Arsenal legend Tony Adams has criticized Oleksandr Zinchenko for his team meeting against Southampton.
The Gunners were expected to overtake bottom club Southampton this past Friday night.
Draws against Liverpool and West Ham United were upsetting, but back at the Emirates against a struggling team, Arsenal were expected to win easily.
However, Southampton didn’t read that script and took a 2-0 lead through Carlos Alcaraz and former gunner Theo Walcott.
Arsenal ace Zinchenko, who was caught on Walcott’s goal, made a surprise step.
The Ukrainian decided to rally his teammates before resuming play, apparently trying to calm nerves in the Arsenal side.
Arsenal ended up drawing 3-3, but only after a miraculous late show from Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka.
Did the meeting work? We’ll probably leave that to the Arsenal players who were involved.
However, Gary Neville was certainly not convinced, calling Zinchenko’s group a ‘bluff’.
It’s not just Neville who wasn’t buying it.
Arsenal legend and former captain Tony Adams has now joined in and criticized the Gunners man.
Adams told The Sun that he had no idea what the team meeting was about after losing 2-0.
Adams felt Zinchenko’s actions were ‘just for show’ and that he should have spoken in the locker room before the game.
“Down 2-0, Zinchenko calls for all the players to come together. What was all that about?” Adams said. “If you have something to say, you do it in the locker room before the game, not in the middle of the game. That’s just for show,” he added.
Adams certainly knows a thing or two about winning titles for Arsenal and being a leader in pressure situations.
Zinchenko has taken a great leadership role with Arsenal ever since. joined for £32m from Manchester City last summer.
Zinchenko, to his credit, has also been in title runs before, and may have just wanted to use his City experience to try and calm down his teammates.
Perhaps it was just to show unity in the group and portray an image of unity, but if Arsenal can come out of the next few weeks with a Premier League title, the fans won’t mind the reunions one bit.
Related topics
