Tony Adams unhappy with £32m Arsenal player’s actions v Southampton

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Arsenal legend Tony Adams has criticised Oleksandr Zinchenko for his team huddle against Southampton.

The Gunners were widely expected coast past bottom club Southampton last Friday night.

Draws against Liverpool and West Ham United were annoying but back at the Emirates against a struggling side, Arsenal were expected to win easily.

Southampton didn’t read that script though and raced into a 2-0 lead through Carlos Alcaraz and former Gunner Theo Walcott.

Arsenal ace Zinchenko – who was caught out for Walcott’s goal – then took a surprise step.

The Ukrainian decided to get his teammates in a huddle before resuming play, seemingly trying to calm the nerves in the Arsenal side.

Arsenal did end up getting a 3-3 draw, but only after a miraculous late show from Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka.

Did the huddle work? We’ll probably leave that one to the Arsenal players who were involved.

Gary Neville certainly wasn’t convinced though, calling Zinchenko’s huddle a ‘bluff’.

Tony Adams criticises Oleksandr Zinchenko

It’s not just Neville who wasn’t buying it.

Arsenal legend and former captain Tony Adams has now joined in, criticising the Gunners man.

Adams told The Sun that he had no idea what the team huddle was all about after going 2-0 down.

Adams felt that Zinchenko’s actions were ‘just for show’ and that he should have done his talking in the dressing room before the game.

“At 2-0 down, Zinchenko calls all the players into a huddle. What was that all about?” said Adams. “If you’ve got something to say, you do it in the dressing room before the game, not in the middle of the match. That’s just for show,” he added.

Adams certainly knows a thing or two about winning titles for Arsenal and being a leader in pressure situations.

Zinchenko has taken on a big leadership role with Arsenal ever since joining for £32million from Manchester City last summer.

Zinchenko, to his credit, has been in title races before as well, and may have just wanted to use his experience from City to try and calm down his teammates.

Maybe it was just to show the unity in the group and portray an image of togetherness, but if Arsenal can come out of the next few weeks with a Premier League title, fans won’t care about huddles one bit.