The reason why Roy Keane has called Arsenal a ‘small club with a small mentality’



Football pundit Roy Keane has slammed Arsenal for their tactics against Manchester City in the 2-2 draw at the Etihad Stadium.

The Gunners tried to defend their lead in the second half of the match after Leandro Trossard was sent off for delaying the restart of the match in a controversial manner.

Mikel Arteta decided to deploy an ultra defensive system and kept defending for the whole of the second half.

Unfortunately for him and his team, they conceded a late goal against Man City, with substitute John Stones finding the back of the net in the final moments of the match.

Keane has criticised Arsenal for their mentality and how they just defended after going down to 10 men.

‘They were just booting it, like a small team with a small mentality,’ Keane told the Stick to Football podcast.

‘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.

Arsenal sat back to defend their lead against Man City. (Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)
 

‘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.’

The Gunners faced a similar situation a few weeks ago against Brighton at the Emirates Stadium.

Declan Rice was sent off in that match for Arsenal and they had to sit back to defend their lead in that match as well.

However, Brighton scored through Joao Pedro and managed to win a point against the Gunners at the Emirates Stadium.

Roy Keane is being too harsh on Arsenal

The former Man United midfielder is perhaps being a bit harsh on Arsenal as they played to their strength, which is defense, when they were punished with a sending off.

They have the best defensive record in the league and their defenders have shown time and again that they can do the job for the team whenever needed.

Arteta changed his team’s playing style to the demand of the situation and nearly managed to pull off a memorable result at the Etihad Stadium.