Paul Merson has criticised Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta for his reaction to Max Dowman, following the 16-year-old’s red card at Fleetwood.
Dowman was sent off as Arsenal crashed out of the Carabao Cup to the fourth-tier side, after reacting to a strong challenge from the home side. As the teenager left the pitch, Arteta was visibly unhappy as he leaned in to say something to the teenager.
Arsenal eventually lost on penalties to suffer a humbling cup exit, and Merson hit out at Arteta for his failure to ‘put an arm around’ Dowman. He questioned whether the Arsenal manager would have reacted in the same way to a senior name.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Merson said: “If that’s [Viktor] Gyokeres, who’s an experienced international, he [Arteta] isn’t doing that – but he does that to a 16-year-old kid?
“He’s not the last person to get sent off for Arsenal, nor the first. If it was me, I’d have put my arm around him. It’s still 1-1, they’re still in the game.
“We all say things in life we wish we hadn’t and if he [Arteta] could have that back, he’d do it differently.”
On the incident, Arteta said his words were ‘something’ discussed before the game. He added that he had told his squad to ‘expect’ the home side to test them ’emotionally’.
“We knew when we prepared the context of the match, we were very clear on the things to expect, the things that emotionally we have to dominate.”
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