Roy Keane has highlighted a worrying issue for Arsenal following their 1-0 defeat to Manchester City in the fourth round of the FA Cup.
The two Premier League title chasers met each other for the first time this season and it was the Cityzens who emerged as winners.
Nathan Ake scored the only goal of the game to hand Manchester City a 1-0 win in a game that proved to be a tight affair.
Following the game, Roy Keane highlighted that Arsenal midfielder Albert Sambi Lokonga was nowhere near good enough.
The Belgium international was introduced by Mikel Arteta as a second-half substitute, replacing Thomas Partey.
However, the former Anderlecht midfielder cost the Gunners with his poor positional play, resulting in the winner for Manchester City.
Arsenal legend Ian Wright claimed that Lokonga’s lack of playing time is resulting in his poor understanding of the game. He told ITV, as quoted by The Mirror:
“It felt like that, but you see with someone like Sambi, he needs to be playing, he needs minutes. He needs to be able to understand and be more wary of where he is and what he needs to do, where he needs to be.”
“You’ve got to try and sense that danger and that’s why he needs minutes in games of this quality, because that’s where you’ll learn.”
Roy Keane responded to Wright’s remarks by claiming Lokonga needs to do better. Keane said:
“But at this stage, at that level, they’ve already learnt that part of the game. It’s a big concern. When you get beaten in a football match you’re going to feel that way. The players are going to be down for the next few days, I know they’ll recover and if Arsenal want to win the league they’ll say listen, we had to sacrifice this game.”
He added:
“When you make that many changes – particularly defensively – you’re sending a message that’s saying we’re kind of not that bothered, which is not a good message to send.”
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink makes an interesting claim on the Arsenal-Manchester City title race
Chelsea legend Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink has backed Manchester City to win the Premier League title this season ahead of Arsenal.
However, he has admitted that the Gunners are close to changing his mind. He told SafeBettingSites:
“Arsènal are doing so well and they keep on surprising me. They’re doing great and playing really good football but I do think they’re going to have a bad time of maybe two or three losses and then we’ll see how they react.”
He added:
“My favourites are still Manchester City but I’m getting closer and closer to saying that perhaps it is going to be Arsènal’s year.”