Legendary former Arsenal captain Tony Adams has questioned the leadership of Mikel Arteta’s side as they head to Manchester City for the blockbuster title clash.
Tony Adams speaks about Arsenal ahead of Sunday’s match against Man City (Image: Alexandra Arlett)
Tony Adams has doubts about Arsenal’s leadership ahead of their title win against Manchester City.
Arsenal legend Adams insisted earlier this season that Declan Rice should wear the armband rather than club captain Martin Odegaard.
Gunners manager Mikel Arteta has staunchly defended Odegaard’s captaincy, revealing that after consulting his players and holding a straw vote, they all wanted the Norwegian midfielder to continue as captain.
But Adams scoffed at that, suggesting the players were just paying lip service, and asked why they needed a manager if the players were going to decide anyway.
Former Arsenal and England captain Adams said: “After I made the comment about Odegaard, Arteta went to the players and said: ‘Who do you want to be your captain?’ And they all left…well, they’re not going to tell him that, are they? “We love Odegaard!” Hooray!
read more: Arsenal and England icon Tony Adams beats ‘insidious’ plague that invades dressing roomread more: Mikel Arteta and Arsenal need to make a statement against Man City to avoid another heartbreak
“Then why do we need a manager? They choose a captain, build a relationship of trust, assign vice-captains, etc., and build a bond.
“I think Declan is a leader. I think he’s a super leader and a super player. I’ve said it many times, but I think he should be captain of Arsenal anyway. Gabriel, these are the players for Arsenal.”
Odegaard has missed most of this season through injury and Arsenal have never needed him more than now to get them through a difficult situation.
Their title challenge could hinge on Sunday’s showdown with rivals City, with Arsenal’s wheels falling off since losing to Josep Guardiola’s side in the Carabao Cup final.
Declan Rice wears the armband in Martin Odegaard’s absence
Adams highlighted the game as a difference in leadership between the two teams. City’s Rodri and Bernardo Silva received Guardiola’s message on the pitch, but Arsenal simply did not respond.
“I watched that game and I saw the relationship between Silva and Pep,” Adams said. “I saw the chemistry there right away, and it seemed like there was a leader there and if I had a problem, he would help me.
“It didn’t look the same at Arsenal. You didn’t see Arteta saying, ‘Go right, it’s 10 minutes into the second half. We’re struggling and we can’t get out. The left-back is coming through.’
“We were away at Leeds at the time and it was press, press, press. We had their end behind us and they were coming at us and we were trying to win the ball and play in behind and Arsene yelled ‘Tony, wake up!’
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger and club captain Tony Adams lifting the Premier League trophy in 1998 (Image: Ben Radford /Allsport)
“Okay, I said to the goalie, ‘Push ups.’” He pushed to the halfway line and began to reverse his opponents. Understood. But in my opinion, there was no relationship with anyone that would allow him to do that on the pitch.
“When I said Odegaard, it was at the beginning of the season when I thought he just needed the freedom to play without adding anything extra. So when you talk about leadership, it’s very difficult, as you know, things have changed and I used to rely on the manager.
“I was the first one to go to training every morning. Back then, we were all free to express our opinions and sit around the table and discuss things. Then we could do whatever George wanted!”
Adams played in George Graham’s famous back four and not only kept clean sheets but also had his own unique set-piece routine.
At the time, Arsenal had a routine where Steve Bould would flick on at the near post and Adams would attack at the back. Now, Adams says he doesn’t realize that all the pushing and pulling at set-pieces is an art, or defense.
Adams is not a fan of modern tactics from set-pieces (Image: Getty)
Mr. Adams added. “I think the game is a lot different. I think the game is a lot different. It’s faster. There’s less physical contact. The level of set pieces and the contact and blocking has gone too far.”
“I used to use blocks. I was talking the other day about when I was 93 and the donkey won the Derby. Andy Linihan ran inside and blocked Neil Ruddock and I went around the back and free as a dog – bang, in you go. I don’t know if free as a dog is the word, but it’s now.”
“I scored a header and in the FA Cup final I blocked Andy and he scored the winning goal against Sheffield Wednesday, so we took advantage of that and Viv Anderson taught me how to do it when I was at Forest, to be honest, he used to beat people.
“During the ’89 season, we had a little bit of a competition. He had five points. I think I had six. But before, we used to block each other. But now, if you’re teaching your defenders how to defend from the corner… it used to be the ball, guys.”
“What’s that song? ‘Look Over Your Shoulder’?” Who sang it? But we always did. Ball and player, ball and player. Now just grab yourself. How do you teach that to a defender? What does that mean? ”
Tony Adams’ new book ‘1996: Looking back at the year that changed my life’ is published
Join our new WhatsApp community and receive Mirror Football content every day. Community members also receive special offers, promotions, and advertisements from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can always check out. If you are interested, please read our privacy notice.
Sky Sports, HBO Max, Netflix, Disney+ and Ultimate TV packages
Sky has upgraded its Ultimate TV and Sky Sports bundles to include HBO Max, Netflix, Disney+, discovery+ and Hayu, plus 135 channels and complete coverage of the Premier League and EFL from Sky.
Sky has over 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more, with at least 215 of them live from the top flight, along with F1, darts and golf.
