Ray Parlour says Arsenal star ‘didn’t get a kick’ in Carabao Cup final loss to Man City | Football

Ray Parlour highlighted the ineffective performance of Bukayo Saka after Arsenal’s Carabao Cup final defeat to Manchester City, claiming the forward ‘didn’t get a kick’ at Wembley.

Arsenal must have been brimming with confidence after increasing their lead over City at the highest of the Premier League table to nine points ahead of Sunday’s showpiece.

However the Gunners were found wanting on the large stage, ultimately let down by a limp and uninspiring second-half performance as Nico O’Reilly scored twice to seal a cushty 2-0 win for City.

A mistake from Kepa Arrizabalaga gifted City their opening goal on the hour mark, with the Spaniard spilling Rayan Cherki’s cross through his fingers and into the trail of O’Reilly, who snuck in ahead of Martin Zubimendi and headed home from close range.

Just 4 minutes later, O’Reilly nodded past Kepa again to extend the deficit – and Arsenal never recovered, coming up short in pursuit of a response to complete as runners-up within the competition for a record seventh time.

Arteta’s players appeared despondent as City’s squad climbed the steps to lift the trophy for a ninth time within the club’s history – taking them only one shy of the all-time record tally held by Liverpool.

‘It’s a tough one to take,’ Arteta told reporters after Arsenal’s hopes of securing a historic quadruple were crushed.

‘It’s very sad, especially for our players and our supporters because we know the way much it means to them, and the way much we would like it.

‘The very fact we haven’t managed to deliver that and clearly it’s disappointing.’

On his decision to start out Kepa over established primary David Raya, Arteta replied: ‘I actually have to do what I believe is true, and I believe now we have an understanding keeping on Kepa.

Reflecting on Arsenal’s painful afternoon, club legend Parlour said he had ‘no complaints’ with the result as the higher team ultimately got here out on top.

And while it was Kepa’s error that gifted City their breakthrough, Parlour was especially disenchanted by the performances of Saka – Arsenal’s captain on the day – and Declan Rice.

‘Saka didn’t get a kick yesterday,’ he said on talkSPORT this morning.

‘You take a look at people who find themselves going to influence games, Saka is actually certainly one of them for Arsenal, and he couldn’t get in the sport.

‘Declan Rice was slightly bit too deep at times.

‘They went really deep within the second half and it just invited Man City onto them.

‘Obviously it was a mistake from Kepa for the primary goal however it’s a game that might have gone either way… but I believed Man City just had that little bit more within the second half.

‘First half was pretty evenly matched, there wasn’t loads in it in the primary half, not a whole lot of probabilities, but there’s no complaints from myself that City won it.’

Arsenal 0-2 Man City – Metro on the Match

Manchester City have secured the primary silverware of the season after Arsenal didn’t deliver at Wembley.

The quadruple dream is over and the Gunners must now pick up the pieces after a sobering setback.

For City, it has breathed life into their campaign after a dismal Champions League exit this week.

Kepa gamble backfires spectacularly

Mikel Arteta decided to maintain faith in Kepa Arrizabalaga after starting the Spaniard in each round of the competition leading as much as the ultimate at Wembley today.

Pep Guardiola did likewise with James Trafford, however it was Arsenal who paid the worth for dropping certainly one of their best players. From the moment the second-half kicked off, Kepa dallied on the ball, inviting the pressure that may inevitably swarm all around the Gunners and trigger their downfall.

Raya has been spectacular this season, one of the best goalkeeper within the Premier League by some margin and in sublime form. Had he began, Sunday could have been a really different story.

Old Arsenal fears reignited

Now we have seen Arsenal collapse previously. Past failures have so often been used as a keep on with beat them with but things have felt different this season.

Victory today would have gone a way in erasing the lingering fears over one other derailment . But defeat at Wembley could function a catalyst for something much bleaker.

Arsenal are still fighting on three fronts, in command of the Premier League title race and well-placed to proceed marching on in Europe. But the consequences of today could possibly be season-altering. The woeful second-half showing was as bad as anything served up by them this term on the stage where they needed to be their best.

O’Reilly steps up

City needed a hero at Wembley they usually found a home-grown one. With Phil Foden only coming on as an injury time substitute, left-back O’Reilly stepped up as City’s savour with two headers to avoid wasting their season.

City were implausible within the second period to a person and fed off Arsenal’s apprehension however it was the 21-year-old set the usual once they needed inspiration.  

Tony Mogan, live sports editor

In response to Parlour, the international break comes on the worst possible time for Arsenal, with the side’s FA Cup quarter-final with Southampton going down in 12 days’ time.

‘Arsenal have gotten to dust themselves down,’ the previous England international – who won the League Cup with Arsenal in 1993 – explained.

‘The issue they’ve got is that whenever you lose a game of football, you wish one other quick one across the corner to bounce back, to get the feel-good factor back into the dressing room.

‘Now, they’ve got to attend weeks due to international break, everybody going different places, and now Mikel Arteta will probably be overthinking that game and what went improper, this, that and whatever.

‘I’m just hoping they’ll bounce back quickly.’

Parlour picked out City’s match-winner and unlikely hero, O’Reilly, for special praise, saying the versatile teen was going to be a ‘massive player’ for each club and country going forward.

‘He was superb, what a weekend for him,’ he added.

‘Not a foul weekend… twenty first birthday on Saturday, getting the 2 goals within the Carabao Cup final on the Sunday.

‘He’s going to be an enormous player going forward for England and Manchester City.’

Arteta defended his decision to start out Kepa after the ultimate, insisting he would make the identical call again in a heartbeat given the Spaniard’s performances throughout the competition.

‘It’s a tough one and I can see what he’s saying,’ Parlour said of Arteta’s post-match remarks.

‘Unless you say to the goalkeeper before the beginning of the tournament that you just’re going to be playing a lot of the games, but in the ultimate I might need to alter it and put my best goalkeeper in – and sometimes you have got to simply accept that as a goalkeeper.

‘But Guardiola did the exact same thing and James Trafford had a fantastic game!’

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