Rio Ferdinand has stuck up for Manchester United defender Aaron Wan-Bissaka following criticism from Roy Keane for allowing Eddie Nketiah to get Arsenal up and running during their gripping Premier League showdown on Sunday afternoon.
Nketiah helped settle the scores for the table-topping Gunners with two goals either side of a sublime strike from Bukayo Saka, while Marcus Rashford and Lisandro Martinez netted at the other end. It was a victory that kept Arsenal five points clear at the top with a game in hand on Manchester City.
As for United, meanwhile, it showed them the further progress they need to make to launch their own quest for the title in future seasons. That led Keane to tear into Wan-Bissaka and others while on punditry duties for Sky Sports at the Emirates Stadium.
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Another ex-United player, Gary Neville, also raised question marks over Wan-Bissaka, as Nketiah brushed past him at the far post to nod home in the 24th minute. Nketiah later went on to grab the winner, too, after being played onside by the former Crystal Palace right-back.
Assessing that first goal, Keane said: "It's just his lack of awareness. It's as if he can't believe someone's coming around the back of him, because he can see him, he just dozes off. A silly lack of concentration, considering we praise him saying he's a good defender. Of course he sees him. You have to be aware of him, that's his job, this is big boy stuff and these are big moments. Do your job, go and attack the ball."
Speaking on commentary, Neville declared the confusion as "madness" while also suggesting that goalkeeper David de Gea could have done more. However, their former teammate Ferdinand does not necessarily think it was as criminal as they described.
On his FIVE podcast, Ferdinand said: "Gary Neville was the best at this as a full-back, he was the best at marking the opposite side when the ball was coming in so if their winger was crossing the ball, the Gary Neville gets himself inside the post so that anything that beats me, he's going to get.
"But also he's going to attach himself to that winger, get hold of them. Sometimes he's not as big as those guys but they've got to do alot to get away from them and he would just stand in their way.
"This [the Arsenal goal] is all about awareness and seeing that bigger picture and that comes from reps in training.
"For Aaron Wan-Bissaka, and all full-backs, it's a really hard skill to master by the way. The way the guys were talking about it yesterday was like it was easy. It's not easy. That is one way that 33-year-olds get unpicked at the end of their career when they are meant to know it back to front.
"It's about being switched on and having concentration for the full 90. If you switch off in those moments, you get punished because you're six yards out so it's a goal.
"He has to attach himself. Feel him. Or he has got to turn and face, but that is the hardest thing to do, to do that and see the crosser and the man. You can't turn your back like he did. When you do that, you have got no idea where he is. He didn't know where he was."
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