2 days Ago By Hal Fish
It was a difficult night for Arsenal in the home leg of the Champions League semi-final against Paris Saint-Germain . The away team made a fast start, opening the scoring after just four minutes with Ousmane Dembele finding the back of the net with a smart first-time finish. Although the Gunners had their own chances to level the score, with Gianluigi Donnarumma making a handful of fine saves and Mikel Merino having an equaliser ruled out by VAR for offside, PSG were the better team on the night and will be delighted to come away with a one-goal lead ahead of the return leg in Paris next week.
Legendary Champions League midfielder Clarence Seedorf, who won the competition four times , was working as a pundit for Amazon's coverage of the game and one player caught his eye on the night – but not in a good way. Seedorf Blasts 'Stupid' Timber Seedorf singled out fellow Dutchman Jurrien Timber for criticism for his efforts against PSG. The right-back had performed admirably against Real Madrid, completely locking up Vinicius Junior at the Bernabeu .
However, it was a far more difficult night for him up against Khvicha Kvaratskhelia at the Emirates – as noted by the French media . Seedorf went as far as to say the Arsenal stars' constant fouling of the winger was 'stupid' . He explained: "You have to be able to understand when you have to go press high, when you cannot and when you must sit back.
"Particularly against these PSG guys with lots of skill and quality. The thing I saw, they are making a lot of stupid fouls when they are pressing. "You don’t want to make a stupid mistake.
Everything is under control, you’re pressing well, this is a moment where you want to keep them under pressure when you make a stupid foul for nothing. They are already too far up the field." Timber won just three of his 10 attempted ground duels, highlighting just how much he struggled versus Kvaratskhelia.
What's more, validating Seedorf's criticism, he made four fouls, the most of any Arsenal player. He was also somewhat fortunate not to give away a penalty when the Georgian ran past him in the box. Arsenal suffered a damaging 1-0 defeat at the hands of PSG in the Champions League semi-final first leg, and Rooney doesn't think the fans helped.
Seedorf Questions Arsenal Mentality After criticising Timber, Seedorf went on to suggest he was disappointed with the Gunners. Indeed, he claimed that PSG performed how he 'expected Arsenal to', saying they need to improve their mentality in the return leg. ‘For Arsenal to really elevate to that winning team, they have to shift in mentality,’ he said with one eye already on the semi-final in Paris next week.
"PSG did what I expected Arsenal to do. They pressed high [up the pitch]." Having won away at Real Madrid, and having seen Liverpool win in Paris this season , the Gunners will feel they have more than a chance of turning the tie around.
But they will certainly need a better performance next time out. Stats via SofaScore.
