‘Time-wasting Arsenal gamers need drama – however we’re prime of the Prem, not them’
Manuel Akanji has told title rivals Arsenal their footballing dark arts still won’t make them English champions.
Mikel Arteta’s side were slammed by Manchester City players Bernardo Silva and John Stones for their time-wasting tactics in Sunday’s dramatic 2-2 draw. And City defender Akanji joined in the criticism of Arsenal’s crude style, claiming Mikel Arteta and his players love the ‘drama’ of adopting such a controversial approach.
Asked if Arsenal were the masters of the dark arts, Akanji said: “I don’t think there are many better than them at it. But, in the end, we always won the title and I don’t think it’s going to be different this year.
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“In every duel, every free-kick that was given, they went on the floor. Players go on the floor to get up, sprint back again, go on the floor again, one of their team even went over to tell the keeper to go on the floor and stuff like this.
“I mean, there’s nothing we can do about it. In the end, It’s up to the referee to control throughout the whole season, to control these situations. But yeah, there’s nothing else we can do about it.
(Image: Getty)
“That’s what they’re looking for. Always when we play against them, that’s what they’re looking for – the drama, going hard in the duels, defence, 11 players in their own box and then go on set pieces and try to score a goal.
“With the time-wasting, we cannot control this. It’s up to the referee to do something. But in the end, it’s obviously hard to score against anyone who has 10 men, with the keeper in their own box.
“It worked for them, so if they’re happy with the one point [that’s fine]. We’re not, we tried to get more, but that’s what they’re happy with. At the end of the day we’re still top of the league. We haven’t lost a game yet.
(Image: Getty Images)
“We tried, especially in the second-half with one man up, but it’s hard with 10 players defending in their own box.
“So we tried our best, we had to keep pushing until the end and luckily, in the end, we scored a goal and got one point.”
