Former Manchester United defender, Gary Neville, has slammed Arsenal centre-back Sokratis Papastathopoulos for his “terrible” defending, in the build-up to Tottenham’s opening goal in Sunday’s North London derby.
Spurs went ahead after Erik Lamela’s tame shot spilled into the path of Christian Eriksen who tapped into an empty net.
While many fans were bemoaning Bernd Leno’s weak effort to save the initial shot, Neville felt the more decisive mistake came earlier in the move.
Harry Kane rose above Granit Xhaka to flick on a long ball forward to kick-start the attack, but Sokratis ran over without contesting for the ball only to leave a huge gap in behind.
“I thought Sokratis on that first header was terrible.
“If a centre-back goes in like that he at least has to make a challenge.
“Xhaka is going up for it and you just watch Sokratis, I mean, that is not the challenge of a centre-back. He has to be dominant, take everything that he can.
“Xhaka’s under it, and then just watch Sokratis there: you can’t do that. And then all of a sudden Kane quickens the attack up and the rest of them are scrambling,” Neville said on Sky Sports.
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