Premier League legend Roy Keane was unimpressed by Arsenal’s decision to employ what he referred to as ‘dinosaur’ tactics in their 2-2 draw with reigning champions Manchester City last weekend, Soccernet.football reports.
Arsenal were ahead 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium when Leandro Trossard was sent off during first-half stoppage time.
Mikel Arteta’s instructions for the second half were clear as the Gunners dropped deep, spending most of the game behind the ball and leaving no one forward.
This approach nearly succeeded, as Arsenal effectively limited City’s attacking options by closing down the space around their penalty area.
However, their defense was finally breached in the eighth minute of stoppage time when John Stones scored on a rebound to draw the game level.
Arsenal’s second-half tactics has been a hot topic all week, and Roy Keane weighed in on the latest episode of the Stick to Football podcast.
The former Manchester United captain was miffed by all the praise Arteta’s side has been receiving, calling it hypocritical.
“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’,” he said.
“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.
“They got a clean sheet last year, so they can get results. I’ve got nothing wrong with them defending and going deep, but when they got [the ball], they didn’t do anything. Martin Odegaard is a massive loss to Arsenal.”