"That is pretty unbelievable" - Jamie Carragher reacts to 'great stat' about Arsenal star during 2-2 draw at Manchester City
Jamie Carragher has expressed his surprise at Kai Havertz failing to complete a single pass in Arsenal's recent 2-2 draw at Manchester City. The Liverpool legend stated that it was unbelievable that the German could not find a teammate once, even when they had all 11 on the pitch for the first 45 minutes.
Speaking on the Stick To Football podcast, Carragher was not backing out of taking shots at Havertz. He brought up the stat that made the forward the first player in the Premier League history to complete a whole game without a successful pass and said:
“This is a great stat. In the whole game, even when they had 11 men for a half of football, Kai Havertz never made one pass. In the whole game. That is pretty unbelievable."
However, Ian Wright was not happy with the stat and claimed that it does not change anything from the game. He replied:
“What does that stat prove? Did it make any difference?”
Jurrien Timber also played 89 minutes in the match for Arsenal without completing a single pass. He was taken off by Mikel Arteta to add fresh legs to the defense.
Roy Keane slams Mikel Arteta after Arsenal draw at Manchester City
Roy Keane slammed Mikel Arteta and claimed that his tactics were same as the ones used by Tony Pulis, Sam Allardyce, Steve Bruce and Neil Warnock in the Premier League. He added that the previous managers were called dinosaurs for it but the Spaniard is getting praise.
He said:
"If Tony Pulis, Sam Allardyce, Steve Bruce or Neil Warnock set up a team like that for the second half, they are 'dinosaurs'. When Arsenal do it, it's called 'brilliant', it's 'concentration levels'. When they won the ball back, which they did every now and again, try and look after it and try and get up the pitch. There was an incident when [Ben] White just kicked it out of play, [Declan] Rice a couple of times, just kicked it up the pitch. This is Arsenal we're talking about – not a Championship team in the FA Cup – that's hanging in there."
"I'm on about when you've got it [the ball], still look after it. Don't even worry about playing one up front, but when you do get it try and get four, five, six passes. They were just booting it like a small team with a small mentality. When I see England international players just booting it out of play I'm going: 'What are you? League One? League Two?'" he added.
Arsenal were down to 10 men at the end of the first half after Leandro Trossard was sent off. They were 2-1 ahead at the time, and Mikel Arteta opted to play his defensive tactic, but John Stones equalized in the final minute of added time.