Martin Keown let rip at Arsenal after witnessing his former side crash out of the Europa League with a dire second-leg performance against Villarreal.
A 1-0 victory would have been enough to send the Gunners to the final, but they mustered just two shots on target throughout their lifeless display at the Emirates.
The result ends Arsenal's hopes of winning silverware this season and, with the club ninth in the Premier League, there is a very real possibility they could miss out on European football next season.
It also plunges Arteta's future into doubt and worsens the mood of a fanbase already seriously aggrieved by the club's owner, Stan Kroenke
Keown highlighted all of that and much more in a lengthy rant while speaking on BT Sport on Thursday night.
Here is everything he had to say:
Arteta "embarrassed" by Emery
"I think just four (shots on target) in both ties. Villarreal controlled the tactics, Emery I thought was too smart for Arteta.
"Hugely disappointing, they were nervous, tentative, the performance wasn’t there and we shouldn’t be surprised, when we look at the Premier League position, ninth in the table, 19 goals scored here from 17 home matches.
"It’s been a roller coaster season and inconsistency is rife through the group."
"I think the manager comes under enormous pressure. You start to look at the wisdom of a young manager coming here to take a huge job, a massive job at this football club.
"His inexperience, maybe, has cost him. He’s still here as manager, we’ll have to wait and see what happens on that.
"It seemed to me, though, that this was the rescue package tonight and it didn’t arrive, the team didn’t turn up, whether it was the motivation, the tactics - he was outsmarted by the previous manager which is also a bit of an embarrassment for the owners.
"Both games, the false nine and today when we changed our midfield completely and it looked like it was brand new to us, it didn’t look like we had the experience to adapt, to change.
"We looked lost. They engaged us high up the pitch, we couldn’t get out, we looked a bit nervy, and it allowed them to play and be comfortable.
"That’s the thing, we haven’t really laid a glove on them, we haven’t gone down fighting. If this stadium was full, they wouldn’t be allowed to get away with that.
"They almost seemed prepared to let the game glow away, I think it does come from the manager, he gives the tactics at the start, it’s the base for the players to play from."
A message to Kroenke
"I don't know if it changes Kroenke. I don't even know if he would have been at the final if we had made it there.
"Does this club really matter to him? He's got six or seven franchises of other football clubs, basketball, hockey, you name it.
"Does he love football enough? We need someone who really wants this club, to own it, to love it, to take it back to where it once was.
"And if he doesn't want that - because now he (Arteta) is going to need big investment - if he doesn't want that he should step aside and let someone take it who does."
Midfield woes
"We thought we were signing the next Patrick Vieira, and he hasn’t looked like that at all. He started with an injury, he came back early and then got injured again. He doesn’t seem to have the legs in midfield, certainly on his own.
"We made a mistake, we should have had two midfielders side by side. Whether or not Xhaka was going to play in that position before he got injured before the game, I think not. I think he was probably going to play left-back. But we didn’t have the right balance in midfield.
"Odegaard didn’t want to press the front line to stop them coming out and then in midfield, they were just able to pass by and he wasn’t able to offer that protection for the defence."
Arteta sack verdict
"That decision needs to be made. He’s a young manager. Emery was here himself and was sacked, also maybe he lost the players. It’s not a given you’re going to be successful even with a big reputation.
"But he (Arteta) came with a lot of inexperience, he talked tonight about how his semi-final team was youthful and didn’t have a lot of experience. Well, isn’t that then the reason to keep it simple, to not take big risks?
"If you think about last season, they played predominantly with a back five, they did very well to win an FA Cup with that system. There’s been too much chopping and changing this year.
"Young players do not pick it up quick enough, that’s why at the very big clubs, the likes of Foden take time to settle.
"So, you’re asking our top players - Smith Rowe, Saka - to come in and play them in an array of different positions and you’re doing it in the biggest games of the season. It didn’t work in these two ties."
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