Jamie Carragher has identified the tactic Arsenal are using (Image: The Overlap)
Jamie Carragher believes Arsenal is following Jose Mourinho’s playbook, given the harsh criticism the team received for their tactics in the second half of their match against Manchester City on Sunday.
Jamie Carragher is certain that David Raya has received orders from Arsenal to intentionally squander time in order to outwit opponents.
After Sunday’s incident-filled 2-2 draw against Premier League championship rivals Manchester City, Arsenal’s tactics have come under scrutiny. Among the City players who chastised the Gunners for using the ‘dark arts’ to try and repel the home team with ten men were Bernardo Silva and John Stones.
Declan Rice, Myles Lewis-Skelly, and Gabriel Jesus were booked for time-wasting after the interval, while Leandro Trossard was sent off for kicking the ball away prior to halftime. In an attempt to confuse City as they sought an equalizer, Raya was also criticized for collapsing with what appeared to be cramps.
Retaliating to criticism of his team’s strategy, Mikel Arteta asserts that he possesses “all the information” regarding City’s own methods. However, Carragher believes that Arsenal is just expanding on the playbook that Jose Mourinho first perfected, since the team has been exposed as the biggest time wasters in the Premier League this season.
The former Liverpool defender remarked on The Overlap, “When I mention the Mourinho thing, he was always ahead of the game in terms of trying to gain an advantage somewhere.” “Arsenal does something that I observe more than anyone else. In high-pressure situations, I believe the goalkeeper goes down far more than other goalkeepers—I’m not sure if the facts support this.
“The regulation is that a goalkeeper cannot be substituted, thus the Arsenal coaching staff is undoubtedly more aware of this than anyone else. I witness Raya falter under duress.
Paul Scholes, a former midfielder for Manchester United, then answered, “That’s called cheating, isn’t it, Jamie?” “It is, but you said it so you can have the headline instead of me,” Carragher continued.
Arsenal takes longer than any other Premier League team to restart games from corners, goal kicks, free kicks, throw-ins, penalties, and kickoffs—an average of 31.8 seconds, according to Opta statistics. West Ham and Liverpool are at the other end of the spectrum, while the Gunners are first in the table, ahead of Leicester and Brentford.
Arteta has defended his second-half strategy against City, saying that it was the ideal approach to try and maintain their 2-1 advantage while playing with 10 men. He declared, “We had to play the game that we had to play.” “We couldn’t play 11 against 11 for the first 10 or 15 minutes. After that, we greatly improved. Then, thrust into an entirely new situation, we carried out the tasks that all teams perform.
“Ten men played for thirty seconds. Watch what they did for half a minute. What they did was typical. We had to approach it differently.
