Speaking on The Gary Neville Podcast, the Sky pundit has made a claim about Tottenham’s Japhet Tanganga and Davinson Sanchez, comparing them to the Arsenal defence.
Arsenal and Spurs couldn’t have had more contrasting weekend’s. Arsenal were embarrassed by a newly-promoted team, while Tottenham upset the reigning champions.
Neville believes that the main contrast comes in the defence, pointing out Tanganga and Sanchez as two players who really showed grit against Manchester City.
What’s been said?
Neville was dissecting Arsenal and Spurs’ performances.
“The contrast for me, look at someone like Tanganga and how he defended and how Sanchez defended, because they were put under a lot of pressure. At one point 55% of City’s attacks were coming down their side, but they were aggressive, they were serious about their defending, they knew they had a big job in front of them and they stuck to it,” Neville said.
“Arsenal were the complete opposite, I felt every time a ball was played forward to the two Brentford strikers, they didn’t want the fight, whereas Tottenham, they rose to the occasion.”
Spot on
Arsenal fans may not like to hear it, but Neville is spot on with this analysis.
Tanganga and Sanchez didn’t let Jack Grealish or Raheem Sterling have a sniff at goal, while Arsenal’s defenders were seemingly scared to commit themselves to a tackle.
Just look at how the Gunners defended Brentford’s second goal. Regardless of the foul on Bernd Leno, there’s no way that ball should have been allowed to bounce in such a dangerous area, but with so many players shirking responsibility, a defensive shambles was inevitable.
Arteta needs to toughen up this group.
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