**Paul Scholes Slams Mikel Arteta and Pep Guardiola After Dull Arsenal vs Manchester City Draw**
Watching Arsenal vs Manchester City on Sunday could leave you thinking Mikel Arteta and Pep Guardiola are the worst coaches ever, reckons Manchester United legend Paul Scholes. The two Premier League heavyweights met at the Emirates Stadium and played out a 1-1 draw, a match that was intriguing but not necessarily thrilling throughout.
Erling Haaland put the visitors ahead after just nine minutes, and it wasn’t until the 93rd minute that Arsenal found an equaliser through substitute Gabriel Martinelli.
Arteta came in for criticism over his team selection after he opted for a relatively stodgy midfield three of Martin Zubimendi, Declan Rice, and Mikel Merino, leaving Eberechi Eze on the bench. Martin Odegaard was absent due to injury. Although Arteta brought Eze on at half-time, former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher accused the Arsenal boss of wasting the first 45 minutes, a period during which Arsenal created very little going forward.
Paul Scholes agrees with Carragher’s assessment and felt both managers were far too cautious on Sunday. He suggested that if it were not for their glowing reputations, the game would have been seen as a dire spectacle.
“It was a very negative team, I thought. He’s almost gone back 20 years,” Scholes said on *The Good, The Bad and The Football* podcast, referring to Arteta’s approach. “I know he’s been in England a long time but it’s almost like we’ve brought an English mentality to him. Be cautious at first, be safe, and try to get through the game. You could say that about both of them.
“If they’d have been two English coaches yesterday [Sunday], we’d have been saying: Worst coaches ever, the worst style of football we’ve ever seen. But because it was them two, they get away with it, don’t they?”
The result left Arsenal in their familiar position of second in the Premier League, but already five points behind leaders Liverpool. Scholes believes Arteta’s safety-first mentality will not help them bridge that gap to the champions.
“At some point Arsenal have got to win a big game if they’re going to win a Premier League and they’re not brave enough,” said the former England midfielder. “At home especially. I always think at the start of the season, win your home games, especially against the big games.
“If you go away from home, there are tough places to go — there’s Liverpool and other places — and if you draw them, yeah great, you accept that. But that home game yesterday was a massive chance to make a statement. I don’t think Arsenal have been great of late.
“It felt like, I’m just going to pick the biggest team I’ve got and try to just get through the game. Probably trying to win by set-pieces. You talk about Sam Allardyce and these English coaches, that’s exactly what they try and do.
“But you’re talking about a top club, you can’t really get away with that.”
Arteta defended his midfield selection after the game, pointing out that the same trio started in midweek against Athletic Club in the Champions League, a match in which Arsenal won 2-0 and faced no criticism for the lineup.
“I thought it was the best one to start the game,” he said of his midfield trio. “Nobody asked me about the midfield three in Bilbao, nobody, it’s the same midfield. I believed it was the best thing for the team.”
He added: “I think it’s very clear what we wanted to do, very well we started the game. I think we completely dominated. I think after they scored the goal — without doing absolutely nothing before that — we went a bit shaky for 5-10 minutes and after that we got a grip again and started to dominate.
“And I think the second half was a continuation of that with one different player and then with two or three different players.”
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**MORE:**
– Rio Ferdinand calls out Man Utd star for shocking statistic and demands change
– Paul Scholes blasts disgraceful Marcus Rashford over Man Utd and Barcelona behaviour
https://metro.co.uk/2025/09/23/paul-scholes-aims-worst-coaches-ever-ever-dig-mikel-arteta-pep-guardiola-24237249/