Radio pundit Adrian Durham questioned whether the Arsenal job is too big for Mikel Arteta and reckons he might have been better cutting his managerial teeth at Rangers.
The Spaniard is under pressure at the Gunners following an opening day Premier League defeat to newly-promoted Brentford.
Arsenal also missed out on European football for the first time in a quarter of a century under Arteta last season.
Outspoken Durham suggested the 39-year-old would have been better going it alone at somewhere like Ibrox, where he spent two seasons, after leaving his assistant role to Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.
Steven Gerrard has taken that path and won the league title last season and talkSPORT host Durham said of Arteta: “Was the job just too big for him? If he’d gone to his old club Rangers, or even Everton… well maybe not Everton
“If he’d gone to Rangers would that have been a better move for him? Is this too much, too soon?”
Durham also believes that Arteta must find a system that helps cover for Scotland star Kieran Tierney’s forward runs.
He said: “When you’ve got Kieran Tierney, who is brilliant going forward, does it leave you more vulnerable at the back?
“And if it does – Pablo Mari on the same side as Kieran Tierney on that left hand side – that’s a weakness.
“Is (Gabriel) Martinelli going to be working back enough as a young professional who is trying to find his way and prove himself at the top end of the pitch?
“He’s on that left hand side of the three, is he going to be helping Kieran Tierney? Are you left short at the back because Tierney’s getting too far forward.
“Does he think about these things enough? Has he been in that Manchester City bubble where everything is so comfortable, where the football is so good because the players are the best?
“You don’t have to work with players who need coaching way more than any others you’ve ever worked with.”
