Jermaine Jenas has added to the criticism of Arsenal manager Unai Emery after a display against Leicester City he said showed a lack of planning.
The former Tottenham midfielder joined the chorus of people, including former Arsenal legend Ian Wright, condemning the former Sevilla boss for his team’s limp performance saw them beaten 2-0 by a team that were better in every area.
Emery made a tactical switch, but the players appeared to not understand how to play in their new formation and Jenas said he didn’t think they’d been prepared adequately.
“It’s not looking good. It’s the first time they’ve gone to a back three today and you could tell. They had no plan and there was a complete lack of direction,” the player, who appeared 21 times for England, said on Match of the Day.
“When they did have the ball going forward, they had no confidence and they didn’t want to play it forward. They played it negative and backwards and they went sideways.
“It was like they were waiting to have the ball taken from them and Leicester didn’t disappoint.
"Arsenal were not good enough to play in that system and were always going to make mistakes.”
The lack of understanding and preparation led to Arsenal wasting their best assets, according to Jenas.
He also thought that the inability of players to adapt to either the new system or the situation of the match reflected badly on their coach.
“Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was playing right wing-back at one point and [Hector] Bellerin should have been telling him to get out of the way.
“On the opposite side of the field there was [Alexandre] Lacazette playing left wing-back. How are you supposed to have a chance of playing counter attacking football?”
“The complete inability to recognise that they needed to change the system or the tempo is worrying.
“That is worrying for Unai Emery.”
Arsenal go into the international break having won just four of their 12 league games so far this season and just twice since the start of September.
They are eight points away from the Champions League spots, and 14 points behind leaders Liverpool, who have a game in hand.