‘None of them do anything’: Ian Wright critical of defensive Arsenal trio

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Ian Wright was critical of Arsenal’s defensive trio Kieran Tierney, Hector Bellerin and Rob Holding on Premier League Productions (21/02/21 at 5:25 pm) for not doing anything to prevent Man City’s goal on Sunday.

Whilst losing to Man City could be acceptable given that they have won 18 games on the bounce in all competitions, it’s not that acceptable given the way Arsenal defended.

Not only did they allow Mahrez to cut inside to provide the assist inside the opening minutes, but they also allowed one of the smallest players on the pitch in Raheem Sterling to head home.

Highbury legend Wright was critical of Arsenal’s defensive trio – Tierney, Bellerin and Holding – for not doing enough and how the latter was already ‘worried’ before the ball was delivered on a plate by Mahrez.

“What you ideally want to do is stop that ball in the first place,” said Wright. “So you want him (Tierney) to get closer (to Mahrez). You have got Mahrez here. They don’t stop that.

“Once he’s got the time. He’s got the space. He’s the ability. Once he hits that, now you have a problem – Tierney doesn’t make any kind of challenge on him. It’s very comfortable.

“Once that happens, you are thinking how is a guy that small getting a header? What you see from here is that Holding’s worried. He keeps looking back for someone because he thinks a striker wants to get (into the pocket).

“Bellerin has a problem because Bernardo Silva has started to get involved, so he’s thinking ‘what’s going to happen to him? Is he going to run in there’? He doesn’t run in there.

“He (Bellerin) doesn’t do anything. He is worried about Bernardo Silva. In the end, none of them do anything and Holding doesn’t jump. It could have been avoided.”

Whilst the defensive side of Arsenal’s game will annoy fans from Sunday, it’s the fact that they hardly laid a glove on the runaway leaders that will be more annoying.

Arsenal could only muster one effort on target, and even if Man City have been ripping it up recently, there wasn’t enough intent in the final third from the North London side.

All of this puts extra pressure on the players and staff ahead of their now seemingly cup final-like showdown with Benfica in the Europa League on Thursday.