Arsenal fans weren’t happy with Alex Runarsson on Tuesday night.
The 25-year-old Iceland goalkeeper conceded a howler in last night’s 4-1 League Cup defeat by Manchester City.
Arsenal fell 2-1 behind when Riyad Mahrez’s free kick squirmed through Runarsson’s gloves and suffice to say that Gunners’ supporters were fuming.
But it seems like a small portion of the club’s fanbase took it to the next level and started abusing the former Dijon stopper on his personal Twitter account.
As a result, Runarsson, who joined the club in September, has deactivated his social media accounts in response to the abuse.
Here’s how some Arsenal fans reacted to the keeper’s decision:
This is a big, big problem in football these days and it seems like the vitriol is always without context.
It was only Runarsson’s fifth game for Arsenal and first against Premier League opposition.
Besides, he’s only 25 which, for a goalkeeper, really isn’t that old and when you don’t have much experience in English football, mistakes happen.
He certainly did not deserve the level of abuse that presumably came his way and with 19-year-old Neco Williams of Liverpool and Spurs’ Steven Bergwijn also doing the same in recent months, perhaps it’s time for a bigger conversation about the personal jibes that many footballers seem to attract.
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