Clarence Seedorf has called out Arsenal defender Jurrien Timber for his ‘stupid fouls’ in Tuesday’s 1-0 Champions League home defeat to PSG.
Timber massively struggled to deal with Khvicha Kvaratskhelia during the first leg of Arsenal’s semi-final showdown against the French champions.
Kvaratskhelia went past Timber on a number of occasions and the Arsenal star was lucky to avoid a first-half booking after several poor challenges.
Former AC Milan star Seedorf, on punditry duties for Amazon Prime, was left far from impressed with Timber during his post-match analysis.
Clarence Seedorf calls out Arsenal star Jurrien Timber after PSG defeat
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As Amazon showed replays of Timber giving away a number of fouls during the game, Seedorf said: ‘You have to be able to understand when you have to go press high, when you cannot and when you must sit back.
‘Particularly against these PSG guys with lots of skill and quality. The thing I saw they are making a lot of stupid fouls when they are pressing.
‘You don’t want to make a stupid mistake. Everything is under control, you’re pressing well, this is a moment where you want to keep them under pressure when you make a stupid foul for nothing. They are already too far up the field.’
Speaking more generally about the clash in north London, Seedorf explained that ‘PSG did what he expected Arsenal to do’ at the Emirates.
‘For Arsenal to really elevate to that winning team, they have to shift in mentality,’ Seedorf stated ahead of Arsenal’s second leg against PSG.
‘PSG did what I expected Arsenal to do. They pressed high [up the pitch].’
Clarence Seedorf says David Raya’s post-match comments were wrong
Ousmane Dembele scored the only goal of the night in the fourth minute as PSG largely outclassed Mikel Arteta’s side, hitting the crossbar late-on as the Parisians pushed for a second goal.
Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya claimed after the match that the Gunners ‘could have won the game’ and ‘dominated most’ of the first leg but Seedorf has called out the Spaniard for his comments.
‘I really hope David Raya will watch the game back because sometimes what you feel after is not necessarily what has happened,’ Seedorf added.
PSG boss Luis Enrique was adamant that his side ‘could have scored the second goal’ but also hailed the performance of his own goalkeeper.
‘I think emotions are at that level in those kind of matches so it’s difficult to analyse,’ he told Amazon Prime after the game.
‘Great atmosphere but we showed the kind of team we are. We tried to play our way and scored the goal early playing the way we play. We suffered sometimes but could have scored the second goal.’
Speaking about the performance of Gianluigi Donnarumma, Enrique said: ‘That’s the work of a goalkeeper, no? Save the team, they work everyday for that. in a semi-final, you need all the players.’