Gary Neville has issued a savage response after a clip of him accusing Arsenal of having 'no strategy' resurfaced online.
The clip shows the former Manchester United man speaking on Sky Sports after the Gunners had just been beaten 2-0 by newly-promoted Brentford on the opening day of the 2021-22 campaign.
Goals from Serge Canos and Christian Nørgaard took the Bees to an unlikely victory as fans fully returned to stadiums for the first time since Covid, and Neville slammed Mikel Arteta's men for their 'poor recruitment' and lack of 'vision'.
Since that day Arsenal have turned their fortunes around, with two narrow second-place finishes, and yesterday one fan account thought it was the perfect time to dig out the three-year-old footage to show how far the side had come.
But Neville has subsequently shot his critics down with a brutal six-word post on X, formerly Twitter, which pointed out just how far the Gunners have to go.
Gary Neville has issued a savage response after a clip of him accusing Arsenal of having 'no plan' resurfaced online
He said: 'Congratulations on your success well done,' and inserted a trophy emoji at the end of the reply.
Arsenal endured a torrid night on the 21-22 curtain-raiser after goals from a near-post finish and a long-throw condemned them to a deeply deserved defeat.
And the outspoken Neville was on typically acerbic form as he laid into the Gunners.
'I don't know the plan at Arsenal,' he said. 'The recruitment to me has been really poor - they're poor at it compared to other clubs.
'I don't get the strategy. I don't get the direction of how they're taking the team.'
Strikers Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexander Lacazette both missed the Brentford defeat through illness but Neville suggested that Arsenal might have been hiding a 'deeper' problem, citing Arteta's cagey pre-match interview response.
The ex-England international did heap praise on the Arsenal boss but warned the Spaniard that he would face a lot of scrutiny if his side kept losing matches.
Arteta has since been given time to turn things around at the Emirates and has sensationally justified the board's decision to keep him, with a string of solid seasons.
The Gunners took some time to recover from the Brentford loss, suffering defeats in their next two matches, but steadied the ship to finish fifth that campaign.
Arsenal then took Man City deep into a title race the following season, only faltering in the final few matches, but still finished second on 84 points.
And last year Arteta's men competed in a relentless run-in with City with each side barely dropping a point as the Gunners fell painfully short on 89 points.
This made them the third-best second-placed team in the competition's history.
Neville's cheeky retort is based in fact, then, and Arsenal fans will be hoping they break their trophy duck during the 2024-25 season.