Jamie Carragher has claimed that Arsenal would ‘probably’ be playing Champions League football this season had it not been for Nuno Tavares.
The Gunners missed out on a place in the top-four on the final day of the Premier League campaign, with Spurs sealing themselves the fourth and final CL spot.
Jamie Carragher has moved to claim that we would likely have finished inside the top-four had it not been for Nuno Tavares however, pinpointing his performance at Palace as one which stands out.
“Tavares has gone out on loan, I saw,” said Carragher. “I think if they had a better left-back, then you probably would be in the top four now.
“I don’t like singling one player out, but I just think he cost you in certain games. I remember that game at Crystal Palace last season, it was on Monday Night Football and I said on TV ‘he has to come off at half-time’. I think he put Xhaka left-back.”
It is a little harsh to blame Nuno alone for our failure, but some of his performances were well below the expected level. The fact that we missed out on the top-four by just one win means that we could blame any one of our losses for us missing out, and I’m certain that he wasn’t at fault for each of those, but that isn’t to say that Carragher is wrong with his statement.
Do you agree with Carragher somewhat?
Patrick
And you think it is good to put articles like this on this site? What a silly question to ask at the end, Dou you agree with carragher? Why do you give him space on this site?
Totally agree Reggie. Very childish at best. Carra loves to rubbish Arsenal, maybe from all the times Henry owned him and made him look amateur at best.
Spiting …..listen
Wherever that was reported, it should’ve been left in that particular cess pit. How does it help to spread it any wider?
Young guys spend time online, some of them might even read this site. It won’t do them any good to read that kind of stuff.
Carragher = Liverpool, ever wonder why he says this now… and worry that you might be helping his agenda?
Hope he tried his best but was not the kind of person who deserved to play there
Caragher his right, I can’t recall the game again we had a throwing and tavarez did a foul throw that the opposition team hv to retake the throw and it lead to goal in our net, we lost the match that day. I think is crystal palace or Newcastle. the loan move is the best for him for now, he has the raw potential but he have to up his game if he want to remain our player
Exactly
If anyone is to blame for Arsenal not getting into top 4 last season it should be Arteta! Reason being that he new that Tavares was a possible liability but still insisted on playing him instead of perhaps changing around the formation of the team! For example he could have used ever ready(Saka) on the left side as wingback or straight defender as he’d still bomb up & down the pitch. Then he could also of reshuffled the team to accommodate Smith-Rowe in it… Yes Arteta screwed up that’s for sure. It’s jus a pity Tavares never carried his early season form through to the end…
Nah, Arsenal collapsed mentally. Multiple players couldn’t handle the pressure. Not down to one player. If it was anyone it was Partey being injured that ruined everything. Fit Partey we are in 4th. In the past now.
I don’t agree with Carragher, and feel that it is inappropriate to single out one player.
However, some of the hypocrites who comment on this site are really something.
To be fair to Tavares, Arsenal would not have committed so many new players this time, all thanks to Tavares
Arsenal is not a club who will spend big in fact with this owner they are downright cheap.
Carraghers only saying this because he is employed by a company who want their pundits to say something controversial so that sites like this give them publicity , Carragher probably doesn’t believe it but feels he has to say something controversial. It’s a ridiculous statement anyway because no-one knows what would have happened if Tavares had stayed on, it’s unlikely but the end result could have been different. Anyway you can’t just single out one game we lost, we lost other games where somebody hasn’t played well or missed chances, why not say that that player cost us 4 th place.
What a shame to read such bias. It does nobody any good it is irresponsible to blame a game on one person. Soccer is team game which also includes the coaching staff.
Arsenal websites buying into whatever crap comes from the idiots at other clubs? Shame, you should build up our players no matter how good or bad they are.
Not a balanced piece to use on JA. I do have a certain amount of agreement on the narrow point CARRAGHER made but I find it distasteful to concentrate on mistakes made by one STILL VERY YOUNG and newish player, esp when compared with the multI mistakes made by a certain GranIt Xhaka!
TAVARES HAS PACE, MOBILITY AND TALENT, even though still raw; Xhaka? Well he has height, power and a hard but inaccurate shot and not much else , unless you include a hothead! Oh, and a lovely crossfield pass, but which takes him about” half an hour” to deliver it. Groan!
It seems to me mostofl our fans can easily see his MANY AND CONSTANT MISTAKES but, for some mysterious reason, NONE of our last three managers have or do.
Just my take , but as ever an honest take. Xhaka and his likely regular inclusion is my ONE MAIN WORRY about the coming season.
Arteta Emery AND Wenger Hitzveld Mourinho ,who are Monsters in european football ,cannot be wrong to be yourself right dear Jon….Xakha has mistakes in him but he’s to ,say the least ,a very good and experienced player…..Even Klopp reportedly wantend him at some point….So he’s no Ronaldinho but for what asked from him very decent…
This particular Liverpudlian has little in the way of grey matter, and why he is still employed by Sky TV amazes me.Then again, he is in good company as a number of pundits on Sky are of the same calibre.To openly slag off a young player for the failure of team as a whole is an example of ignorance which Carragher possesses in abundance.If he felt it appropriate to point the finger at individuals, perhaps he ought to have cited the errors of judgement made by two experienced players in Holding and Cedric in the defeat at Spurs.He has now been added to the list of pundits which I undertake to ignore.
Actually I can agree with him partially but at the same time football is a team game we have to apportion the blame to every players on the field on that day.
I stand to disagree, we lost top 4 cos of Arteta insistence on playing young and rookie Lakonga instead of Elneny when Party was injured. Arteta’s beleive that Lakonga is better than Elneny. If Elneny was to be in our matches vs Brighton, Southampton, and I think Everton where we lost 3 in a row, being the matches we were supposed to win on paper. There was no way Arsenal was ever going to loss those 3 matches if Elneny was involved. That was when we screwed it and lost everything. It was after these 3 games that Elneny was introduced and the Egyptian had to show us what we were missing and how much a costly mistake we made playing Lakonga instead of him in that all important position. Forget about the last games where we lost to Newcastle and Tottenham. I just hope Arteta have realised his mistake today and learn from it. As for Carragher, I know he doesn’t fancy Arsenal a bit and can spit rubbish whenever he has any little opportunity to talk about Arsenal. He’s probably still hasn’t recovered from all the mess Thiery Henry put him through, that’s why the hate. I never liked him either. Carragher and Michael Owen, these two are anti- Arsenal, so I don’t ever mind anything they say.
Nonsense comments. You can never blame a young player who is filling in for an injured player for any result.