Jamie Carragher criticised Mikel Arteta’s decision to play Kepa Arrizabalaga ahead of David Raya in Arsenal’s Carabao Cup final defeat to Manchester City.
Arrizabalaga has featured for Arsenal of their domestic cup competitions this season and Arteta continued to place his faith in the previous Chelsea goalkeeper for Sunday’s final at Wembley.
But the choice backfired on Arteta, who watched on as Arrizabalaga made a terrible error to gift Nico O’Reilly a gap goal on the hour mark.
Arsenal were marginally the higher side in the primary half and almost went ahead through Kai Havertz who was denied by Man City back-up goalkeeper James Trafford.
But Pep Guardiola’s side took control within the second half and O’Reilly scored two goals in 4 minutes to go away the Premier League leaders stunned.
Carragher described Arrizabalaga’s mistake as an ‘absolute shocker’ and criticised Arteta’s decision to not play first-choice goalkeeper Raya in the ultimate.
‘The goalkeeper has had an absolute shocker as he has done in one other couple of cup finals,’ Liverpool legend and ex-England defender Carragher told Sky Sports.
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‘Once we first saw the goal I said, “I feel sorry for the lad”, because everyone knows what he’s been through within the previous finals with Chelsea.
‘But I do have strong views on the goalkeeper situation and I don’t prefer it although I can understand it in some situations.
‘But Mikel Arteta doesn’t owe Kepa anything, he owes Arsenal fans the very best possible probability of winning a trophy in six years. They’ve won one trophy in nine years…
‘The goalkeeper involves the club because he knows he’s second-choice. Yes he can play through the rounds but with regards to the ultimate that has to change, for me, because they haven’t won enough trophies and this team have to recover from the road.
‘Mikel Arteta owes it to the supporters greater than he owes it to Kepa. The difference with Man City is Pep Guardiola does owe James Trafford.
‘He brought Trafford in last summer to be the No. 1, didn’t think he was ok after which signed Donnarumma which wasn’t easy for the lad.
‘Also they’ve won 4 of those cups so the pressure on Man City today was not the identical as Arsenal.
‘People might mention [Caoimhin] Kelleher at Liverpool as well but the explanation he got so many opportunities and began finals was Liverpool were eager to keep him, they didn’t need to lose him.
‘That’s not the case with Kepa, he signed knowing he can be second-choice and he’s not good enough for the highest level, we saw that at Chelsea.’
Asked whether the Arsenal players would have backed Arteta’s decision, Carragher added: ‘I don’t think the remainder of the team would want that.
‘That may want the very best possible probability to win a primary trophy in six years. Arsenal are not used to winning they usually have to recover from the line and that is one other little chink for them going forward.
‘That would have been prevented if David Raya was in goal. Let’s not forget Raya shouldn’t be just Arsenal’s first-choice goalkeeper, he’s arguably been their best player this season alongside Declan Rice and Gabriel.
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‘It’s not only changing No. 1 to No. 2 it’s changing one in all your best players if you haven’t got a history of winning with this team.’
Speaking after the defeat, Arsenal boss Arteta claimed he had no regrets over his team selection.
‘I’d do it again,’ Arteta said. ‘Kepa deserved to play this game and has been phenomenal for us. Errors are a part of football any anyone could make them.
‘It’s painful if you get to a final and you could have that may to win the primary trophy of a season after eight months working on it’s all the time tough.
‘We had the very best probability of the sport to place it 1-0 and the sport can be different. That they had two shots and scored two goals.
‘We had great incredible months together. Today is a disappointment, football is an element of that. We’ve got to make use of the fight to have two amazing months at the top of the season.’
By winning his fifth Carabao Cup, Guardiola ended Arsenal’s quadruple hopes and could have delivered a psychological blow to his title rivals.
The Gunners remain within the driving seat to win their first Premier League title in 22 years, nevertheless, boasting a nine-point lead over Man City.
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