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Football London
Football London
Sport
Paul Clarke

Martin Keown identifies the 'weak' Arsenal player who contributed to Unai Emery's downfall

Former Arsenal star Martin Keown has been reacting to Unai Emery's exit from the Gunners and he has laid some of the blame on one individual in particular.

Emery was enduring a tough second season before he was handed the sack by the Arsenal board this morning following the 2-1 defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League on Thursday evening.

The likes of Wolves' boss Nuno Espirito Santo, former Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino, Man City assistant Mikel Arteta and ex-Juventus boss Massimiliano Allegri have been linked as a long-term replacement for Emery, but Freddie Ljungberg has taken over on an interim basis as Arsenal contemplate their options.

But when it comes down to what went wrong for Emery at Arsenal, Keown believes David Luiz had a big part to play for his decision to leave the field on Thursday night in the Europa League.

Keown claims that Luiz didn't show enough fight for his manager when he left the field with an injury, with the former Arsenal defender explaining his thoughts in an interview with talkSPORT today.

"It's almost a relief that the board made a decision because last night just encapsulated everything about how poor it had become," Keown told talkSPORT.

"It was shambolic at times watching the manager and the team he selected. I don't think he quite understood the pressure he was under.

"Then during the game as well with the way David Luiz weakly went off the pitch. The manager's job is on the line and you go off the pitch, it didn't really look that bad.

"Last season he changed from a back three to a back four 23 times. We played Southampton last weekend and they had 21 shots on our goal. It was inevitable.

"We were covering the game last night and it had become very sad and it had become a shambles. The club has lost its way and is not competitive. For me, it's relegation form. It is really very serious. He'd lost the players and it simply had to be done."

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