Big Sam criticises Emery’s ‘utter rubbish’ approach
Sam Allardyce has criticised new Arsenal boss Unai Emery and bemoaned the game’s obsession with playing out from the back.
The Gunners faced champions Manchester City in Emery’s first game in charge on Sunday, when it was clear that the Spanish boss had instructed Petr Cech and the rest of his players to pass out from defence despite City’s talent in pressing opponents near their own goal.
The approach led to some uncomfortable moments 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.
“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.”
