Gary Neville: Lucas Torreira Leaves Arsenal Teammates With No Excuses

By The Editor
on 11th December 2018

Gary Neville is a big fan of Lucas Torreira despite not being impressed the first time he saw him…

Gary Neville has hailed the impact of Lucas Torreira at Arsenal despite admitting that he didn’t make a great first impression on the pundit when he saw him play at the World Cup, the former Valencia coach said on Monday Night Football.

Torreira has produced some sensational displays this term, though he had to wait some time to make his first start with Unai Emery favouring Matteo Guendouzi early on.

However, after coming on at half-time following a poor first-half display at Newcastle, Torreira changed the game and we eventually ran out comfortable 2-1 winners.

His reputation soared this week after scoring two goals in three league games, while also picking up ‘man of the match’ awards in all three games.

It was his complete performance against Spurs which captured the imagination though, and Neville admits that he didn’t foresee such displays from Torreira after watching him for the first time at the World Cup.

“I’ve been massively impressed,” the former Man United right-back said on Sky Sports.

“I watched him in the World Cup. I did the France vs Uruguay game live and he was tenacious. In the first half an hour to 40 minutes you thought he gets around the pitch and he’s like a terrier, but then actually as France started to get on top he started to get dominated.

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“Obviously Uruguay got a bit desperate but with the likes of Paul Pogba and Blaise Matuidi in midfield and Antoine Griezmann dropping in, I just remember thinking he couldn’t get around the pitch,” he admitted.

Neville has often criticised our attitude, especially in big games, and he believes Torreira has set the tone for the rest of the team on what’s required, which rose to the surface in the derby.

“I think someone like him leaves his team-mates with nowhere to go. We’ve talked about Arsenal’s approach to games over the last two or three years and there was never that feeling that you felt as though it mattered at times.

“At times in big matches, they always disappointed and you felt there wasn’t a leader out on the pitch for the players to look towards.”