Neville and Carragher on Arsenal situation that they've 'never seen work'

21 August 2023 , 21:28

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Neville and Carragher on Arsenal situation that they've 'never seen work'

Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher have expressed their doubts over Mikel Arteta 's decision to bring David Raya to Arsenal after Aaron Ramsdale shut out Crystal Palace.

Ramsdale has gone from strength to strengh since joining the Gunners back in the summer of 2021 and played an influential role in their stunning 2022/23 campaign, but that hasn't deterred Arteta from bringing Raya to the Emirates.

The Spaniard excelled during his time at Brentford and was expected to join a bigger club this summer - but as a No.1 rather than a back-up option. And while Arteta has defended his decision to start the season with what is, effectively, two first-choice goalkeepers, Neville and Carragher weren't convinced ahead of their 1-0 win at Selhurst Park.

Assessing the transfer on Sky Sports, Neville explained: "I've said this before, that I'm not a fan of competition for goalkeepers; I think you need a clear No.1 and then a clear No.2. That's my view having experienced it at United [like that].

Carragher then chimed in, adding: "In that situation Gary, normally what you're talking about at Manchester United and other clubs, when the two goalkeepers are equal, normally it's because they're not good enough. That's what it feels [like] to me. You don't normally have a situation where you're seen as having two top goalkeepers."

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Neville then continued, saying: "The problem is, you end up with a situation [where] every time a goalkeeper makes a mistake - which they inevitably do - you end up in a situation where you say: 'Will they then play the next guy the next week'.

Join the debate! Who do you think will end the season as Arsenal's No.1: Ramsdale or Raya? Let us know here.

Aaron Ramsdale kept an impressive clean sheet against Crystal Palace on Monday night (Matthew Ashton/AMA)

"Once you do that once, you've undermined the situation and created what I think is a very difficult situation for everybody in the team: you haven't got stability with your back four and both goalkeepers feel little bit unnerved and anxious that if they make a mistake they're out.

"I'm interested to see what Mikel Arteta does with it and how he manages it, because I've never seen it before work really well."

Ramsdale was kept on his toes in Monday night's slender 1-0 win as the Gunners were forced to play the final 25 minutes of the match with 10 men after Takehiro Tomiyasu was sent off after picking up a dubious second yellow card.

Martin Odegaard 's cool penalty early in the second half proved to be enough for the Gunners, who made it two wins in as many league games.

Dan Marsh