Simon Jordan and Martin Keown were involved in a disagreement on talkSPORT on Monday morning over Liverpool‘s Carabao Cup final defeat by Newcastle.
The Reds suffered a second major setback in a matter of days as they were thoroughly outplayed at Wembley five days on from their Champions League exit at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain.
Former Arsenal center-back Keown suggested that Jordan would have described the Gunners as “bottlers” had they experienced results like Liverpool has in its last two games.
“If Arsenal lost two major games like this, you would say it had bottled it,” Keown said to Jordan. “Losing a major final and getting knocked out of the Champions League in a week. I don’t think Liverpool has bottled it. It was taken away by a very good Newcastle team and a remarkable PSG side.”
Jordan hit back at Keown, justifying calling Arsenal bottlers in the past by referencing the 2022-23 title race, when Mikel Arteta’s men were eight points clear of Manchester City at the beginning of April but finished second behind Manchester City.
“If Arsenal won nothing, which it does, I would say it bottled it,” Jordan said. “If Liverpool loses the league now, what do you think I will say? You can’t make the argument or compare it to Arsenal, who was eight points clear in a competition it could win, and didn’t. Liverpool had three opportunities to win a competition and if it wins one, I won’t say Liverpool bottled it.”
Keown and Jordan are regularly at loggerheads, and the pair had a similar discussion 12 months ago after Liverpool suffered a 3-0 defeat by Atalanta in the Europa League.
“Are you saying Liverpool have bottled it then?” asked Keown in April 2024, to which Jordan responded: “No, I think they’ve had a bad performance.
“You’d say that about Arsenal though, wouldn’t you?,” Keown fired back, before Jordan explained: “Liverpool haven’t bottled anything because they are still in the competition’s they’re in.
“I don’t think Liverpool have bottled anything right now. Arsenal clearly bottled it last season because they were on top of the league, but the manner in which they lost the league was by losing games and drawing games on a run of fixtures in the business end of the season to teams they should never have dropped points to.”
