No one was really surprised to hear Ry Keane lay into Arsenal and accuse the players of lacking character after we slumped to a second Champions League defeat in a row. The manner of the defeat was certainly frustrating and avoidable but I am not sure the former Man United and Ireland captain was right in what he said, as reported by The Mirror.
Keane said, “They’re soft. They’re weak.
“The goals they give away — you saw [on Tuesday] night, two set-pieces again.
“You’ve got no chance of winning any big game if you defend like that.
“There is a certain weakness to the group. They look like they lack characters, leaders and winners.”
Keane has taken his combative and aggressive style of playing the game into his punditry and I´m sure that a lot of Gooners will agree with his comments. A year or two ago I would have myself, but Arsenal have added steel and fight to our fancy dan passing game. For me the problem was lack of concentration, bad decision making individually and as a group and individual errors, not being soft.
Last season and so far in this one Arsenal have stood up a lot more in the big games, as long as Mike Dean lets us of course, and we need to show that again on Sunday. The manager has always backed his players and they need to prove him right to do so against Man United. Proving that loudmouth Keane wrong at the same time will be a nice little bonus.
No one likes to be called weak, so does Wenger need to make sure each and every one of the squad knows what Keane said about them?