
Football
Share
Published 11:04 29 Oct 2016 BST
Explore more on these topics:
Merse tells Pep it's "shocking" that he sent out the reserves to play against Manchester United in midweek:
And if they end the season trophy-less, Merse calls that "a disaster and a huge disappointment," adding "after going out to get the best manager in the world" in his best snark voice. He says the City players look "unhappy and confused" and reckons that they will soon revolt and tell Pep where to shove his 'passing out from the back' mantra. Merse knows this because it's exactly what he and his fellow Arsenal players did to Bruce Rioch. "But Bruce refused to change and the fans started getting frustrated. Not long after we’d gone to him, he was sacked," he"United vs City is one of the biggest derbies around. They’ve not won in five, and he plays a weakened team. It makes no sense. Does he think they’re winning the Champions League instead? Because they were a million miles behind Barcelona recently and face them again next week."
Bruce Rioch didn't survive a player revolt at Arsenal., says Merson (Picture credit: Dave Rogers/Allsprot UK)[/caption]
He finishes off with a few pointed digs at the Spaniard, presumably designed to convey that Merson thinks he is vastly over-rated.
"Guardiola only has himself to blame. He’s starting to realise how much tougher this league is..." he says.
"Now we’ll see if he really is the best manager in the world."
It would of course be churlish at this point to note that Guardiola is widely revered as one of the best managers the game has ever seen: a man who created what is arguably the greatest club side in the history of football, and has a trophy haul that would keep Brasso in business for years, while Merson's managerial experience consists of an underwhelming two-year spell at Walsall before he was sacked.
But as we said, it would be churlish to point that out. So we won't.
Catch up with the latest episode of Football Friday LiveFootball

How the final Premier League table would look if every refereeing error was erased
Things would have looked very different. Every major refereeing decision leading up to the final few weeks of the Premier League season have been analysed, to establish how things may have played out differently, had PGMO officials always made the correct calls, in an impressive new report from the Athletic. The 2025/26 season ultimately ended […]
Football
21h
Here’s why French fans riot – even when their team wins
It’s now an infamous tradition Following Paris Saint-Germain’s win in the Champions League final against Arsenal on Saturday, at least 780 people across France were arrested with more than 450 in custody, as football fans clashed with police. A person was found dead after an accident on Paris’s ring road, which rioters tried to block […]
Football
1 day ago
WATCH: Comical moment footballer is run over by his own medical team
Football