News

‘A promiscuous girlfriend’: Rio Ferdinand claims Mikel Arteta feels this way after Burnley draw

|

Rio Ferdinand has claimed that Mikel Arteta must be lacking trust in this current Arsenal squad after Saturday’s dismal draw against Burnley.

The Gunners missed several guilt-edged chances before they were punished by the Claret and Blues, who struck back through Chris Wood after a howler from Granit Xhaka.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, the Premier League legend compared the first-team stars to a ‘promiscuous girlfriend’ following yet more dropped points.

Ferdinand said: “Arteta must look at his squad like a promiscuous girlfriend. He must lack so much trust and faith in them. He can’t trust them at all because he doesn’t know what’s going to happen at the moment. He could do the best team talk of his life, but they’ll go out there and do their own thing and it doesn’t seem to be coming together.”

Do you trust the current Arsenal squad?

Yes

No

Despite being a bizarre comparison, there is some truth in the words of the former Manchester United defender. With the number of mistakes various members of this squad have made this season, Arteta must surely have lost some trust in them.

It’s quite staggering how many time the Gunners have shot themselves in the foot, not even across the whole season, but in recent games alone. Dani Ceballos, Granit Xhaka, Emile Smith Rowe, Cedric Soares and Rob Holding are just the names of a few players who have cost the outfit in recent outings.

As a result, the Reds sit a lowly 11th place in the top-flight and with just less than a dozen games left in the league campaign, Europa League football, never mind Champions League, looks a distance dream.

Looking at a few of the changes made by the former Manchester City coach to the starting line-up only goes further in proving Ferdinand’s point.

The likes of Willian, Alexandre Lacazette and Nicolas Pepe have found themselves in and out of the starting XI all campaign long, and analysing their inconsistent performances, you can’t blame Arteta for his chopping and changing as it seems trust has all but worn thing.

However, uncertainty does breed more uncertainty and there is a case to be made that whilst he may not trust some players like Pepe, some of his recent exclusions can be labelled ‘extremely harsh’. Moving forward in the Europa League knockout rounds, you’d feel stability is key as Arsenal go on the hunt to play in Europe’s elite competition.

Share this article

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *