Martin Keown and Rio Ferdinand slam Arsenal’s defending

Martin Keown and Rio Ferdinand have slammed Arsenal’s defensive display during their 1-0 North London derby defeat against Tottenham on Saturday.

Harry Kane scored the only goal of the game in the 49th minute as he rose between the Arsenal defenders with ease to head home Ben Davies’ cross.

Spurs continued to create a flurry of chances in the second-half and should have added to their lead late on. 

Keown and Ferdinand, working for BT Sport, were quick to pick holes in the Gunners’ defence post-match. 

‘That team-talk at half-time, towards players that want to defend in the team, should have been about resolve. They got a pat on the back but it has to be better in the second-half,’ said Keown.

‘Spurs came at them with a higher tempo and were simply too good. It is a bit of a false dawn, the new signings and what they did last week against Everton.

‘The resolve, desire, hunger to defend is just not there and they allowed too much space to Tottenham, and they exploited it.’

Harry Kane rose above Laurent Koscielny to score the winning goal early in the second half

Tottenham cut through the Arsenal back line through ease and Spurs should have scored more

Ferdinand insisted Arsene Wenger should have made signing a defender a January priority

Ferdinand insisted the display came as no surprise to him and claimed Arsene Wenger should have made signing a defender in January a priority.

‘It confirms what we all knew before, inconsistencies and lacking balance. They had to get a defender in January,’ added Ferdinand.

‘They lack concentration and leadership in the central area of the pitch. Far too many times Spurs got through them. 

‘You can’t just put that down to formations and systems. There has got to be players on the pitch that take responsibility and take pride in keeping clean sheets and being disciplined.’