Patrick Vieira criticised Arsenal for failing to play with ‘freedom’ after they suffered a damaging 3-2 defeat against Manchester United.
On a dramatic afternoon at the Emirates Stadium, Matheus Cunha’s explosive late strike won the day for Michael Carrick’s side who backed up last weekend’s derby victory with another morale-boosting display.
Mikel Arteta’s side thought they had at least maintained their unbeaten home record this season when substitute Mikel Merino poached an 84th minute equaliser, but the Gunners are now looking nervously over their shoulders in the Premier League title race.
The gap to Manchester City and Aston Villa now stands at just four points and although they still maintain an advantage, the jittery nature of recent games against Liverpool, Nottingham Forest and now United is giving serious cause for concern.
Vieira in particular urged the need for wide players Bukayo Saka and Leandro Trossard to produce more after both wingers struggled to create goalscoring opportunities against United.
‘They are still four points clear but there is still some questions about the mental strength of the team and I think that performance will be very disappointing,’ he said.
‘It’s not the fact that they lost. It’s the way they lost the game.
‘There was a lack of creativity, they didn’t do enough I think Saka on the right or Trossard on the left didn’t produce enough to create danger for United.
‘This situation you need a leader to lift the spirit of the team. There will be this moment where you need somebody to make them understand that when they are the field they have to play.
‘This is a team full of quality and to play with more energy and take more risk because they have got the quality. They didn’t’ play with freedom to express themselves.’
Vieira added: ‘Some of the players need to perform at their best, there was too many players who didn’t perform today.
‘It was a must win game because it was important to send a message to show we wanted to win and our performance could send a message to the rest of the teams in the league.
‘I think Saka was too quiet, he’s one of if not the best offensive players and big games like that you expect him to take the team and perform.
‘Trossard is an important player as well but didn’t perform. Up front I though Jesus ran a lot and spent a lot of energy but you want him to focus to be more inside the box.
‘In the midfield the only one was Declan Rice he’s winning balls and bringing energy but there were too many players who were below their level.’
