Sol Campbell is of the opinion that Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has moved away from one of the key characteristics that made his Arsenal teams of old so good.
Wenger won three Premier League titles within his first eight seasons in the north London club but has repeatedly failed to reach those heights since the 2003/04 season.
Campbell, who played more than 200 times under Arsene, thinks his former coach has abandoned the blend of strong British players and foreign imports that were a trademark of his early days as boss.
‘He’s almost gone away from what made him great,’ Campbell told Sky Sports.
‘He use to have a fantastic balance between really good English and foreign players.‘A lot of teams copied that and used that and moved on.
‘But he went a little bit away from that and I think he’s suffered from that.’
Arsenal find themselves in the fourth position after losing their previous two games, including their 3-1 defeat to table leaders Chelsea.
Perhaps Campbell is right. Wenger’s early teams were often filled with England internationals. But the team that lost at Stamford Bridge to Chelsea comprise of just two English players – Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
However, Campbell also admits that is not the only factor that has held Wenger back.
‘With the youngsters coming in, paying off the stadium, saying that he can’t buy bigger players that kind of held them back as well,’ the 42-year-old added.
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