Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville reckons Arsenal’s trio of Mesut Ozil, Laurent Koscielny and Theo Walcott failed to show up in their 2-2 draw against Manchester City.
Leroy Sane scored in the fifth minute before Walcott leveled proceedings on 40 minutes. Sergio Aguero regained the lead for City two minutes later before Shkodran Mustafi secured a point with a second-half equaliser.
Ozil was once again unconvincing in midfield, while Koscielny had to be substituted at half-time due to an injury. Goal-scorer Walcott was visibly upset when he made way for Olivier Giroud in the 68th minute.
“Arsene Wenger has touched on the chance Mesut Ozil had and I might be being a bit harsh with three things here, but I’m going to say them anyway,” Neville told Sky Sports, in his second critique of Ozil for the day.
“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 get the penalty — win the ball.
“Mesut Ozil should go for a 50-50 with the goalkeeper. That would help, wouldn’t it?
“Koscielny — he always goes off. He is 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 this big game.
“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.
“Walcott trudges off the pitch. He hasn’t played well, but his attitude is, ‘I have scored a goal, you shouldn’t take me off.’ Yes you should, because you were poor and that is a matter of fact.
“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.’
“There is three instances and I’m being harsh, but if you are talking about throwing the cat among the pigeons, let’s do it. Let’s throw it out there.”
The result left Arsenal sixth in the Premier League standings, seven points behind fourth-placed City who hold the final Champions League qualification spot.
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