Jamie Carragher has said that he "loved" Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca’s celebrationas the Blues won late on against his former club Liverpool. Yet, around 18 months earlier, the same pundit was criticising Arsenal for their celebrations.
It again raises questions about how Arsenalare specifically discussed and the consistency of certain pundits when discussing the Gunners. Carragher was speaking on Sky in the wake of the Stamford Bridge win.
"From Chelsea's point of view, it's a fantastic result for them, the biggest under Enzo Maresca in his tenure, certainly at Stamford Bridge," he said. "In terms of a togetherness with the club, it's a brilliant result for them.
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"That was a victory that does a lot for the club in terms of the manager. I loved the manager's celebration, I loved him running down the line, I can't believe he can't come out and speak to us, that's ridiculous, you want to hear from him.
"For me, his biggest result, that will build a connection with the supporters, I said a lot last year, I think he's a really good coach, every time they come up against Liverpool, they had a plan.
"At times there wasn't that connection with the supporters and that was maybe waning in the last couple of weeks because of what happened in the summer was fantastic but some poor results, celebrating like that, a win like that against the champions builds a real bond."
Rewind to February 2024 and Arsenal’s massive 3-1 win over Liverpool was too arguably the biggest of Mikel Arteta’s tenure at the time and put them in a great position much further into the title race. Afterwards, Sky cameras showed Martin Odegaard being given a camera to take photos of the club’s photographer, Stuart McFarlane.
Carragher’s reaction was not one of joy, delight or love in response this time, however. Instead, in a serious tone, he was critical.
“Just get down the tunnel,” he said minutes after the full-time whistle had blown. “You've won a game, three points, you've been brilliant.
“Back in the title race, get down the tunnel. I'm serious, honestly.”
Rightly, the Sky pundit has long been a firm member of the growing establishment of ‘celebration police,’ although perhaps he now deserves some time to show he has changed. Perhaps these comments about Maresca have instead shown that he has changed his ways, and he deserves the benefit of the doubt.
Next time Arsenal enjoy a brilliant win, or Arteta has a Luton 4-3 win-esque moment after a game, we will see the likes of Carragher basking firmly in the elation of positive emotion. The Arsenal fans will certainly be watching, closely.
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