Arsenal have been slammed by Trevor Sinclair after the Gunners’ sorry exit at the semi-finals stage of the Carabao Cup.
Mikel Arteta’s men produced a well below par performance as the club’s last hope of a trophy this season were dashed convincingly by Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool, with a Diogo Jota brace inflicting a 2-0 defeat on the Gunners.
Speaking on talkSPORT Breakfast, former West Ham man Sinclair was asked whether Arsenal are any better under Arteta than they were under Unai Emery.
"Definitely, no," he said. “The FA Cup win was a massive bonus for Mikel Arteta but put that aside I don’t think they’ve improved at all.
“It’s great to have young players in the team, especially boys you’ve developed in the academy, but as a team and threat to the major titles, to the top four, I don’t think they’ve improved at all.”
Despite a promising start to the game when Lacazette drew out the best from Liverpool’s no.2 Caoimhin Kelleher, the Jota goal was a real blow for the Gunners and they never looked like coming back from it as they have lost every time they’ve fallen behind this season.
Former Arsenal player Adrian Clarke added on talkSPORT: “Liverpool outclassed Arsenal. They seemed to lack belief, as soon as Jota scored they dropped off. That was the time to step on the gas, then get everyone firing and be aggressive in their running on and off the ball.
“But what they did was play with a little bit of fear. They were worried about losing the tie by half-time and they dropped back, which just allowed Liverpool to control the game and the Gunners didn’t really lay a glove on them.
“I’ve looked at the stats and Arsenal have not come from behind this season. Every time they’ve gone 1-0 down, and that’s only happened six times this season, but they’ve lost every game and they’ve not scored a goal from that position.
“I disagree with Arteta when he said ‘we had them’ and ‘we just have to take our chances’ – it was nothing more than half-chances from Arsenal. Liverpool were always in control. They were a class apart.”
Attention now switches back to the Premier League as Arsenal look to continue their chase for a top four finish when they host Burnley on Sunday.
