Featured Image Credit: Sky Sports
Topics: Gary Neville, Liverpool, Arsenal, Fan Reactions
Jack Kenmare
Topics: Gary Neville, Liverpool, Arsenal, Fan Reactions
Gabriel Martinelli's decision to push an injured Conor Bradley off the pitch was "disgraceful", according to Gary Neville, who has been accused by some fans of going too far with his comments on the incident.
In the final seconds of Thursday night's Premier League clash between Arsenal and Liverpool, full-back Conor Bradley was running to clear a loose ball when he fell over and appeared to suffer a serious knee injury.
Moments later, Gabriel Martinelli walked over to Bradley, who was in agony on the ground, and pushed him off the Emirates pitch – an incident that angered co-commentator and former Manchester United defender Gary Neville.
"I'm surprised one of the Liverpool players hasn't gone over and had a right pop at him," he said. “I'm actually fuming with Martinelli. Honestly, I don't know how Liverpool players didn't go over and absolutely whack him to be honest with you."
Advert
Neville also referred to Martinelli as an "idiot" as he continued to berate the Brazilian for his actions.
Here's how fans on social media reacted to Neville's comments.
Advert
One said: "Not an Arsenal fan but Gary Neville's commentary about Martinelli incident with Conor Bradley was ridiculous. Arsenal player was wrong to push Bradley but he cant have known how serious injury was & he was right next to the touchline. To encourage players to whack him... silly."
A second wrote: "Gary Neville advocating for Liverpool players to take a red and take Martinelli out," and a third commented: "Gary Neville calling Martinelli an idiot on live broadcast is crazy."
A fourth said: "That was stupid of Martinelli but for Gary Neville to say he wouldn't have blamed one of the Liverpool players for taking a red card for having a go at him was pretty stupid too," and a fifth added: "Gary Neville was absolutely raging at Gabriel Martinelli just then."
The incident was a big talking point after the 0-0 draw, with Roy Keane giving his thoughts on Martinelli's decision to push Bradley as he sat next to Daniel Sturridge and David Jones in the Sky studio.
Advert
"I didn't like it at all. It happened to me once before," Keane said. "It's not good. First of all throwing the ball on him, standing over him. He's got a bit of a knee in him, he's trying to force him off. I think that behaviour is an absolute disgrace."
Keane added: "I'm surprised the Liverpool players didn't go after him a little bit more. Hopefully he'll look at it and apologise."
Liverpool midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai criticised Martinelli in his post-match comments.
Advert
"I see that Conor twisted his knee, I don't know what's going on with him," he said, as per The Mirror. "He didn't want to come back to the pitch for time wasting, he was in so much pain he couldn't see where he can roll."
Szoboszlai added: "Then you come there to push him. I understand you want to win, we want to win but the health of a player is much more important than something else."
Arne Slot, meanwhile, jumped to the defence of Martinelli.
"I don’t know Gabriel Martinelli but he comes across as a nice guy," said Slot. "The problem for him is that there is so much time-wasting and players pretending they are injured, then sometimes you get annoyed and think that players are time-wasting."
Advert
He added: "I am 100 per cent sure if he knew what the injury might be, he would never do that. It doesn’t look great if Conor has the injury which we fear he might have."
Arsenal spurned the chance to go eight points clear at the Premier League summit after Manchester City and Aston Villa dropped points this week.