Martin Keown says a tactical decision by Mikel Arteta and his couching staff in Arsenal’s 2-0 defeat to PSV Eindhoven had him ‘screaming at the TV’.
The Gunners needed a single point to secure top spot in their group but goals from Joey Veerman and Luuk de Jong won the game for the Dutch side.
Arsenal were way short of their best in general but Keown picked out a particular moment as a great cause for frustration.
Kieran Tierney was tasked with marking big centre-forward Luuk de Jong, who outjumped the Arsenal full-back to double PSV’s lead.
Speaking about the corner, Keown told BT Sport: “For the second goal, Tierney picks up De Jong from the corner and straight away I’m screaming at the TV because he shouldn’t be the one marking him.
“Ramsdale comes, thinking he can cure the problem, but it’s a big haymaker from him. It’s one of those that needed a straight arm but it was wild from Ramsdale.
“Tierney doesn’t even get off the ground, I don’t know why he was marking him. If I’m Holding I would make myself available to help him but he didn’t do that either.”
Arsenal sit top of the Premier League and had won their opening four Group A games in the Europa League.
Speaking after the defeat, Arteta admitted his side did not reach the standard he demands from his players.
“I’m very disappointed,” he said. “It’s the end of a long run where we won a lot of games and we have to reset.
“Congratulations to PSV – they were the better team today. We were nowhere near our level and we know that in Europe it’s very difficult to win.
“We didn’t get any control. We didn’t get the ball in the areas we wanted. We gave so many balls away, which allowed so many transitions, which was what they were looking for whenever they got in the right structure.
“They were on top of a lot of things that last week was different.”
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