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

But the Gunners were found wanting on the big stage, ultimately let down by a limp and uninspiring second-half performance as Nico O’Reilly scored twice to seal a comfortable 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 path of O’Reilly, who snuck in ahead of Martin Zubimendi and headed home from close range.

Just four minutes later, O’Reilly nodded past Kepa again to increase the deficit – and Arsenal never recovered, coming up short in pursuit of a response to finish as runners-up in 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 in the club’s history – taking them just one shy of the all-time record tally held by Liverpool.

‘It’s a hard 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 how much it means to them, and how much we want it.

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

On his decision to start Kepa over established number one David Raya, Arteta replied: ‘I have to do what I think is right, and I think 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 better team ultimately came out on top.

And while it was Kepa’s error that gifted City their breakthrough, Parlour was especially disappointed 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 look at people who are going to influence games, Saka is certainly one of them for Arsenal, and he couldn’t get in the game.

‘Declan Rice was a little bit too deep at times.

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

‘Obviously it was a mistake from Kepa for the first goal but it’s a game that could have gone either way… but I thought Man City just had that little bit more in the second half.

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

Arsenal 0-2 Man City – Metro at the Match

Manchester City have secured the first silverware of the season after Arsenal failed to 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 keep faith in Kepa Arrizabalaga after starting the Spaniard in each round of the competition leading up to the final at Wembley today.

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

Raya has been spectacular this season, the best goalkeeper in the Premier League by some margin and in sublime form. Had he started, Sunday may have been a very different story.

Old Arsenal fears reignited

We have seen Arsenal collapse in the past. Past failures have so often been used as a stick to beat them with but things have felt different this season.

Victory today would have gone some way in erasing the lingering fears over another derailment . But defeat at Wembley could serve as a catalyst for something much bleaker.

Arsenal are still fighting on three fronts, in control of the Premier League title race and well-placed to continue marching on in Europe. But the effects of today could 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 and they 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 save their season.

City were fantastic in the second period to a man and fed off Arsenal’s apprehension but it was the 21-year-old set the standard when they needed inspiration.  

Tony Mogan, live sports editor

According to Parlour, the international break comes at the worst possible time for Arsenal, with the side’s FA Cup quarter-final with Southampton taking place in 12 days’ time.

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

‘The problem they’ve got is that when you lose a game of football, you want another quick one around the corner to bounce back, to get the feel-good factor back into the dressing room.

‘Now, they’ve got to wait weeks because of the international break, everybody going different places, and now Mikel Arteta will be overthinking that game and what went wrong, this, that and whatever.

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

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

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

‘Not a bad weekend… 21st birthday on Saturday, getting the two goals in the Carabao Cup final on the Sunday.

‘He’s going to be a massive player going forward for England and Manchester City.’

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

‘It’s a hard 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 start of the tournament that you’re going to be playing most of the games, but in the final I might have to change it and put my best goalkeeper in – and sometimes you have to accept that as a goalkeeper.

‘But Guardiola did exactly the same thing and James Trafford had a great game!’

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