Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has been labelled as 'stubborn' by former Manchester United star Paul Scholes following Sunday's 3-1 defeat at Old Trafford.
The Spaniard has come under criticism for his comments after the Gunners' first loss of the season with Roy Keane describing Arteta as a 'sore loser'. The North London outfit were the better side for large periods of the game against United, but found themselves tasting defeat for the first time this season after a perfect start.
Gabriel Martinelli's opening goal was chalked off after VAR intervened and ruled that Christian Eriksen had been fouled by Martin Odegaard in the build-up. Despite the Gunners remaining top of the Premier League table by a point, Arteta has been widely criticised for some of his decision making and comments after the game.
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Scholes joined Gary Neville, Paul Merson and Keane in questioning Arteta following the clash at Old Trafford by outlining what United boss Erik ten Hag has over his rival managers, as per The Mirror. Scholes said: "We talk about philosophies all the time, don't we? These managers are stubborn.
"Arteta will be stubborn, Guardiola will be stubborn, Jurgen Klopp will be stubborn. But this man [Erik ten Hag] – you have to give him credit because he's gone away, really, from what he wants to do.
"Now, why would you change and go back to something that didn't really work at the start of the season? He's found a way of playing football on the counter-attack with this group of players – why change that?"
Former Arsenal midfielder Paul Merson agreed with Neville when discussing Arteta's decision to make a triple substitution with 20 minutes still left to play, claiming the Spaniard made a 'knee jerk reaction'. Merson said: "They were dominant for that 15 minutes, it was one way traffic, they were going through them like a knife through butter. For me, it was a knee-jerk reaction with 20 minutes to go."
Neville added: "The three substitutions at once, I thought it was strange, because it was a bit of kitchen-sink job which you can get done on the counter-attack - which they did. I don't think they needed to do that in the game, there was still 20 minutes in the game, they were still working chances, Manchester United's goal on the counter was against the run of play then all of a sudden the game became easier for Manchester United than Arsenal with those subs."
Arsenal turn their attention to the start of their Europa League group stage campaign, with an away trip to Switzerland as they face FC Zurich on Thursday. Arteta will be hoping for a positive reaction to the Gunners first defeat of the season, with a good performance and result set to put the criticism behind them.
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