“Any defender's getting killed for that in the Manchester United team" - Gary Neville slams Arsenal defender for what he did against Brighton
Footballer-turned-pundit Gary Neville has slammed Arsenal centre-back Jakub Kiwior for failing to get up in time to save Brighton and Hove Albion from opening the scoring against the Gunners in their recent Premier League encounter.
Mikel Arteta's side fell to a morale-breaking 3-0 defeat to Brighton at home, which effectively ended their hopes of winning the league title this season. Neville, while analyzing the match on his podcast, criticized Kiwior for not getting up in time to stop the visitors from scoring.
Neville said:
“How harsh should I be on Kiwior? Ten years ago, as Gary Neville, just retired from football, playing for Manchester United, I’m getting killed for that. Any defender’s getting killed for that in the Manchester United team if you’re basically sat there.
“He wasn’t that injured, he was running after [Kaoru] Mitoma in that channel wasn’t he? I’ve got very little sympathy for him, Kiwior has to look at that and think, come on, you’ve got to do better than that, you’ve got to get up. That’s where you’ve just got to dig in and get up, even if you’re on one leg.
“I mean the smallest player on the pitch has headed it in the back of the net, free in the box. So, it was a poor moment for him, it was a poor moment for Arsenal.”
Kiwior's ankle was seemingly stepped on outside the box but the defender stayed down as Julio Enciso headed home from close range in the 51st minute. Deniz Undav and Pervis Estupinan scored the second and third for Brighton to complete the rout.
The defeat left Arsenal four points behind Manchester City, who have a game in hand. Should Pep Guardiola's side win their next league encounter against Chelsea, they will be crowned champions.
Gary Neville criticizes Arsenal for crumbling in crucial moments
Gary Neville had previously predicted that Arsenal would fail to beat Manchester City in the title race but copped trolling from the Gunners' fan base. However, as it turned out, the north London side did falter in crucial moments and are now all but out of the league title contention.
Taking to Twitter, the former Manchester United defender explained where it went wrong for Arteta's side. He posted:
"Arsenal have had a great season but when the going got tough they struggled. It seems now the narrative is that it’s City’s strength,injuries and a tough run in is the cause. These are normal factors that need pricing into a title race. Arsenal have dropped 12 pts in 7 games! Won 9pts from a possible 21.
"All the characteristics of it being too much have appeared. Loss of form,giving up leads,energy and legs going,making unforced errors not seen earlier in the season, young players becoming tense and losing their freedom of expression and others showing too much emotion when calmness is needed.
"I understand why we want to use less emotive language in 2023. However in a high performance environment and at elite level we must still recognise when pressure has taken its toll. That league table below was only 7 games and 5 weeks ago. I hope these Arsenal players are there again one day(if it’s not United) and can see it through."
Arsenal have had a great season but when the going got tough they struggled. It seems now the narrative is that it’s City’s strength,injuries and a tough run in is the cause. These are normal factors that need pricing into a title race. Arsenal have dropped 12 pts in 7 games! Won… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… https://t.co/BtSSyJWfRC
Arsenal have won just two of their last seven league matches and will face Nottingham Forest next on Saturday, May 20.