Keown says Arteta’s decision making is contributing to Arsenal’s problems

Martin Keown has been as frustrated as most Arsenal fans these days and he cannot help but talk about his former club and the state they find themselves in.

The pundit spoke about them again recently as they continue to struggle for form.

They have lost seven of their last 10 league games and are currently just four points off the relegation zone.

Their current form means that they can easily fall into the drop zone within the next two games if things don’t get better.

The club’s board and players have been blamed for their current poor form and Mikel Arteta’s job seems to be at risk.

However, Keown thinks that the Spaniard is also a part of the problem at the club right now.

He criticized him for allowing Emiliano Martinez to leave the club and replacing him with the underperforming Rúnar Alex Rúnarsson who had a disaster class midweek against Man City.

He also called him out for rushing Thomas Partey and Gabriel Martinelli back from injury.

‘It’s turned into a crisis and the manager has joined in with really unusual decisions,’ Keown told talkSPORT.

‘He played the young kid [Runarsson] last night, no-one likes to see that [the mistakes], but I don’t believe his performance was a surprise.

‘If Leno gets injured, having allowed Martinez to leave, they’ve left themselves wide open from the goalkeeping point of view.

‘Just keep it simple! Martinez was outstanding last season. It’s looking at decisions in key moments, Partey coming back after a few days’ training and now he’s out for months.

‘The support base around the manager has got to help him when it comes to every single decision.

‘I was screaming at the telly last night – Martinelli, a fantastic talent, down injured for five minutes before half-time.

‘Don’t bring him back out, please don’t bring him out… he comes back out and lasts about two minutes. Make the right decisions! He’s [Arteta] under massive pressure at the moment.’

Tags Martin Keown Mikel Arteta

9 Comments

  1. Martinellis injury was nothing more than a kick on the shin which swelled up ,nothing to do with his previous problem.
    Partey was brought back because the medical team deemed him fit .
    Both of these incidents had nothing to do with Arteta and him rushing them back ,if he’s told by the medical team they are ready then he is obviously going to play them.
    The goalkeeper incident is pretty simple ,he played a second string team and he is our 2 nd choice keeper .
    Without selling Martinez we probably wouldn’t have signed Partey ,I know what choice I would have taken if I had the choice ,we did t need 2 keepers (one which was moaning)but we definitely needed a defensive midfielder .

      1. Dan, I agree completely with you regarding the injuries – the one question I would ask him though, is why play a very raw keeper in the quarter finals of a cup… against a team like City?
        How did this game not warrant Leno between the sticks is incomprehensible to me, made worse by MA knowing that he was playing three defenders in front of him, who were also reserves?

        This guy must be absolutely wrecked by the abuse he is getting from the fans, so much so, he has deleted his on line account!!!

        Happy Christmas one and all, stay safe and well.

  2. He played young kid” for God sake Alex Runnar is 25 years old. It is not like he is 18 years. Why is everyone calling him a kid.

  3. Its easy to criticize a mans decisions when you are looking on from the outside.Does Keown have the amount of information that Arteta has on his players?From their state of mind,to training data,to health data,to how they respond to instructions….

  4. Arteta is culpable in a lot of bad decisions, Martinelli brought back on in second half only to last four minutes. Partey bought back far too soon and now out for goodness sake how long, been reported could be months. The biggest mistake was buying the worst keeper in the French second division who had the worst stats in the league and then playing him against city. One of the worst keepers I’ve ever seen who’s only skill appears to be being able to kick the ball a long way. Martinez is a far better keeper than Leno in all respects and should have played the first games of the season instead of Leno. Need more bad decisions? Well, how about begging for Willian to be signed and constantly playing him when he is clearly past it. Giving Luiz another contract. Stopping Xhaka and Mustafi from leaving. The list is never ending, one bad decision after another.

  5. Arteta is a good coach. But he has a lot of questions to answer. If the truth be said, he has lost the dressing room. Believe it or not, there is a subtle conspiracy against him. Arsenal is dominating games only to miss clear chances or Sloppy defensive errors including two own goals in two consecutive matches. The players that we have are quality enough to at list maintain a reasonable position on log standing. Let us not underestimate the influence of Ozil even when he is not in the team. I knew that the way Arteta is treating Ozil would come back to haunt him. Those players are definitely in solidarity with Ozil. I like Arteta as a coach but unfortunately he may not be able steer that team for now. Sacking him is the only solution now. He has done the same mistake Emery did and indeed he had go..

  6. I wish there was a hugely rich Arsenal supporter with a football brain who would buy the club from Kroenke.
    Christmas wish list

  7. I agree with Keown. Arteta’s basically falling on his own sword.

    His persistence with Willian, Xhaka, and Bellerin is a proof that he has double standards and is a dishonest person. All are equal but some are more equal than others at Arsenal Football Club.

    Is that the change in mentality? If so, it’s a no from me.

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