You can’t trust Arsenal’s defenders despite Mikel Arteta’s changes, asserts Gary Neville
Arsenal have one of the worst defensive records this season amongst the top ten sides
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Gary Neville has revealed that in his opinion Arsenal need new defenders because their current crop of players simply cannot be trusted to keep a clean sheet. The Gunners have endured a torrid time this season with them failing to compete in either the Premier League or the Europa League.
Despite a bright star to their season, Arsenal’s form since then has taken a nose dive with the Gunners failing to live upto the expectations of the fans. Not just that after they finished one point off a Champions League place last season many expected the club to do even better but in former boss Unai Emery’s second season, things quickly went off the rails and that saw the Spaniard lose his job. However, his replacement Mikel Arteta has been left to deal with the scraps and the Gunners have struggled despite an initial bounce.
The North London side were the only unbeaten sides in the Premier League in 2020 before the lockdown but things since the restart have been chaotic to say the least. Two losses in two consecutive games, including a 2-1 defeat at Brighton, has seen problems arise for the North Londoners with complaints flying in about their defenders. That has seen Gary Neville proclaim that Arsenal need a complete overhaul to help them improve despite what little change Arteta has produced in his short time at the club.
"You just can't trust Arsenal, you haven't been able to for years. We've all said it. Mikel Arteta - we should still say that the shape Arsenal are playing, the shape they have defensively I think is better than it was previously but the individuals within that will let you down. It doesn't matter how well you coach the shape, if you get exposed one on one or defenders make mistakes - as we saw in that game against Manchester City and against Brighton - then you're just going to get punished," Neville said reported Sky Sports.
"It's about just dropping your ego sometimes as a defender and delaying helps because your team-mates sometimes come back. You get too many defenders who try to win the first ball, who try and dive in, and we've seen that with Arsenal's defenders over the years. David Luiz, Shkodran Mustafi and Sokratis Papastathopoulos, when he plays. They dive in, they like to challenge when it is not there to challenge. They feel they have to win the ball and sometimes it's not there to win."
