Sam Allardyce has slated new Arsenal manager Unai Emery’s tactical approach during his sides 2-0 defeat to Manchester City yesterday at the Emirates yesterday.
Emery had clearly instructed his players to play out from the back, but this only seemed to play into the hands of Manchester City’s high press, with the Gunners quite often coughing up possession in dangerous areas.
Former England boss Allardyce reckons trying to play the ball out from the back against a team as good as Pep Guardiola’s is just asking for trouble.
“It is the manager’s fault,” Allardyce told TalkSport.
“Don’t ask somebody to do against Man City what you shouldn’t do. You shouldn’t play out like that against Manchester City.
“What do Manchester City do? They press, press, press so why do you try and play out when they press, press, press?
“Even the Arsenal crowd cheered when Cech dropped one in the opposition’s half.
“We are getting obsessed with this stupid ‘let’s play out from the back, split the centre halves either side of the 18-yard box and go and play from there’… it’s utter rubbish to play like that all of the time.
“When you’re the best at it [like City] then you can do it.”
