Former Liverpool winger John Barnes believes Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is not the leader that Arsenal need at the moment.
Aubameyang 's start to the season has seen him score just three Premier League goals - with Wednesday evening's strike against Southampton being his first from open play since the opening day win against Fulham.
The Gunners captain has been part of a side that have suffered their worst start to a league campaign in 46 years.
Often at Arsenal, the lack of leaders is questioned by pundits, and it has been once again by Barnes.
The Liverpool legend reckons Aubameyang's leadership style is better suited to a team that is playing well, rather than one in the sort of form the Gunners are currently in.
“It [Aubameyang’s form] is down to confidence. Arsenal are playing the same way but suddenly things aren't going well, and you lose a bit of confidence," Barnes said when speaking to BonusCodeBets.
"All it takes is for you to score a couple of goals and start playing well. In fact, they haven't been playing badly; they're just not scoring goals.
"Their approach play, their control in possession and they aren't conceding many goals. But they're not playing in such a creative way so it's all down to confidence.
"There are certain players who need confidence to be playing well, and it seems Arsenal are just lacking confidence because they're not getting the results.
"They've been unfortunate in terms of going down to 10 men and things going against them, but they have to get out of this rut because they're good players.
"He [Aubameyang] seems to be a real confidence man, so if things aren't going well, maybe his head drops and he's a bit disappointed.
"He's a player who needs to be playing well all the time, needs to be loved and needs to be playing in a good team.
"I don't think he's necessarily a player who drags the team along with him when the team's not doing well.
Barnes then spoke about Aubameyang's leadership style, saying: “I'll use Alan Hansen as an example – he was our leader, but he wasn’t shouting and screaming.
"He wasn’t necessarily a talker. Then you have some people who shout, and that's what we consider to be leaders – the ones who really shout and scream and drag people along.
"There are many different types of leader, so Aubameyang is a leader if things are going well, but I don't think that he's the type of character for when things aren't.
"You need somebody like Tony Adams, and that's how we think leaders are. But there are many different types, and if things are going well, he'd be perfect in terms of inspiring people.
"He has to deal with his own situation, whereby he's not scoring goals or playing with confidence.
"Whereas there are certain players who – even if they're not playing well or with confidence – they can still lead people by dragging them along. I don't think that's who he is.”
