Gary Neville fumes at ‘offensive’ Mikel Arteta ally and expects Arsenal stars to turn on him

Arsenal’s set-piece coach Nicolas Jover has been scrutinised for interfering on the touchline and Gary Neville has been of his biggest critics – with the pundit claiming he could soon anger the players if he continues

Gary Neville has slammed Arsenal coach Nicolas Jover again for his behaviour on the touchline and claimed players could soon get frustrated with the set-piece specialist.

The Sky Sports pundit has not held back on Jover in the past, previously calling him “the most annoying man in football” after being irked by him barking instructions on the touchline next to boss Mikel Arteta during games.

He continued being vocal in Arsenal’s 2-1 win over Tottenham on Wednesday night, which saw them score from yet another set-piece this season thanks to Jover’s guidance. After Gabriel Magalhaes’ goal, the team have now scored 26 goals from. corners since the start of last season.

But Neville believes it’s time for Jover to “sit back”, claiming he is “overreaching his importance” and may start to get on the Arsenal players nerves if he keeps it up.

Speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, he said: “I called him the most annoying man in football. Do you know something? I’m cementing my position, I’m doubling down.

“It’s offending me every week. I’m going to say this really calmly, I think he’s overreaching his importance. If a goalkeeper makes a good save, I don’t see the goalkeeping coach on the edge of the touchline. I don’t see the other coaches going up and getting the glory for it.

“The manager is at the front, he can’t communicate from 50 yards away to players who know what they’re doing. I think he’s overreaching his importance, I genuinely believe that. I see goalkeeper coaches and brilliant coaches who work on other aspects of the game, I don’t see them pointing to themselves and overreaching their importance.

‘That’s how I feel. I get he’s important and he’s doing a great job but I do genuinely think he needs to sit back a little bit. I think the players will start to look at him as well and think, ‘hang on a minute, come on’.”

Arsenal’s success with Jover has seen the French coach immortalised with a mural outside the Emirates Stadium and his work helped the Gunners push Manchester City close in the title race last season. This season, they are four points off league leaders Liverpool.

Despite Jover being highly praised, Jamie Redknapp criticised him earlier this month after Arsenal’s 2-0 defeat to Newcastle in the Carabao Cup semi-finals, questioning why Martin Odegaard was chosen to mark the towering Alexander Isak.

Redknapp said: “The set-piece coach gets a lot of credit – he obviously doesn’t do the defensive ones! How you can have Odegaard marking him [Isak]? He’s the best centre-forward in the country right now, you have got to detail someone to say, ‘Where is he? Let’s mark him’. Odegaard has no interest in marking him.”

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