Gary Lineker slams Manchester United starlet’s ‘awful’ final ball in Arsenal defeat

Former England international Gary Lineker has criticised Manchester United starlet Alejandro Garnacho for his final ball against Arsenal, saying the Argentina international’s delivery on Sunday was ‘awful’.

The 19-year-old was United’s only livewire on the pitch but he couldn’t do it all on his own in the final third. I’d argue that he was our brightest spark in attack along with Amad Diallo, even though he failed to convert chances as the Gunners won 1-0 at Old Trafford.

United didn’t play too poorly but it helped that Arsenal weren’t at their best, as Kai Havertz admitted after the match. Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya was rarely threatened between the posts.

With three more points added to their season tally, Mikel Arteta’s side returned to the top of the league. Man City are placed in second with a game in hand, so the Premier League title is very much in their hands as we enter the final week of the campaign.

Lineker slams Garnacho

United’s 14th league defeat of the season means we remain eighth in the Premier League, three points below Newcastle with two games left to play.

Speaking on his podcast, The Rest is Football, Gary Lineker said the Premier League title race could have been over on Sunday.

“Arsenal went there, it’s not a place where they’ve been particularly successful the last decade or so. All they would have cared about at this stage was that they had to get that win come what may. There was a degree of caution to the game that. I was thinking, ‘God, they might pay for this, you know.

“Garnacho was a threat, but his final ball was awful the entire match, I thought. I mean, he’s dangerous and all it needed was, you know, one where he cuts in and could conceivably bend one in the top corner and then all of a sudden the title race is pretty much done really.”

It should be a given that a young player like Garnacho is going to be inconsistent at times. We shouldn’t be as reliant on him to pull us out of danger every single week.

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