Jermaine Jenas insists Arsenal's hierarchy must take responsibility for the Gunners' current situation after their 3-0 home defeat against Manchester City.
The Gunners were outclassed by the Premier League champions as they suffered a humbling defeat at the hands of Pep Guardiola's men, with all three goals coming in the first half at the Emirates Stadium as City ran riot courtesy of two goals from Kevin De Bruyne and one from Raheem Sterling.
Arsenal barely tested Ederson in the Manchester City goal, with the Gunners well beaten in north London.
And the former Tottenham midfielder said he actually felt sorry for the Arsenal players as they tasted defeat for the second time in a row at home under interim head coach Freddie Ljungberg, who replaced Unai Emery following his sacking last month.
“In a weird way, I felt a bit sorry for the players on the pitch," said Jenas, speaking on BBC programme Match of the Day 2.
“I think it was a good example of what is happening at the top of Arsenal, with the board members and the hierarchy and how much of a mess it is, it has fully filtered itself onto the pitch, and they came up against an animal in Manchester City.
"They had no direction, no confidence, and they were taken apart at will. And do you know what, fair play to a lot of the fans who did stay, they were singing for their club and I almost felt sorry for the players who were on the pitch taking the battering."
For Ljungberg, it was his fifth game in all competitions as interim head coach, with Arsenal recording just one win in those five games, tasting defeat twice and drawing twice.
And Jenas said that a decision has got to be made sooner rather than later over a permanent successor to Emery.
“That’s the bigger picture. They need to sort themselves out at the top end of things," he said.
“[They are] talking about interviewing 12 different managers, which tells me they haven’t got a clue in terms of the type of club or team that they want to be.
“And now they have a team on the pitch who have no direction, with a manager who has very little experience, and that’s why I want to protect the players.
“I felt really sorry for them, because that was really embarrassing for them.”
