Gary Neville lays into Mikel Arteta’s struggling Arsenal defenders

Gary Neville has criticised the quality of Arsenal‘s defenders, saying Mikel Arteta must buy new ones in the transfer market if they are to have any chance of closing the gap on the top four.

Frailties in the Gunners defence have not gone away over the coronavirus suspension with Arteta’s side losing both of their two games since the Premier League resumed earlier this month.

They were battered at Manchester City and were then beaten late on against Brighton on Saturday to leave their hopes of finishing in a European place this season hanging by a thread. 

Gary Neville has criticised the quality of Arsenal’s defenders, saying you cannot ‘trust them’

David Luiz (L) and Shkodran Mustafi have both struggled since the Premier League restarted

David Luiz endured a calamitous evening at the Etihad Stadium, gifting City the opening goal before getting sent off last week, while Shkodran Mustafi and Rob Holding struggled to keep Brighton under wraps. 

Speaking on the Gary Neville Podcast, the Sky Sports pundit insisted there is only so far Arteta can take this group of defenders before he will need to address the problem in the transfer market.

He explained: ‘We’ve all said it. Mikel Arteta – we should still say that the shape Arsenal are playing, the shape they have defensively I think is better than it was previously but the individuals within that will let you down.  

‘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.

‘Sir Alex Ferguson – 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 believes Mikel Arteta need to buy players with better concentration to fix the problem

Neville added: ‘You are going to make mistakes as a goalkeeper and a defender, but then it’s that second mistake. It’s that one where you try and win it back and you give that penalty away. It’s where you try and win it and you can’t win it.

‘It’s about just dropping your ego sometimes as a defender and delaying helps because your team-mates sometimes come back. You get too many defenders who try to win the first ball, who try and dive in, and we’ve seen that with Arsenal’s defenders over the years.

‘David Luiz, Shkodran Mustafi and Sokratis Papastathopoulos, when he plays. They dive in, they like to challenge when it is not there to challenge.

‘They feel they have to win the ball and sometimes it’s not there to win.’   

Eyebrows were raised earlier this week when David Luiz agreed a shock new one-year contract with Arsenal. 

Luiz surprisingly agreed a new contract to remain at Arsenal for another year earlier this week

The Brazilian drew heavy criticism for his error strewn cameo performance against City but that did not prevent Arsenal handing him a fresh deal.

Team-mate Cedric Soares has also agreed a four-year contract after making his loan from Southampton permanent while fellow defender Pablo Mari, who is out for up to four months with ankle ligament damage, has also joined on a permanent deal from Flamengo.

The Gunners take on Southampton on Thursday night desperate to try and end their woeful form since the Premier League restarted.

Arsenal go into the game in the bottom half of the table in 11th, five points behind seventh-placed Tottenham.