Jamie Carragher must really miss 50/50 challenges because he dedicated his Monday night to diving in two-footed on Arsenal Football Club.
On more than one occasion in 2017, Carragher branded Arsenal’s players “cowards” and it’s clear that he’s not yet been won over by the Gunners.
As has become an annual guarantee at this stage, Arsenal supporters’ patience with manager Arsene Wenger is wearing thin again and Saturday’s derby defeat to Spurs only served to compound the pressure on the Frenchman.
Carragher has claimed that Arsenal are not only failing to progress under Wenger but that they’re actually going backwards under his leadership.
“I’ve always questioned Arsenal’s mentality,” Carragher said on Monday Night Football. “But you’ve always felt they were good enough. I actually still question the mentality but they’re not good enough now. That’s the big thing.
WATCH: Why won't Arsene Wenger spend big on a centre-back? 🤔@Carra23 and @ThierryHenry discuss!#MNF is live on Sky Sports Premier League now. pic.twitter.com/rHortkxndf
— Sky Sports Retro (@SkySportsRetro) February 12, 2018
“Arsenal are actually getting worse now. They’re not getting better. If you go back to the MNF we did against Crystal Palace at the end of last season, I called them cowards.
“Maybe afterwards when we calmed down a little bit, you reflect and think maybe that was a bit strong, but those stats back it up; 26 points from 26 away games is an embarrassment for a team who are supposedly one of the top teams in the country.”
Ex-Gunner Paul Merson has suggested that the £55 million signing of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Borussia Dortmund could well be Wenger’s last piece of business as Arsenal manager and compared it to Sir Alex Ferguson’s insistence on bringing Robin van Persie to Manchester United in 2012.
But while Wenger secured attacking reinforcements like Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan in January to fill the void left by the departing Alexis Sanchez, he failed to sign his top defensive target, Jonny Evans.
"Go and take him out of the club!" https://t.co/CpLB4Brd0J
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) February 10, 2018
Wenger’s explanation for missing out on West Brom’s Evans didn’t hold water with Rio Ferdinand and Carragher also questioned the lack of focus on defensive solidity from the longest serving manager in the Premier League.
“I look at Arsene Wenger saying he couldn’t afford Jonny Evans, but he could afford £50 million strikers,” Carragher added. “It’s not about affording – he just doesn’t see it.
“I don’t think he’s ever spent big on a defender. Why didn’t he go for Virgil van Dijk? Liverpool have got the same problems. At least Jurgen Klopp is trying to fix it with Van Dijk. Why isn’t he going for those players?”
