Jason Cundy branded Mikel Arteta ‘absolutely deluded’ after he claimed Arsenal were the better team across both legs against Paris Saint-Germain.
Arteta’s side were dumped out of the Champions League at the semi-final stage as a 2-1 loss on Wednesday condemned them to a 3-1 defeat on aggregate to the Parisians.
Despite the crushing blow of defeat, Arteta was quick to praise his team’s efforts against PSG.
In fact, Arteta went as far as declaring Arsenal the best team in the entire Champions League campaign and ‘deserved much more’ in both legs of the semi-final.
Arteta added PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma ‘was the best player in both games’.
“100 percent I don’t think there’s been a better team [than Arsenal] in the competition so from what I have seen, but we are out.
“We deserved much more I think in both games. But this competition is about the boxes and in both boxes there are normally the strikers most of the time and the goalkeepers and he was the best player in both games.”
Arteta added: “It gives me so much pride, but at the same time I’m so upset, so annoyed that we didn’t manage to do it.
“Today I see how much the players want it because they were in tears [at the end].”
PSG manager Luis Enrique disagreed with Arteta’s sentiment Arsenal were the better team over both legs.
“They played in a clever way and they got the match to the right moment for them because they played in the way they wanted, and the way they love,” Enrique said.
“But in the two legs we scored more than them and that is the most important thing in football.
“Arsenal played a great match, and we suffered, but we deserved to get to the final.
“They are a great team, but I repeat, we scored more goals, we played in a great way in the first leg, and the second half of the second leg was a different match, and we could have scored even more goals.”
And Cundy couldn’t have disagreed more with Arteta’s claims.
“What is he on about,” Cundy said on talkSPORT’s The Sports Bar.
“There’s something a bit deluded about that. He’s absolutely deluded.”
Cundy also blasted Arteta’s claims about deserving more than they got and pointed out how Arsenal were rather fortunate to have only been down by one goal going into the second leg.
Cundy couldn’t believe what Arteta had to say in his post-match press conference[/caption]
“So he (Arteta) said he deserved much more out of both games,” Cundy said.
“No you didn’t, no you didn’t. You got what you deserved. You were second best. The best team over two legs won.
“They could have been three-up at the end of the game in London last week, two one-on-ones they missed.
“And then he’s talking about what you do in both boxes. That is football. It’s what you do in both boxes, how you defend and how you attack. Generally, that’s what it falls down to.
“Do you do your job in both boxes better than the opposition, chances are you’re probably going to win more than you lose.”
Another segment of Arteta’s post-match comments Cundy had a gripe with was the Gunners boss pointing out his side didn’t have a clean bill of health prior to the contest.
Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Magalhaes, Kai Havertz and Jorginho were unavailable for the clash through injuries, although all four had been out for some time and had not left Arteta scrambling for replacements.
“We arrived here in the worst state,” Arteta said.
“You have to get here with everyone fit and available with lots of minutes. They had a week. We came here in a different context.”
Cundy questioned why Arteta had little to say about the casualty ward after Arsenal had knocked out holders Real Madrid in the quarter-finals and felt it was ‘pretty poor’ from the Spaniard to use injuries as a crutch to lean on.
“And he’s talking about a full squad, he’s leaning on the injuries,” Cundy said.
“I don’t think managers should go there when they get knocked out of a cup.
“He didn’t mention a full squad when they knocked out Real Madrid, did he?
“There’s something about him there that Arsenal fans will be disappointed with some of the guff he’s come out with there. I think it’s pretty poor from him.”
Arteta must now refocus his side as they travel to Anfield on Sunday to take on newly-crowned Premier League champions Liverpool.
It represents a crunch clash for the Gunners given they have won once in their last five league games.
The worrying run of form has Arsenal just three points ahead of third-placed Manchester City and four in front of fifth-placed Chelsea with three games remaining.
