Neville reveals ‘controversial opinion’ about Arsenal midfielder Jorginho in Man Utd win
Gary Neville revealed his “controversial opinion” about the Arsenal midfield as Mikel Arteta’s side beat Manchester United on Wednesday.
The Gunners struggled to break a stubborn Manchester United down at the Emirates, eventually finding a way through from two corners in the second half to cut Liverpool’s lead to seven points at the top of the Premier League as the Reds drew 3-3 with Newcastle.
Thomas Partey started at the base of midfield behind Martin Odegaard and Declan Rice against the Red Devils and Neville believes that was key to their lack of penetration.
Jorginho has been a bit-part player for Arsenal since his £12m move from Chelsea in the summer of 2023 but Neville believes the Gunners are a “better” team when the Italy international is dictating play from his deep-lying role.
“Controversial opinion but I think Arsenal are better when Jorginho plays in midfield instead of Thomas Partey,” Neville said on a live Arsenal vs Manchester United watchalong on The Overlap.
“We saw it last year when he [Mikel Arteta] brought him in to that holding position. He gets Arsenal playing in that role.
“I like him in there. I think they’re a better team, football-wise, when he plays. He knows how to play that position and [Declan] Rice has got the legs to cover in and around him.”
Arsenal legend Ian Wright added: “Because he [Jorginho] was so good, you could have started him and brought Partey on when he ran out of steam.”
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Neville has incurred the wrath of Arsenal fans over his thoughts on Gunners set-piece coach Nicolas Jover.
Neville said: “The set-piece coach at Arsenal, he’s got to be the most annoying bloke in football.
“He’s got to be, hasn’t he? He’s got to be though, hasn’t he?”
Fellow pundit Jamie Carragher added: “I’ll tell you what, give him what he wants.
“If you was that set-piece coach for Arsenal, you could write your own contract, couldn’t you? You couldn’t get rid of him.
“You know, if he said, “I want 25 grand a week”, you’d have to give it to him, wouldn’t you?”
Speaking about Jover’s role at Arsenal earlier this week, Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta said: “He’s a very special person and obviously someone very close to me. I went to war for him at City because I felt there was a big room for improvement in that department.
“I contacted him and I suggested to Pep (for him) to come and help us. Since then we’ve been extremely close.
“We share a clear vision of how we want to put everything together, about how everything is connected, aligned and can work efficiently in our team.
“There are a lot of other people who put a lot of effort and thought and hours into that, but for sure he is someone who is very, very important for the team.”
