Speaking on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football, Jamie Carragher has pointed out how poor Arsenal full-backs Hector Bellerin and Kieran Tierney were against Tottenham from minute one.
The Sky pundit was critical of Mikel Arteta’s plan to go out and attack Jose Mourinho’s side from the off due to how clinical they have been when counter-attacking this season, pointing out that Bellerin and Tierney’s positioning was clearly a recipe for disaster within 30 seconds of kick-off.
“Do a Mourinho job on him, you may still lose the game, that can happen, but don’t be so naïve,” Carragher said when discussing Arteta’s set-up.
“I was worried for Arsenal within 30 seconds of the game kicking off, this is after 30 seconds.”
The pundit re-watched the first 30 seconds of the game, and he pointed out how poor Hector Bellerin and Kieran Tierney’s awareness was in the first minute.
“My first thought is, ‘where is he going’ Tierney the left-back, where is he going? Where do Tottenham counter-attack, in the wide areas, Bellerin’s positioning, straight away I’m thinking I don’t like the look of that.”
Carragher would go on to analyse the passage of play that ended in a ball across to Bellerin being cut out and Spurs winning a dangerous free-kick on the edge of the box, proving his point on the positioning of Arsenal’s wide defenders.
Unfortunately for Arsenal, this was evident throughout the match, with Spurs continuously getting in behind their full-backs, and that’s down to poor positioning.
As Carragher says, it’s naivety on Arteta’s part, he should’ve known that his team weren’t good enough to play this way against the table-toppers and the dangers of being counter-attacked down the wings.
Bellerin and Tierney are both good enough to perform to a high standard, as they’ve proven time and again for Arsenal, but when they’re being instructed to push forward against a team that are so dangerous in transition, what chance have they got?
Unfortunately, Carragher is right about Tierney and Bellerin, but it may be Arteta’s poor game management that is to blame.
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