Ray Parlour has highlighted why he and Arsenal fans got it wrong over Arsene Wenger’s final years in charge of their club.
Wenger had to deal with growing pressure and discontent from supporters in the latter years of his reign, with French boss criticised for rarely taking Arsenal beyond their usual fourth place having achieved so much in the past.
But fast-forward a few years and the club has far from progressed, in fact, it has gone backwards.
Arsenal haven’t finished inside the top four since Wenger left, and they have now finished in eighth-place for the last two season.
Even worse, last season, they missed out on qualification for Europe for the first time in 25 years, and that puts into perspective the job Wenger was doing at the Emirates Stadium.
That’s something former Gunner Parlour highlighted on talkSPORT as he spoke pessimistically about Arsenal’s chances this season.
“They are well away from that top four at the moment and that’s where they have got to get back to,” he said.
“And we all argued under Arsene Wenger that fourth place wasn’t good enough.
“Sadly, you are coming 8th and 9th now which isn’t good enough for Arsenal Football Club, so he’s bought a lot of young players and they have got to bed into the team.”