Allardyce takes Unai Emery to the cleaners over Arsenal tactics
Sam Allardyce has criticised new Arsenal boss Unai Emery and bemoaned football’s obsession with playing out from defence.
The Gunners were comfortably beaten by champions Manchester City in Emery’s first game in charge on Sunday, when it was clear that the Spanish coach had instructed goalkeeper Petr Cech and the rest of his players to pass out from the back despite City’s high press.
That approach led to some uncomfortable moments for Arsenal and former England boss Allardyce cannot fathom why Emery would offer such instruction against the champions.
“It is the manager’s fault,” Allardyce told TalkSport when asked about Arsenal’s struggles on Sunday.
“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.”
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