I can understand that Arsenal are not going to be everyone’s cup of tea, especially when your side has spent ridiculous amounts of money to position itself as a title challenger only to fall into sixth place mediocrity. Therefore, when listening to Gary Neville’s Arsenal criticism there is some sympathy and understanding, but not much. To be honest, reading it back even that is generous.
For context, Gary Neville effectively described fourth position as Arsenal’s ceiling. Adding that after two and a half years at the club, Mikel Arteta would have taken the club as far as it could go should they make the top four. Thankfully, Jamie Carragher was on hand to produce some reasonable takes on the situation, but it cannot be understated how ill-informed and ignorant a judgement could be from a typically informative and educative pundit.
Speaking at a Sky Bet event Neville said, “I think Mikel Arteta is a good operator. My concern is if Arsenal finish fourth this season – which to be fair, I think is 50/50, I still think there’s a long way to in that race – but if they finish fourth, that’s in some ways as good as it gets.
