David Raya came in for criticism in Arsenal’s defeat to Newcastle
Jamie Carragher has told managers to ban goalkeepers playing the ball into midfielders running towards their own goal when under pressure, after watching Arsenal concede a goal because of that ploy at Newcastle.
The Magpies beat the Gunners 2-0 at St James’ Park on Wednesday night, completing a comprehensive 4-0 aggregate victory in the Carabao Cup semi-finals.
Eddie Howe’s side will not go on to face either Liverpool or Tottenham in the Wembley final, while Arsenal’s search for silverware goes on.
Newcastle were very impressive as they pressed Arsenal hard, with man-to-man tactics and Howe set centre-back Fabian Schar the task of hounding Declan Rice.
It was a long way for the defender to go to press Arsenal’s deep midfielder, but it paid off in the second half.
Gunners goalkeeper David Raya tried to make a short pass to Rice, who was running back towards his own goal under pressure from Schar.
The 33-year-old showed great energy to slide in on the England man and prod the ball to Anthony Gordon who fired past Raya.
Anthony Gordon scored Newcastle’s second on Wednesday night
The Liverpool legend felt it was a goal conceded of Arsenal’s own making and urged managers to stop telling their goalkeepers to play such passes.
Carragher posted on X: ‘Keepers need to be banned from playing those passes into midfield players.’
Asked about the Magpies’ second goal, Arteta admitted his team were not sharp enough, but not that Raya should not have played the pass.
‘In 50-50 balls, in clearances we had to take touches, we give them another chance as well,’ the Gunners boss told Sky Sports.
‘That needs to improve and today in that aspect we were not at our best.’
He added: ‘They have been more efficient than us in the boxes and that is the difference in the tie. You need to be on the day very efficient that is what takes you close to winning trophies and today we weren’t, Today is painful and tomorrow a different day.’
Mikel Arteta’s side could not handle the intensity of Newcastle
Howe said work on the man-to-man plan only begun on Monday, but praised Schar in particular for pulling it off so impressively.
‘The work started on Monday, which is quick,’ he told Sky Sports. ‘The Champions League last year helped us to work on those two-day turnarounds. We do tweak things depending on the opposition. We felt we needed more height in the team, we wanted solidity at the back and we had to change in order to win the game.
‘The players followed the instruction to the letter, they deserve the credit. Fabian [Schar] had big distances to cover in his job, tracking Declan Rice whether he dropped low or went wide or went central. At times he went right across the pitch. He is a good athlete and is very capable of doing it.’
Eddie Howe and his players are heading back to Wembley
Newcastle captain Bruno Guimaraes hailed the work of Howe, saying: ‘For me, the manager is amazing. He deserves the credit.’
Gordon added: ‘We felt good going into the game after the result in the first leg but we knew the first goal was always going to be massive. If they got the first it would have got really tense I imagine, so I’m glad we got that.
‘Everyone knows we don’t change much. We are always going to press and try to put teams under pressure. The gaffer altered it a little bit, I played inside a bit more, and they struggled with it on the counter attack because they’ll couldn’t really pick me and Murph up and Alex [Isak] does what Alex does. I think the gaffer deserves all the credit.’
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