Former Arsenal winger Theo Walcott has taken aim at Mikel Arteta, suggesting the manager often relies too heavily on instinct rather than tactical awareness.
Walcott, a former England international, shared his thoughts while urging Arteta to make smarter decisions when selecting his starting lineup. He also called for the immediate inclusion of summer signing Eberechi Eze in Arsenal’s next match.
His remarks come in the aftermath of the Gunners’ narrow 1-0 defeat to Liverpool in the Premier League.
Eze featured off the bench in that game, coming on in the second half to replace Gabriel Martinelli at Anfield, where Liverpool secured all three points.
“The club have really backed Arteta and now he has options everywhere, but he likes to go back to his instinct of ‘we need to stay in the game’,” Walcott said on the latest episode of It’s Called Soccer.
“It was working up to a certain point but that is where you bring on the substitutions a little bit earlier – [Eberechi] Eze did so much more with his first two touches than [Gabriel] Martinelli did.
“I said it a couple of weeks ago when Jack Grealish arrived at Everton and he started the first game on the bench – play them straight away.”
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