Paul Scholes has joined Gary Neville and Paul Merson in criticising Mikel Arteta for making a decision which they claim led to Arsenal 's downfall against Manchester United.
The Gunners suffered a deflating deflating 3-1 defeat at Old Trafford on Sunday, with Arteta choosing to make a drastic triple substitution after Marcus Rashford gave United the lead on 66 minutes. Despite the game being far from out of the Arsenal's reach and Bukayo Saka equalising only six minutes prior, teammates Emile Smith Rowe, Eddie Nketiah and Fabio Vieira were promptly hauled on in place of Martin Odegaard, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Albert Sambi Lokonga, giving the Gunners a more attacking lineup.
But Arteta's "bold" tactical shift left Arsenal exposed defensively, and Rashford soon capitalised by scoring his second and United's third. Neville questioned the Arsenal manager's decision during the game, while Merson described it as a "knee-jerk reaction."
And Scholes agrees with his fellow pundits, claiming that Arteta's "shocking" decision "ruined" the Gunners' chances or maintaining their 100 per cent start to the new Premier League season or at least salvaging a draw. "I was surprised with the substitutes Arsenal made in the second half," the United legend admitted on Premier League productions post-match.
"I thought they were in complete control of the game and making chances. But as soon as he made the subs, they seem to lose that a little. Then [Christian] Eriksen was getting on the ball and [Bruno] Fernandes ' great pass for Marcus.
"The subs were shocking. It ruined the game for him. I thought they were going great. They didn't need to change. [Gabriel] Jesus looked dangerous. [Gabriel] Martinelli looked dangerous. I thought Saka looked dangerous. Then the subs seemed to stop all the momentum of the game."
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Scholes' verdict echoed Neville's, who declared during the game while on live commentary for Sky Sports : "You have to say when Mikel Arteta made those substitutes, I either thought it'd be a 5-1 or a 3-2 because it looked so bold but the space that Christian Eriksen has is absolutely incredible.
"Arsenal, did they need to go so desperate so early? It's onside. Eriksen's onside, Rashford's onside. There's bold but I have to say, this could be four or 5-1 or it could just be a mess for United the other way and Arsenal could score two or three. It looks like it's going to be the former."
The former United captain later added: "The three substitutions at once, I thought it was strange, because it was a bit of kitchen-sink job which you can get done on the counter-attack - which they did.
"I don't think they needed to do that in the game, there was still 20 minutes in the game, they were still working chances, Manchester United's goal on the counter was against the run of play then all of a sudden the game became easier for Manchester United than Arsenal with those subs."
Merson gave his take after full-time, also bemoaning Arteta's substitutions. " They were dominant for that first 15 minutes [of the second half], it was one way traffic, they were going through them like a knife through butter," the ex-Arsenal midfielder claimed. praising his old team's performance before the change of approach. " For me, it was a knee-jerk reaction with 20 minutes to go."
The Gunners boss didn't agree with the criticism, however, having been asked whether or not it was a "gamble" to bring on three attack-minded players. "No, that was part of the options we have and in the way we want to play. They're players we believed could have an effect but they didn't have any time, they scored straight after," Arteta affirmed.
"I don't think [it made us more open], the way we were playing we had the same number of players in the back line against the last players they had. We have other profiles but I don't think that was the case."
