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Football

02nd Apr 2017

Gary Neville goes to town on three Arsenal players who deserve everything they get

Both barrels

Darragh Murphy

Arsenal were definitely the more satisfied side with the point on Sunday.

The Gunners drew 2-2 with Manchester City at the Emirates but it was the away side who created more chances in a bizarre game, during which violence broke out in the crowd.

Unsavoury scenes could also be seen outside the ground after the final whistle and it was clear that supporters remained deeply unhappy.

A number of Arsenal players flattered to deceive throughout the 90 minutes and Gary Neville gave three of them both barrels. Those three came in the form of:

Mesut Ozil, Laurent Koscielny, and Theo Walcott.

Ozil had another poor game for the Gunners whilst there was concern among fans included the sight of defender Laurent Koscielny hobbling off as well as the visible anger on the face of goalscorer Theo Walcott when he was withdrawn by manager Arsene Wenger after 68 minutes.

And it was that trio of players who analyst Gary Neville decided to slate in the immediate aftermath of the result.

“I might be being a bit harsh here, but I’m going to say them anyway,” said Neville on Super Sunday.

“Koscielny always goes off. He’s a centre-back. He plays to half-time and then goes off. He might have a bit of a problem with his Achilles and I might be being very harsh, but he went off against Bayern Munich and went off in a big game today.

“Walcott trudges off the pitch. He hasn’t played well, but his attitude is, ‘I’ve scored a goal, you shouldn’t take me off.’ Yes you should, you were poor and that’s a matter of fact.”

It didn’t end there.

“Mesut Ozil goes through on goal and bottles out of a challenge when his manager’s backside is on the line. Go for a 50-50 or nick in front and win a penalty.

“There’s three instances today and I’m being harsh, but if you’re talking about throwing the cat among the pigeons, let’s do it. Let’s throw it out there.

“Arsene Wenger deserved for Koscielny to at least have a go for five minutes in the second half. Go on mate, have a go for us. No, he didn’t.”

There were some basic requirements Neville expects that were far from being met.

“Theo Walcott should sprint off the pitch and shake the manager’s hand and say, ‘Thanks very much for giving me a game today. I’m lucky.’

“Mesut Ozil should go for a 50-50 with the goalkeeper. That would help, wouldn’t it?”

Gary Neville pulls zero punches.

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