Former Liverpool winger John Barnes has warned Arsenal that the whole team must improve as a collective in order to get the best from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, and not the other way around.
The Gunners' struggles continued on Sunday with a 2-1 loss to Wolves at the Emirates Stadium.
Goals from Daniel Podence and Pedro Neto condemned the Gunners to their third straight home defeat in the top flight, and confirmed Arsenal's worst ever start to a Premier League season.
Aubameyang was once again subdued in front of goal, and missed a glorious chance to equalise late on, heading over from Hector Bellerin's cross.
The Arsenal captain has only scored once from open play this season - and that came on the opening day of the season against Fulham, and there are concerns that his poor form is affecting the Gunners.
But former England international Barnes believes Aubameyang has never been a player that could win a game on his own - like Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi - and that his Arsenal teammates must also take responsibility for their performances.
"Aubameyang is not by himself going to save Arsenal, he’s not a Messi or Ronaldo in their heyday, so he would have to be part of a team," Barnes told BonusCodeBets.co.uk.
"If you look at Harry Kane and what he’s doing at Tottenham, he’s now playing a different role and being creative, working hard defensively and doing lots of things for the team regardless of how well they’re doing.
"We will start to see a better Aubameyang when we see a better Arsenal, not the other way around as he won’t be able to drag Arsenal back up the table by himself.
"Arsenal need to start playing with a bit of confidence, find some identity and understanding then you will see the best of Aubameyang and all the other players."
Aubameyang signed a new lucrative three-year contract in the summer, thought to be worth in the region of £350,000-a-week, but Barnes believes it was the right decision from the club, despite the striker's lack of form since putting pen to paper.
"I don’t think it was a mistake to give him a big contract," Barnes added.
"He’s shown that he is committed to Arsenal by signing the contract and I’m sure he could have got similar money elsewhere, they just have to start playing well as a team.
"I think they’ve got to get their balance right. Arsenal have always been a good attacking team and not so good defensively, and I think that Thomas Partey coming to add balance and help as a defensive midfielder to protect the back four has been important for them.
"He’s missing so I think that hasn’t helped them recently. They’re still working on getting the right balance between attack and defence and creativity, so Arteta needs time but it’s not working at the moment.
"It’s difficult to take a club that has been used to the way that Arsene Wenger plays for such a long time - look at how long it took Liverpool to rebuild and the same with Manchester United after Sir Alex Fergerson, Chelsea after Jose Mourinho - Wenger’s influence is still there even though there are now two managers since him and it will take a lot of time for Arteta to create his own identity, so they’re still not getting the right balance between attack and defence and being as creative and solid as they want to be."
