Arsene Wenger’s selection has been at the centre of much talk since he decided to drop Arsenal’s record signing Alexandre Lacazette from the starting line-up against Manchester City, and Emmanuel Petit has continued on that.
The French defender also claims that it was a strange decision to field midfielder Francis Coquelin as a makeshift centre-back in such a big match, but he praises Wenger in a way for trying something different.
Petit said; “Why did he start with Francis Coquelin in central defence? He was booed in the Europa League game, so couldn’t have gone into the game with much confidence.
“It’s a strange decision when you’re facing the most dangerous attacking side in the league.
“To be fair to Arsène, he tried something different – but it was a mistake. Arsenal never really threatened City in the first half.
“Another mistake was not starting with Alexandre Lacazette. He’s a natural goalscorer and physical presence in the penalty area.
“Alexis Sanchez’s work rate, vision and technique are good, but something was missing.”
Every pundit and his family appears to be talking about Wenger’s decision to leave Lacazette on the bench, but he may have had less impact when starting the match, although Olivier Giroud being on the bench should have been enough fresh legs up front to make that similar impact from the bench,
I do feel we were unlucky to lose to a penalty and an offside goal, although the penalty decision for me was correct, although I don’t feel we needed Monreal to take Sterling down as he didn’t appear to have great control over the ball at the time.
Did Coquelin struggle at centre-back? Does Wenger’s selection deserve THIS much criticism given how unlucky we were to be on the end of a 3-1 loss?
Pat J