Martin Keown brands Peter Schmeichel 'deranged' after criticism of Arsenal's style

Martin Keown has rebuked former Manchester United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel after Schmeichel described Arsenal's style of play as "annoying" and "ugly" following the Gunners' 1-0 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield.

Schmeichel, speaking after Dominik Szoboszlai's free kick separated the sides before the international break, said on ViaPlay that he found Arsenal's approach designed to "exploit opponents' mistakes while waiting for set pieces" and that he had "never in my life ever wanted a team to win a game of football more than Liverpool today." Keown, who won three league titles with Arsenal, told talkSPORT that Schmeichel had gone too far and described the criticism as "deranged."

"We want more," Keown said. "Arsenal I feel now are at the stage where it’s a mentality change, they need to change gear, they’ve really got to go after it. You’ve got to have the eye of the tiger to really go and win these games." He conceded Arsenal sometimes need to be more aggressive but rejected Schmeichel's wider characterization. "I think that’s deranged, what's he talking about?"

Keown also aimed a light-hearted dig at Schmeichel, referencing the back-pass rule change in 1992 and saying, "Was it they changed the back-pass rule in 1992 because it was him that was one of the advocates of that? Everyone kept passing it back to him, that was ugly as well." He added that despite the Anfield setback Arsenal remained contenders. "It’s too early in the season to write Arsenal off," Keown said. "Arsenal are a long way down the line to being successful. I think Arsenal look good right now."

Arsenal arrived at Anfield having beaten Leeds 5-0 in their first home game of the campaign but were undone by Szoboszlai's free kick as both sides largely cancelled each other out. Schmeichel criticised Mikel Arteta's tactical conservatism in big games and urged the manager to "let your team play football" and "let them be free," arguing that would produce more wins.

The debate comes amid transfer activity and injury management at Arsenal. The club brought in attackers Viktor Gyökeres, Noni Madueke and Eberechi Eze over the summer, and Keown noted that injuries which affected recent seasons should ease as the squad beds in. Arsenal scored 17 fewer goals than Liverpool across last season, a statistic frequently cited in discussions about their attacking output.

Arsenal return to Premier League action on Saturday when they host a Nottingham Forest side currently without a permanent manager. The Gunners begin their Champions League campaign on Tuesday with a trip to Athletic Bilbao.