{"id":2183,"date":"2026-03-22T21:45:30","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T21:45:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/?p=2183"},"modified":"2026-03-22T21:45:30","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T21:45:30","slug":"ian-wright-questions-arsenal-star-who-couldnt-hold-onto-the-ball-against-man-city-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/?p=2183","title":{"rendered":"Ian Wright questions Arsenal star who ‘couldn’t hold onto the ball’ against Man City | Football"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\n\t\t\"Arsenal\t<\/div>
Wright saw his side lose control at Wembley (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ian Wright questioned the performance of Arsenal star Martin Zubimendi following their Carabao Cup defeat to Manchester City.<\/p>\n

The Gunners fell to a 2-0 defeat at Wembley on Sunday afternoon, undone by two second-half goals from Nico O\u2019Reilly.<\/p>\n

After a tight first-half, City took control after the break, piling the pressure on with Arsenal unable to find an outlet in midfield as they defended deep.<\/p>\n

Mikel Arteta was without two key options in midfield with Eberechi Eze ruled out with an ankle injury and Martin Odegaard still recovering from a knee problem.<\/p>\n

Kai Havertz joined Zubimendi and Declan Rice in midfield but the trio consistently struggled to get on the ball and take control.<\/p>\n

Assessing Arsenal\u2019s display, club legend Wright highlighted those shortcomings in midfield as a key reason behind the limp performance, believing Zubimendi in particular struggled. <\/p>\n

\u2018I wanted us to put in the type of performance where if they are beaten, they played well and tried to do what they do,\u2019 Wright said post-match.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\"Arsenal\t<\/div>
Zubimendi was among the Arsenal stars to struggle at Wembley (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018They pressed us high, we knocked it long and couldn\u2019t hold it.<\/p>\n

\u2018We didn\u2019t have any midfielders\u2026 I think Zubimendi\u2019s numbers will be interesting to see, I\u00a0 don\u2019t think he held onto the ball, he couldn\u2019t get on it to get our team playing.<\/p>\n

\u2018We couldn\u2019t get out. In the end, it all just fell in on ourselves. It is a very disappointing one for me. It was a really poor performance in the end.<\/p>\n

\u2018We know the quality he (Zubimendi) has got, even he couldn\u2019t get going today.\u2019<\/p>\n

Arrow<\/title>\n<\/svg>MORE: Jamie Redknapp slams Mikel Arteta for \u2018monumental error\u2019 in Carabao Cup final<\/span><\/p>\n

Arrow<\/title>\n<\/svg>MORE: Gary Neville makes Premier League title claim after Arsenal\u2019s Carabao Cup final defeat to Manchester City<\/span><\/p>\n

Arrow<\/title>\n<\/svg>MORE: Ian Wright names Arsenal player who should have started Carabao Cup final defeat to Manchester City<\/span><\/p>\n
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Wright saw his side lose control at Wembley (Picture: Getty) Ian Wright questioned the performance<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2184,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2183\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}