Mikel Arteta told to 'shut up' by former Liverpool star during scathing pre-season rant

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has been told to shut up by a former Liverpool star during a scathing rant.

Last season, Arsenal mounted a sustained charge for the Premier League title under the guidance of Arteta.

However, despite taking the title race until the final day, they were ultimately beaten by Manchester City.

Ahead of the new season, the Gunners boss spoke about the need to add reinforcements to his squad in order to beat City to the Premier League title.

However, former Liverpool player Steve Nichol was left unimpressed with Arteta’s comments.

He said to ESPN: “Do you know what, I don’t want to listen to Arsenal and Arteta talking about ‘what we need to do, we want to improve in positions, we need a bigger squad’. I don’t want to hear that at this time of the year.

“I want to hear some positivity. ‘We want to win the title. We think we have enough to win the title. We just have to get better. We have to take advantage whenever we get ourselves in front’.”

He continued: “I don’t want to listen to ‘oh, we need more cover in positions’. Shut up, please! How about you go? ‘We can do it this year. We have the ability and we have the players to win this’.

“That’s what I want to hear. I don’t want to hear excuses. Once they start playing the games, there will be plenty of time to make excuses. I don’t want to hear it before a ball is kicked.”

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Speaking after Arsennal’s 1-1 friendly draw against Bournemouth at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Los Angeles, California, Arteta said: “I’m really pleased because we had really special circumstances today. We arrived two days ago, we had so many young kids playing with us that had never played before and I think we had a really strong performance against a side that is a bit ahead of us in their schedule.

“They had a full first-team available , so I’m really proud of them, both the young kids and the senior ones, because they have fulfilled their roles in a really impressive way.”

The Spaniard added: “That was a different level today to the game that we played last Saturday, and it was another big step. We looked really connected and as a manager, it was just a joy to see the faces of those kids making their debut, participating, and the excitement showed, and as well to see our senior players put themselves in their shoes and give them the support and be the role models that we want.”

After the 90 minutes, Arsenal prevailed 5-4 winners via a penalty shootout.