Gary Neville slams Arsenal set-piece coach Nicolas Jover for 'screaming like crazy' at Leandro Tross
Gary Neville has criticised Arsenal set-piece coach Nicolas Jover for ‘screaming like crazy’ at Leandro Trossard and acting ‘like he was the manager’ during their defeat at Newcastle.
The Gunners suffered their first Premier League defeat of the season following a highly controversial Anthony Gordon goal which was allowed to stand following a triple VAR check for the ball going out of play, a foul and an offside.
Mikel Arteta described the decision as ’embarrassing’ and ‘a disgrace’ afterwards but Sky Sports pundit Neville was incensed by Jover’s behaviour on the sidelines.
Jover, 42, made headlines a month ago when Kyle Walker snubbed his offer of a handshake following Manchester City’s 1-0 defeat at the Emirates Stadium.
This led to a confrontation between Walker and Jover, who formerly worked at City, which escalated into a bust-up between players and coaching staff on both sides.
Gary Neville has criticised Arsenal’s set-piece coach Nicolas Jover (right, with manager Mikel Arteta) for his touchline antics during Saturday’s defeat to Newcastle United
Neville criticised Jover for ‘screaming like crazy’ at Arsenal’s set-piece taker Leandro Trossard
Trossard reacts at the final whistle after the Gunners lost their first league game of the season
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As Arsenal chased a late equaliser, Neville felt Jover was putting too much pressure on Trossard, who was on their set-pieces.
The former England and Manchester United defender told his Sky Sports podcast: ‘It was driving me crazy. The set-piece coach down here, he was doing my head in.
‘He was screaming on like crazy like he was the manager. I’m not sure that helps.
‘He’s screaming on at Trossard who was taking the set-pieces… sit down, he knows what to do, you’ve gone through it in the week, it’s up on the board in the dressing room before the game, and you’ve told him three, four times.
‘To me it felt like he was putting more pressure on Trossard taking the corners, which, to be fair, Trossard didn’t handle because his corners were appalling.
‘They were real chances, in a game that’s so tight, set-pieces, no one needs to tell Mikel Arteta or any of the coaches in this league, they’re the vital moments, Arsenal are good on corners, they’ve got a good record.
‘The delivery has got to be good, if the delivery isn’t good it all falls over.
‘I just felt as though he was being screamed at down this near side by the set-piece coach and, to be fair, he was probably putting pressure on him unnecessarily.
Anthony Gordon scored a hugely controversial winner for Newcastle – with VAR’s assistance
Officials had to assess three separate incidents before the decision to award Gordon’s goal
Players and fans were made to wait four minutes while a decision was made on the goal
‘When you go to take a set-piece or a dead ball you’ve want to be relaxed, it’s not easy taking a corner, I mean people might say it’s the easiest thing in the world, honestly, it’s not easy to take a corner, if you’re good at them it looks really easy, but honestly as a right-back I couldn’t have taken corners and I could cross a ball.
‘But to actually get it into the right areas all the time with precision, that’s not an easy thing to do. So actually making sure the players are relaxed before they take them is an important thing, and I don’t think that helps.’
Berlin-born Jover worked as Pep Guardiola’s set-piece coach at City between 2019 and 2021.
He worked alongside Arteta for his first few months there before the Spaniard left to take the Arsenal job and was persuaded to move to the Emirates in July 2021.
Jover has established a reputation for set-piece innovation – during his two years with City, the club created 104 chances from set plays in Premier League action, leading to 16 goals.
He also improved City’s record of defending opposition set-pieces, helping them reduce the percentage of goals conceded from such situation from 39 per cent in 2018-19 to just 20 per cent the following season and 19 per cent the season after.
Jover was involved in a bust-up with Manchester City’s Kyle Walker over an apparent snubbed handshake during their meeting at the Emirates last month
Jover (right) worked under Pep Guardiola as part of City’s backroom team between 2019-2021
But Jover then moved to work for Mikel Arteta, Guardiola’s former No 2, at Arsenal in 2021
Arsenal’s set-piece effectiveness showed a similar improvement once Jover was installed at the club.
However, they were unable to force a late goal at St James’ Park on Saturday night after Gordon scored for Newcastle in controversial circumstances.
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta described the decision as ’embarrassing’ and a ‘disgrace’.
‘We lost the match because of the clear and obvious decisions,’ he continued. ‘You cannot imagine the amount of messages I got saying this cannot continue. I am wasting my time, we are wasting our time.’
Things escalated further when Arsenal released an official statement backing Arteta and complaining about ‘unacceptable refereeing and VAR errors’.
They added: ‘PGMOL urgently needs to address the standard of officiating and focus on action which moves us all on from retrospective analysis, attempted explanation and apologies.’
The Gunners did acknowledge the efforts of referees’ chief Howard Webb to raise standards but still feel the ‘best league in the world’ is still falling short.
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