Arsenal look like they’ve “almost gone back 20 years” in terms of their style of play, according to Paul Scholes.
The Gunners were in Premier League action against Manchester City on Sunday, with both sides playing out a 1-1 draw.
Erling Haaland opened the scoring for Man City, but Gabriel Martinelli equalised late on to secure a point for Arsenal.
Some fans and pundits – such as Gary Neville and Theo Walcott – accused Arteta of being too cautious in the game.
And Paul Scholes went even further in his criticism.
Scholes, speaking on The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast (via TDR), claimed that Arsenal were playing like a team from 20 years ago.
The Manchester United legend also suggested that Arteta and Pep Guardiola have both succumbed to the “English mentality”, namely that of safety first.
Scholes suggested both managers served up “the worst style of football” available, but they “get away with it” somewhat due to them being foreign managers.
“Yeah, it was a very negative team, I thought,” Scholes said of Arteta. “He’s almost gone back 20 years.
“And I know he’s been in England a long time, but it feels like we’ve almost brought an English mentality to him, if you know what I mean.
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“Just be cautious at first. Be safe and try to get through the game against a City team that is not… this isn’t a Pep Guardiola team anyway, is it?
“Well, it is, but again, he’s probably (doing) the same thing as well.
“He’s been here 10 years. We’ve almost turned him into an English coach watching yesterday [Sunday]. Do you know what I mean?
“If there had been two English coaches, we’d have been saying, ‘Worst coaches ever. The worst style of football we’ve ever seen.’
“But because it was them two [Arteta and Pep], they get away with it a little bit, don’t they?”
