Former Manchester City star Trevor Sinclair has taken Mikel Arteta to task for his poor man management skills which leave much to be desired.
The under-stress Gunners’ boss is laboring under immense pressure with his side sitting a shocking 15th in the table. having lost four of their last six Premier League matches.
Arteta’s position has come under serious scrutiny following Arsenal’s six-game winless run in the Premier League with Sinclair pinning the blame on Arteta for the Mesut Ozil and Matteo Guendouzi situations at the Emirates.
Ozil, commanding a staggering £350,000-a-week, has been left out of the action for the Gunners since March and is not in their Premier League squad, while Guendouzi was loaned out to Hertha Berlin after being frozen out by Arteta.
Sinclair told Friday’s talkSPORT Breakfast:
“Everyone talks about how he’s a great coach, but that’s not what makes a manager.
“It’s your man management skills. You look at Guendouzi scoring over the weekend, and you look at Ozil, he is not contributing to that side.
“So for me, if you’re looking at man management, which is management, he’s not doing that well.
“He might be a great coach, but he’s not managing the players well and he’s not getting the best out of individuals in that squad.”
Arsenal depart on an unenviable trip to face in-form Everton on Saturday, with Carlo Ancelotti’s side having recorded successive wins over Chelsea and Leicester heading into the clash against the Gunners – who have also been criticised for lacking ‘fight’ and ‘folding like a pack of cards’.
Sinclair believes only Eddie Nketiah, David Luiz and Kieran Tierney show the kind of leadership needed by Arteta’s side.
He added: “I just look at the team and think, where are the leaders?
“I look at Nketiah and I think he’s a bit of a leader. I’d put him on the pitch and say, ‘let him run around and leave a little bit on people’, because at the moment, they’ve not got that desire.
“They’ve missed David Luiz with his head injury.
“I’m looking throughout the side and maybe Tierney is a bit of a leader, but apart from that, I’m struggling.”