“The football club is going backwards” Former Gunner rips into Arsenal | OneFootball

Martin Keown has slammed Arsenal and claims that the team is going backwards after their exit from the Europa League.

Arsenal has been unable to return to the top four since 2017 and they have been struggling in the Premier League since they fired Arsene Wenger in 2018.

The Frenchman was at the helm for more than 20 years, but they have had two managers in the last three years, yet they will be without European football next season.

This never happened when Wenger was at the helm and Keown reckons that the club is hardly making any progress at the moment.

There is a remarkable amount of uncertainty around the future of some players in their squad, including Bernd Leno, Hector Bellerin and David Luiz.

Keown says Stan Kroenke has to show that he loves the club by opening up his cheque book to sign new players and he also urged Mikel Arteta to take some responsibility.

Keown said on BT Sport via Sun Sports: “The fans need to have their say. The club is becoming stagnated. There’s a lack of investment.

“The Kroenkes – do they really love the club? They need to spend massively. Leno won’t sign a new contract. Luiz is leaving.

“Bellerin isn’t signing a new contract. There’s a remarkable amount of players that are uncertain of their futures.

“Arteta needs to take some responsibility. He’s outsmarted himself. He needs to keep it simple.

“I do believe he’s an outstanding coach, he needs to prove he’s an outstanding manager. It’s going to be difficult to back him if he loses again.

“It’s about results. He’s been here 18 months and he’s won an FA Cup, but when we look at league form it’s fallen away.

“The football club is going backwards and they have to arrest that slide.

“How much of the problem is about the manager and how much is about the squad?

“The manager is concerning me because he always blames the players. Massive expenditure is needed. New owners could be the catalyst.”