Former Chelsea forward Tony Cascarino believes Sam Allardyce would do a better job of managing Arsenal than Mikel Arteta.
It has been a tricky time for Arteta in charge of Arsenal so far, finishing eighth in his first full season in charge, a finish that saw the Gunners miss out on European qualification for the first time in 25 years.
And he has followed that up with three straight defeats in the Premier League to kick off this season.
The three defeats could, perhaps, be digested given Arsenal have played Arsenal and Chelsea during those games, albeit the loss to Brentford is always going to be concerning.
But the fact that Arsenal have conceded nine goals in those three games makes it all the more worrying for the North London side, and indeed for Arteta’s future.
For the moment, the Spaniard seems to be safe with a little more time very likely to be afforded given Arsenal’s tricky start to the season.
But according to former Chelsea forward Cascarino, former West Brom boss Allardyce would do a better job of managing Arsenal than Arteta.
“If you look at what he did to West Brom, I know they went down, but he certainly made them far better defensively,” Cascarino told talkSPORT
“He’d make Arsenal way better. I know some Arsenal fans don’t care about that, they want their teams to have flair, but I think Sam would undoubtedly do a better job than Arteta is doing at the moment.”
Given how poor Arsenal have been over the last year or so, it is hard to argue with Cascarino, but the argument is not that simple.
MORE: Arsenal legend singles out failed Gunners experiment
As the pundit mentions himself, the Gunners are a club that want to play in a specific way, to compete with a dominance of the ball and with a little flair.
To appoint Allardyce would mean to sacrifice that given the experienced boss’ style, and that compromise, even if it brought better result, would be just too big for most Arsenal fans to stomach.
Though, with no disrespect to Allardyce, who has often succeeded at his level, it does put into perspective just how poor a job Arteta has done so far that pundits are even able to make that claim.