Gary Neville laid into Arsenal players for their 'spineless' performance at Wembley on Sunday afternoon. Shkodran Mustafi had tried to sound like he's got a backbone but has just ended up moaning about referees.
Sunday's Carabao Cup final wasn't really about how good Manchester City were, they didn't need to be. We already know how good Pep Guardiola's side can be but they were easy winners in second gear at Wembley.
The match was all about how poor Arsenal were and in commentary former Manchester United right back Gary Neville wasn't exactly going to let them off with not showing enough heart.
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Check out our video on what could have been at Arsenal:
Despite the deserved loss there was one moment of ever so slight controversy in the build up to the first goal. Centre back Shkodran Mustafi believed he'd been pushed in the build up to the goal by Sergio Aguero.
In the build up to the Premier League match between the two sides on Thursday night the German had something to say about the standard of refereeing in England:
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"It is how it is. In the Carabao Cup, you have the video assistant referee as well. It seems that it is not helping that much or maybe we are just complaining too much.
"In my opinion, there were a few situations where it could have been a different decision from the referee. But at the end of the day you have to accept it. You have to accept the decisions and hope that they are going to improve as well.
"Obviously we are looking to improve but I think it is important that referees look at themselves and try to improve because sometimes, you know, I have been playing in a lot of leagues all across Europe now and it seems like the referees in England, they don't even want to talk to players. It is something that is very important to have that connection with the referee so he can explain why he decides something that you see differently.
"Here, if you go to a referee, it seems like he doesn't even want to explain to you why he took a decision or to tell you how he saw the situation. I don't want the referees to give me everything but at least they can try and explain why they make certain decisions.
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"As I said before, we have to look at ourselves and try to improve but I think that they have to do the same."
You kind of find yourself doubting that Mustafi is just accepting the decisions as he seems to initially suggest. He's not the first Arsenal player to hint that the fault lay with the refs either. Jack Wilshere took to Twitter to suggest problems were not their own doing:
There's only so much you can blame a ref for.
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Manchester City, Football News, Carabao Cup, Premier League, Arsenal, Shkodran Mustafi, Gary Neville
