Gary Neville has urged Mikel Arteta to get rid of the club's 'emotional' defenders and sign 'ice cold' ones in the transfer window instead, if he wants to be a success at the club.
Arsenal had back-to-back defeats against Manchester City and Brighton, in a very turbulent return to the Premier League, with their defenders notably making massive errors in the games.
The main culprit was David Luiz, who was so crucial to Arsenal's 3-0 defeat against Man City, handing Raheem Sterling a goal, getting sent off and giving City a penalty.
The former Manchester United defender, Gary Neville, had a lot to say about the Arsenal defence, claiming that Arteta cannot 'trust' the defenders that he currently has, regardless of how much he revamps the defensive shape.
Neville claimed that Arsenal have been untrustworthy "for years", and that Arteta should get rid of those "emotional" defenders that have troubled the club for so long, and instead get more "ice cold" defenders.
"Mikel Arteta - we should still say that the shape Arsenal are playing, the shape defensively I think is better than it was previously but the individuals within that will let you down."
Adding to this, Neville said that "It doesn't matter how well you coach the shape, if you get exposed one on one or defenders make mistakes - as we saw in that game against Manchester City and against Brighton - then you're just going to get punished."
"They just need defenders with better concentration. Jamie [Carragher] mentioned about Dejan Lovren being emotional."
Neville also said that Sir Alex Ferguson had said that "there were elements of me that were emotional sometimes as a player and he would knock it right out of me. He said I hate emotional defenders. He wants his defenders to be ice cold."
Neville also pointed out the fundamental mistake that Arsenal defenders make, as "You are going to make mistakes as a goalkeeper and a defender but it's then that second mistake. That one where you try to win it back and you give that penalty away. It's where you try to win it and you can't win it."
He also stated that "Delaying helps because your team-mates sometimes get back."
At Arsenal, there are "too many defenders who try to win the first ball, who try nad dive in and we've seen that with Arsenal's defenders over the years, with David Luiz and Mustafi, Sokratis when he plays."
If Arsenal are to improve, they badly need reinforcements at the heart of the defence, with none of their centre-backs sparking any sort of confidence in fans that they can get the job done.
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