Former Manchester United star Paul Scholes has defended his position on Arsenal’s Premier League title status despite the Gunners’ breakthrough in the league and Champions League.
Manchester United’s Paul Scholes defends his position against Arsenal (Image: Stick to Football)
Manager Paul Scholes has doubled down on his comments that Arsenal will not be a great team even if they win the Premier League this season. The former Manchester United player explained why, despite former captain Ian Wright bursting into laughter when Scholes’ previous comments were read out by Gary Neville.
Arsenal are currently aiming to win the Premier League and will face Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final. With games remaining against West Ham, Burnley and Crystal Palace, Mikel Arteta’s side are clear favorites to turn the season in the table into their first title in more than 20 years.
The north London side have so far failed to convince Scholes of his quality. The 11-time Premier League champion flashed a cheeky grin as he heard his old critics come back to haunt him.
But it was Wright who thought it was the funniest, laughing out loud and resting his head on the table as Neville spoke Scholes’ words. “If Arsenal won the league, you wouldn’t feel like they were the best team. You would feel like the rest of the teams were the worst.”
But former England international Scholes had no intention of stepping down from his position. “I stand for a lot of things,” he said.
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“I don’t think they’re the best champions we’ve ever seen. I don’t think we’ll be talking about this team for years to come.”
“Arsenal fans, that’s what they do…” exclaimed Wright.
“I had some second thoughts,” Scholes admitted. “In recent years people have been calling them bottlers, but it takes a while to get there. I remember when City came and I always remember you (Neville) saying, ‘City is coming, City is coming’ when we finished second, third and fourth in the league.”
Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal are being backed to win the Premier League and Champions League this season (Image: (Photo by David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images))
“I always think we don’t need to beat the top teams, we don’t beat City, we don’t beat Liverpool. These teams have been the best teams in the last five or six years. I think that’s why teams don’t talk about how great they are. I know it’s okay if we don’t win those games, but to be a great team you have to beat great teams.”
“But it could happen in the next few years,” Roy Keane offered.
“There’s plenty of opportunity,” Scholes replied. “I think that’s going to make them a great team.
“I’m talking about this year when they win the league. They couldn’t beat City, they couldn’t beat Liverpool, United would have beaten them.”
Wright then came to his former team’s defense, suggesting some of the club’s best form from earlier in the season had been forgotten. Experts believe that recent scrutiny of the team has clouded people’s judgment.
“The way the season started, the way Arsenal started, I think it was after 45 minutes and Gary said, ‘It’s over, Arsenal will do it.’ We were playing really well.
“Nobody talks about that phase of the season when Arsenal were dominating the defense, dominating the midfield and scoring goals. When they get to that place, all the criticism comes. The manager, what is he doing with all the gimmicks? Everything, this player is injured, he’s not fit. Is[Eberechi]Eze going to do it? It all happened at a time when people were calling us bottlers and Arsenal were trying to get it done.”
“You know righty, right? It’s not about being popular, right?” Keene said. “If you’re in the Arsenal camp, they’re not as good to watch as Man City, but they’ve got to do it their way. If you look at the table, look at the number of wins, the number of goals they’ve scored, the number of goals they’ve scored. You have to give them a thumbs up for that.”
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Scholes agreed with his former teammate. “It doesn’t matter how you play. If we were playing as a team and we didn’t play great and you won the league, who cares?” he said.
“They deserve everything they get. What I’m saying is that they’re not fun to watch. They’re not a team that I would consider a ‘great team’. For years I sat back and thought, ‘What a good team,’ even with Liverpool last year and with Jurgen Klopp, but I don’t think that’s the case with Arsenal.
“You can win in many different ways, and of course you can. It doesn’t matter how you win. What I’m saying is, they’re not the team I watch.”
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