The debate over Arsenal's aesthetic has divided some of the game's biggest names. Wayne Rooney has leapt to their defence, calling the criticism "very unfair." The Manchester United legend argued that if a team finds a weakness in their opponents through set-pieces, they should be praised for exploiting it. "I’ve heard over the last week a lot of people talking about Arsenal and how they’re playing," he said on his BBC podcast. "I think Arsenal have been brilliant. Football is played in different ways and Arsenal have got a good mix of a bit of everything. They’ve got different players who score goals, they’re hard to play against, they keep clean sheets and I actually enjoy watching them play.
"Set-pieces is part of football, so when Arsenal have done something which they’ve clearly worked on and teams find difficult to defend against, why would you not use it? If teams can’t deal with it, do it more. I think it’s very unfair the criticism which they are receiving."