Jamie Carragher admits he was left “flabbergasted” by the “shambles” he witnessed in Arsenal’s performance to lose the north London derby against Tottenham.
The Gunners went down 2-0 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, though Mikel Arteta was encouraged by parts of his side’s display, despite failing to create chances.
But Carragher has dismissed the idea that the Gunners can take any positives despite enjoying long spells of possession, with the former Liverpool defender adamant the visitors were “poor”.
“Arsenal did not play well. Arsenal were awful, defensively and with the ball, from minute one,” Carragher said on Sky Sports. “This idea that because you have possession, you've played well - I'm flabbergasted when I hear it.
“They never had one chance in the game where someone should have scored. I've just seen a Mourinho quote saying possession is for the poets or the philosophers. He's absolutely spot-on if there's nothing with the possession.
“I thought tactically, Arsenal were a shambles, so poor. What I couldn't believe and what was so frustrating watching it was that this has happened so often in Mourinho's managerial career.
“Even if you had only watched Tottenham this season, you would know what they were going to try to do. It's almost like this Arsenal team and Mikel Arteta had been transported into this game from the moon and they didn't know who Mourinho was and had never seen Tottenham play.
“I was flabbergasted. What I watched and some of the things I heard after the game, I thought they were so poor.”
Next up for Arsenal is Dundalk in the Europa League, before an opportunity to get right at home to Burnley on Sunday in the Premier League.
