Ivan Toney has jokingly labelled Arsenal players as “a bit cringey” for repeatedly using his gloating social media post as motivation to beat Brentford. The 26-year-old described Brentford’s 2-0 win over Arsenal on the opening day of last season as a “nice kickabout with the boys” on Twitter.
The recent Amazon All or Nothing documentary on Arsenal revealed that boss Mikel Arteta showed that tweet to his players to inspire them before the reverse fixture in February, a game they won 2-1.After that game, striker Alexandre Lacazette tweeted the exact same words in response, before Emile Smith Rowe added “fun session with the boys” in reply.
And following Arsenal’s 3-0 win at the Gtech Community Stadium on Sunday — a match which ended with the away supporters chanting “Ivan Toney, a stroll in the park” — defender Gabriel mimicked Toney with the same tweet as his original. Asked what he made of the situation when speaking at St George’s Park on Tuesday afternoon, Toney said: “I think once was funny, the second time was a bit cringey!
“Nah, listen, I bit my tongue. I wanted to reply, I wanted to nibble, but fair play they played very well. They are a different Arsenal side from what we played before. They are going very well so fair play to them. They are going well.”
Toney was last week called up to the England senior squad for the first time after scoring five goals so far this season including a hat trick in Brentford’s 5-2 win over Leeds United earlier this month.
