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Simon Jordan says David Luiz a ‘show pony’ and questions Arsenal manager Unai Emery’s ability after Liverpool thrashing
Simon Jordan has described David Luiz as a ‘flat-track bully’ and has questioned Unai Emery’s managerial expertise.
Liverpool opened up a three-point gap at the top of the Premier League with a 3-1 win over Arsenal at Anfield which highlighted why the chasing pack are still so far behind them and Manchester City.
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By their own admission Jurgen Klopp's side had not been close to finding their best form in four matches this season but faced with the top flight's only other team with a 100 per cent record, they stepped up a couple of gears.
As if to make a statement they dismantled the Gunners, who arrived at Anfield with a containment-first approach, with a power game allied to clinical efficiency.
Emery was heavily criticised for playing a diamond in midfield, with Adrian Durham flabbergasted the Spaniard did not try to contain Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold.
But it is Luiz who Jordan singled out for criticism on the Press Box.
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He said: “The press were going ‘Who has had the best transfer window? Maybe Arsenal have’.
“Anybody with half a brain, with respect, looks at David Luiz and says ‘Why do you want that in your dressing room, as a centre-half, when you’ve got a defensive unit that’s not a unit?’
“He’s a flat-track bully at best, we saw him fall apart for Brazil, he’s lightweight and a show pony!
“He’d probably be better pushing him into a central midfield role because he might have the wherewithal to put his foot on the ball there and provide a little bit of steel there.
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“But not in central defence! His responsibility starts and begins with himself as far as he is concerned.
“But I’m talking about your belief that Arsenal play out from the back and that is all they are going to do. But Luiz strikes me as the type of player who will play any ball that he wants to play.
“He will hit 50-yard diagonals – ‘Hollywood balls’ - if he feels like it. So that doesn’t quite play into the narrative that they are conditioned to play out from the back.”
While the 32-year-old’s individual mistakes may have been the main highlight for critics, Emery’s decision to play the diamond in midfield and start with an attacking line-up confused plenty of supporters.
And Jordan has begun to question if the former Paris Saint-Germain manager has the ability to manage a top Premier League side.
He continued: “I’ve got this image in my mind of Unai Emery, thinking that there is something about him. But maybe there just isn’t?
“Because I have got Sevilla in my mind and the Europa League and what he has done there, but maybe there just isn’t.
“I think there’s a plan, but when I see transactions like Luiz I think ‘no, there is not a plan’.”
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