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Gary Neville blasts 'spineless' Arsenal players during League Cup final loss

Granit Xhaka (left) and Aaron Ramsey (second from right) were among the Arsenal players whom Gary Neville ripped during Manchester City’s 3-0 League Cup final victory.
Granit Xhaka (left) and Aaron Ramsey (second from right) were among the Arsenal players whom Gary Neville ripped during Manchester City’s 3-0 League Cup final victory.

After Manchester City cruised past Arsenal in the League Cup final, much of the reaction and analysis focused on City. It was almost as if the result was a foregone conclusion – of course City, arguably the best team in the world, did away with the sixth-best team in England.

And in reality, Arsenal hadn’t been all that bad for around an hour. But when City doubled its lead, and then extended it to three, Gunners heads dropped. Their movements became labored.

And man, oh man, did Gary Neville – former Manchester United defender Gary Neville, that is, on the broadcast for Sky Sports in England – have a go at a few Arsenal players. Have a listen:

“The minute before that goal, I mentioned the walking of the Arsenal players. And then the retreating runs of Ramsey, and Xhaka. Ambling, jogging back, absolute disgrace they are. An absolute disgrace. They’re walking on a football pitch at Wembley. Giving up. Spineless. And look at that. That’s what you cause. All a fan wants to see is a player running, as fast as he can, as hard as he can. And they’re walking around on a football pitch.”

Uh … we don’t have much else to add to that!

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Henry Bushnell covers global soccer, and occasionally other ball games, for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Question? Comment? Email him at henrydbushnell@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @HenryBushnell.