The Arsenal legend believes that Gary Neville only thinks the Premier League is boring because his own club have been atrocious.
Speaking after the dross that passed as a Manchester derby last week, Gary Neville railed against what he believed was the negative style of football that had become the norm in the Premier League.
The Manchester United legend said that football had become robotic and boring as teams try to copy Pep Guardiola’s rigid, possession-based style of play.
But former Arsenal player Martin Keown believes that Neville is way off the mark. Speaking on talkSPORT, the defender, who made over 400 appearances for the Gunners and won three league titles, said that Neville has only said that because he is a Manchester United fan and United have been awful to watch this season.
“When you watch Newcastle, Liverpool, Forest and Villa,” said Keown, “they’re anything but robotic. They play inspirational football.
“If you’re a Man United fan – and Gary sees the world through the Man United team, I’m afraid – then you’re going to think that it’s boring. You’re going to think that it’s robotic.”
Gary Neville said that centre-backs like Lewis Dunk and Virgil van Dijk were seeing a lot more of the ball than the most talented players on the pitch – the midfielders and attackers that fans are actually most interested in seeing.
But rebutting this claim, Keown said: “They’re controlling the game, and when they’re ready to go, they put it in the midfield. Off they go and they play.
“When you look at Manchester United, in every department of the pitch they are not good enough, and therefore it’s a boring watch, and that would take up most of Gary’s time.
“But the rest of the Premier League, we are seeing good exciting football across the board.”
