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Bernardo Silva Criticizes Arsenal Tactics After 2-2 Draw, Takes Swipe at Gunners Trophy Record

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Bernardo Silva Criticizes Arsenal Tactics After 2-2 Draw, Takes Swipe at Gunners Trophy Record

Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva criticized Arsenal for their lack of trophies and questioned their tactics following their tense 2-2 draw at the Etihad Stadium.

Mikel Arteta's side, who were reduced to 10 players in first-half stoppage time, appeared to slow the game down in the second half with players going down for apparent cramps and injuries, which resulted in over nine minutes of second-half injury time.

John Stones scored in the 98th minute to rescue a draw in an ill-tempered contest with both sets of players clashing at the end of the game, which included Silva appearing to make a trophy dig at Arsenal's players (pictured below).

When asked about the difference between City's rivalry with Arsenal compared to Liverpool, Silva took a swipe at the lack of silverware won by the north London side while criticising their tactics.

The Portugal international said: "The difference? Maybe that Liverpool have already won the Premier League, Arsenal haven't. That Liverpool have won the Champions League, Arsenal haven't.

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"Liverpool always faced us face to face to try to win the games, so from this perspective the games against Arsenal haven't been like the ones we had and have against Liverpool. So yes, maybe a different rivalry."

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Silva: Only one team came to play football

The second half saw Manchester City have 28 shots to Arsenal's one, while the home side had 88 per cent of the ball, leading Silva to criticise the visitors' tactics.

He said: "There was only one team that came to play football. The other came to play to the limits of what was possible to do and allowed by the referee, unfortunately.

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"But at the end we got a draw, the best we could get considering the context of the last moments of the match.

"We're not happy as we wanted the three points, but personally I'm happy with the way we came to play and faced the game. I'm glad we always enter the pitch to try to win every match."

'Referee facilitated Arsenal's approach'

After Stones criticised Arsenal's 'dark arts', Silva also claimed Arsenal's approach was facilitated by referee Michael Oliver and cited an incident almost immediately from kick-off when Kai Havertz collided with Rodri.

Silva said: "It all started in the very first second. In the first action we realised what was going to happen. We had a player injured after they sent him to the ground twice in 10 minutes.

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"We had a goal conceded after the referee called our captain [Kyle Walker] and then didn't allow him to recover his position.

"The second goal is already their usual block to our keeper, which was allowed by the referee.

"Then the referee allowed a sequence of time-wasting events. The thing that bothers me the most is having a lot of meetings with the FA at the beginning of each season. They tell us they will control this kind of situation and will stop them, but in the end it doesn't have any worth. They say a lot but nothing happens."

Silva's comments come after Rodri's 'mentality' criticism last season

Silva is not the first Man City player to criticise Arsenal publicly following Rodri's comments at the end of last season.

Rodri claimed they beat Arsenal to the title due to a superior "mentality", criticising the Gunners for not wanting to defeat the champions in their March encounter, which finished goalless.

When asked how his side achieves such consistent success, the Spain international told Optus Sport: "To be honest, I think it's in here," pointing to his head. "It's the mentality.

"Arsenal, also they deserve [to win the league], they did an unbelievable season, but I think the difference was in here [pointing to his head again].

"When they came here, they faced us at the Etihad, I saw them and said: 'Ah, these guys, they don't want to beat us, they just want a draw.'

"And that mentality, I don't think we would do it the same way.

"And we caught them. At the end, if you give us one point, we will win the last seven, eight games even though it's so tough. So I think it comes down to mentality."

 

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