Arsenal legend Martin Keown has urged head coach Mikel Arteta to stop falling out with his players following Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's departure from the club.
Aubameyang was stripped of his captaincy duties back in December before football.london revealed over the festive period that the Gunners were open to selling the once-prolific striker.
Eventually, the Gabon international joined the Blaugrana, becoming the third high-profile player to clash with Arteta, along with Matteo Guendouzi and Mesut Ozil, with the former currently on loan at Marseille whilst the latter left for Fenerbahce just over 12 months ago.
Now, Keown has criticised the former Manchester City assistant coach for his hardline approach, telling him that he has to find a way to stop clashing with his own players.
Speaking on talkSPORT’s, the former Arsenal defender said: "What I wanted was for him [Arteta] to continue to get the best from a player, that’s the role of a manager isn’t it, win games and get the best from players?
"Is this decision in the best interest of Arsenal football club? That’s all I’m looking at. There is no replacement that has come in for the striker. Arsenal are in a fight for fourth place and have an opportunity to do that.
"What I don’t want also is the manager to get a reputation for falling out with players. I don’t know if another high profile manager has fallen out with so many players.
"Maybe it was easy to fall out with [Mesut] Ozil, people are saying I’m picking on him, but [Matteo] Guendouzi has since gone on and done quite well, he’s got into the French national team.
"There have been one or two fallouts, and he may feel like he’s eradicating a culture that was allowed to grow under Arsene Wenger, and I understand that.
"But at the same time all footballers are very different, so what you have to do is find a way to get the best from everybody.
"You can’t keep falling out with people!"
However, if Freddie Ljungberg's thoughts are anything to go by, Arteta is not the problem.
According to The Independent, Ljungberg and his fellow coaches were surprised by the 'slack attitude' of some members of the squad during his short-lived interim position back in 2019.
The report also claimed that the former Swedish international warned that Arteta's arrival would not change much unless he was to get rid of these players.
We can't be certain who these players are that left Ljungberg and Co unimpressed but given the Gunners offloaded several first-team players during the January transfer window, the majority of the current squad are players that Arteta and his coaching staff want to keep in north London for the foreseeable future.
