsenal deserving their tonking and that most of their players would be lucky to escape being put up for sale with immediate effect:

I wasn’t being serious when I said I’d put them all on the transfer list but I can’t think of any of those players who, if they went on the transfer list, would end up at a better club.

People might say Sanchez but he’s been throwing the towel in over the last six, seven months. He’s a fantastic player – a tiger at his best – but he’s not covered himself in glory recently.

If he went to another club, he might give you a couple of good years but what’s to say he wouldn’t do the same?

Neville was then asked if fans were within their rights to start agitating with ‘Wenger Out’ sloganeering again, but he instead insisted that the blame should lie entirely at the feet of the players:

[The ‘Wenger Out’ campaign] was raging all the way through last season. I’m still adamant I wanted to see Arsene Wenger at the football club – I don’t change that, I never will and ultimately that’s just a level of respect from my point of view.

You don’t turn on managers and coaches. Wenger deserves the utmost respect but his players, time and time again, are letting him down and he shows too much loyalty to those players.

Some of those players have been at the club for a long time and they’re not doing it for him. When they’re crossing that white line, they’re not giving the absolute maximum.

He was dejected in that interview, I feel for him but I’m not going to start sticking the knife in and saying he should go. Of course, you look at Wenger – and he’ll look at himself.

There is, after all, one constant in all this.

The board made the executive decision to afford Wenger two more years, so they can probably look forward to two more years of the same old frailties, all of them singularly unaddressed as per.

The way Pies see it, everybody working at Arsenal is complicit in the vainglorious, faux-elite shell they’ve become over the past five years.

Posted in Arsenal, Liverpool, Newsnow, Opinion

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10 Comments

  1. Delford Magaya says:

    Wenger always say, he does not panic buying, but if we look at Wenger’s record for the past two seasons, all the players he bought was panic buying. Why did he sell Gabriel after only two seasons? He bought Mustafi, and he now want to sell him after just one season why? He bought Lucas Pereez and now he is selling him, he never used him but he bought him for 17 million, is that not panic buying? Wenger is becoming a problem at Arsenal now and Arsenal will never ever win the title as long as Wenger is there, he is so pathetic in his selection of players, you buy players the most expensive player like Lacazetee and you put him on the bench, and used the players, that he knows will never ever change anything, Ramsey, Conquelin and Walcott should be sold, they are not fighting for their positions in a team. Wenger is completely lost, when he first joined Arsenal he found some of the quality players being at Arsenal, especial the defense, of Martin Keown, Tonny Adams, Lee Dixon, and Nigel Wenterburn were there already, but since these guys retired from football Wenger have never built a good defence at all. He does not deserve to continue coaching Arsenal, he is becoming so pathetic in every decision he make.

    • Bruno says:

      I think no manager in the world would win the Premier League with this Arsenal team or with any Arsenal team of the past 10 years. They’re all spoiled boys, they don’t give a damn. Ozil is a shame, I’ve never seen that guy do anything in a must win game. He completely disappears. I totally agree that Wenger is buying the wrong players, I think the only two players (winners) Arsenal had during the past 10 years were van Persie and Cech.

      In my opinion, the problem is and isn’t the manager. It’s Wenger’s fault that Arsenal have these spoiled idiots playing but I also think that if you give this team to any other manager they would be in an even worse position.

      They should fire Wenger IF they are willing to spend tons of money on big (ready) players. If they don’t want to spend big and want to continue with the current ”formula”, Wenger is the man because no other manager would do better with those players. For example, Mourinho would fight with everyone and would be sacked within 6 months. Guardiola would demand “Barcelona football” and we know the players are not capable of that, so there you go again – Guardiola walks away. Conte would ask them to mark and they also can’t do that.

      #WengerOut is only a good thing if the club wants to move in a totally different direction. But I’m not sure the board wants that.

  2. Jerin says:

    Remove a set of players like giroud,walcott,ox,gibbs,ozil,and bring on young players at the club giving them first chance

  3. Eric M says:

    Uh, Gaz? Shut up. How many trophies have you won in your entire career of club management?

  4. Bruno says:

    Looks like the #WengerOut campaign has already started and it’s not even september… I’m not sure I can handle another season of this.

  5. Stelios Stylianou says:

    The clubs history is above any coach or any players name. Players who do not want to give the maximum when they play, they should go. The team needs strong midfielers such as Drinkwater,Matic,Cante.Also we need a leader. Our captain is a fantastic player but it does not mean he could be a leader such as Tony Adams or P Vieira. Besides I do not understant why the coach used at the starting line up 3 players that this week my not be a part of Arsenal squad ( Alexis-OX-Ozil)

  6. milt_palacio says:

    So he says the tactics were wrong, but then absolves Arsene of all blame? Liverpool showed just this Wednesday against Hoffenheim how they can destroy a poorly working three-man-defence. And than Arsene starts Bellerin, who has no left foot and poor control at left wingback, and the pairing of OX-Holding on the right against Liverpools most dangerous player in Mané. Liverpool didn’t even have to press as hard as against Hoffenheim because of the poor spacing and ball control. Oh, and Arsene is playing Ozil (who was bad) out of position and starting Wellbeck over both Lacazette and Giroud.

    Neville also says Alexis has been been “throwing the towel in over the last six, seven months”. He played his first game this season and was massive for Arsenal at the end of last season, e.g. scoring in the FA-Cup final and the final four PL games.

    This whole “put them on the transfer list” is populist drivel by Neville, who still seems to believe his own hype as “Englands best pundit”, despite his humbling managerial career.

    • Archer says:

      Good assessment – however rubbish Arsenal were, Neville is a berk. An average player that was carried by the rest of a great Man U team, that now believes his own hype. Sky are scraping the barrel with him and Carragher – Christ, they make even Andy Gray look good.

  7. Mrs. Wenger says:

    Wenger out. NOW!! You’ve chores to do at home, young man!

  8. Jarren says:

    The entire team (apart from Cech) is an embarrassment. They don’t give a shit.

    Once a new manager is employed they will suddenly play like lions, yeah?

    No respect.

Leave a Reply to Jarren