Arsenal hero Emmanuel Petit felt bored and frustrated during the first half of Arsenal’s clash with Manchester City on Sunday, although praised his former club for how they improved after the break.
The visitors were 1-0 up at half-time at the Emirates after Erling Haaland’s opener just nine minutes into the contest.
The Gunners did not achieve a great deal in the first half other than a lot of possession, with Jamie Carragher accusing Mikel Arteta of wasting 45 minutes thanks to a conservative team selection including a midfield three of Declan Rice, Mikel Merino and Martin Zubimendi.
Arteta accepted that things needed to change and replaced Merino with Eberechi Eze at half-time, with the summer signing eventually providing the assist for Gabriel Martinelli’s 93rd minute equaliser as the game ended 1-1.
Petit did not like what he saw from Arsenal before the interval on Sunday, feeling that the team lacked the club’s attacking ‘DNA’ before things changed at half-time.
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‘I was quite bored in the first-half and I was very frustrated when they went back to the dressing room,’ Petit told OLBG. ‘I was expecting a strong reaction from the Gunners in the second-half and this is exactly what they did.
‘I was wondering if they could find the DNA of the club. Being free in attack, having good fluidity between movements and an understanding with the players.
‘You have to give credit to Manchester City as well because I think they defended very well. Tactically, it was a strong performance, they showed composure and character.
‘They were very aggressive from the first minute until the end. A point against City was a fair result – but I had this taste in my mouth thinking that it could have been better.’
Petit, who won the Premier League with Arsenal and World Cup with France in 1998, does rate Arteta as a manager, but says there is ‘no comparison’ between the Gunners boss and the likes of Pep Guardiola and Luis Enrique who he considers the elite.
‘Is Mikel Arteta an elite manager like Pep Guardiola and Luis Enrique? No, he needs to win the title. This is something that he is missing at Arsenal,’ said the Frenchman.
‘I still believe that he is a good manager. He can become a very good manager. He is a good manager, but he is not a top, top manager. He is missing titles, the Premier League or the Champions League.
‘You cannot compare him with Luis Enrique or Pep Guardiola. They have won so many trophies. There is no comparison.’
Arteta has fiercely defended his team selection and style of play, insisting that he had more than enough offensive talent on the pitch from the start on Sunday.
Asked if he felt it was an attacking side he picked against Manchester City, he told a press conference: ‘For sure, you look at the players that we have.
‘Starting from the keeper. A very attacking goalkeeper. The most attacking goalkeeper in the league by far. The centre-backs, in one phase the most attacking one. The two full-backs, you look at every stat, that’s it. Zubimendi.
‘We play, on the right-hand side, with an attacking midfielder who played as a nine last year (Merino). So, how attacking that is. A nine playing in midfield, I haven’t seen it in the league. An attacking midfielder that was a nine.
‘And three front players that are very much attacking, so I think we have a lot of different qualities in our attacking players, some of them more talented in some areas than others in relation to the game that we play.’
On the criticism he has faced from pundits over a perceived negative style of play, Arteta suggests they could be disingenuous and he has actually had loads of people telling him how great he is.
‘And the intention of those comments, which ones are they? Good ones? Positive? To be better for us? Not to be so good for us?’ Arteta asked. ‘So it depends where the comment is coming from I think. That’s when I can analyse it to see what is the intention, what is the purpose of that?
‘I had a lot of things, on my phone, who could not believe what we did to Manchester City. People who are coaches, managers, CEOs, presidents.’
