GARY NEVILLE slammed Arsenal’s ‘very poor’ recruitment after they were ‘bullied’ by Premier League new-boys Brentford.
The Gunners kicked off the new season in West London – but were stunned 2-0 by the Bees.
Sergi Canos and Christian Norgaard struck either side of half-time to record a famous victory for Thomas Frank’s side.
And ex-Manchester United defender Neville let rip at Arsenal and their transfer policy.
Neville told Sky Sports: “I don’t know what the plan is at Arsenal.
“The recruitment has been really poor. They are just poor at it compared to other clubs.
“I don’t get the strategy and l don’t get the direction.
“I think they have a really talented manager but even if he gets the best out of them, l don’t think they can make the top four.”
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Arsenal spent £50million on Ben White, £7m on Nuno Tavares and £17m on Albert Sambi Lokonga this summer.
And the club are still chasing a new No10 with Martin Odegaard, Houssem Aouar and James Maddison linked.
But despite a full pre-season and new defenders in the squad, the same frailties were on display for all to see in their own box – especially with the second goal as no one dealt with a long throw launched in.
Neville added: “They’ve been messed around.
“A game of football is really difficult if your centre-backs are getting messed around by the opposition forwards and that’s happened from minute one tonight.
“There’s nothing worse than thinking your team are a little bit soft.
“Brentford have looked at them and thought, ‘Yeah, we’ll have you’, and that’s the worst feeling.
“Arsenal fans will go away from here tonight thinking, ‘We’ve been bullied’.”
Neville’s Sky colleague Jamie Carragher was also scathing in his assessment, describing the contest as ‘men against boys’.
Carra moaned: “If you’re playing Arsenal, get it in the box.
“How do you describe Arsenal’s defending here? It’s just Arsenal. Weak. Bullied. Men against boys – again.
“New season, same old story. They don’t win the first one [header], let it bounce.
“Two Brentford players [say] ‘get out of the way’… goalkeeper can’t do nothing. Mari, Ben White, Calum Chambers – nowhere to be seen.”
Things don’t get much easier for Arsenal.
In their next two Premier League fixtures, they host European champions Chelsea and then travel to the Etihad to face Manchester City.
Afterwards, Mikel Arteta apologised to the travelling fans for the defeat.
He told reporters: “First of all, thank you because of the support that they are giving to the team, the travelling fans that were here.
“And after that, I apologise for the result and we know that we have to improve.
“We have two big games coming up right now and we need to a different performance to get a different result.
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“It’s a very disappointing night.
“We created a lot of situations but not enough threat or shots on target to win a football match.
“When you concede a goal on a long throw, it then becomes a big task. Congratulations to Brentford.”
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