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Sol Campbell makes Arsenal offer as he slams shambolic Mikel Arteta tactics

Sol Campbell has told the Arsenal board to hand him the manager’s job after strongly exposing the Gunners’ weaknesses and pinpointing exactly where Mikel Arteta is going wrong.

The Gunners have endured a woeful start to the season, suffering 2-0 defeats in both their opening games. The results leave Arteta under enormous pressure. Indeed, he has reportedly been given a deadline to save his job and avoid the sack.

Arteta has spent close to £130million on new recruits this summer. However, his squad has so far not looked capable of challenging for a top-four spot.

And if their slump continues, it’s reported the Gunners have a big-name manager lined up to take over.

However, former Gunners defender Campbell has stated his own case to be given a chance. Picking apart their tactics, the former Macclesfield and Southend boss reckons their flaws would be easy to fix.

Asked what needs to change for the Gunners, Campbell had a pretty forthright answer to talkSPORT.

“I tell you what, I’d help them. Just give me the job and I’ll help them out!

“I’ll tell you how to get out of a two-man press against Brentford! I mean, what’s going on here? We go back to that game, it’s a two man press, it’s quite easy to work out!

“You go flatter and that pressing midfielder has to run another 10 or 15 yards, which then gives you more space in the middle of the park. That’s really simple!”

Campbell admits it’s really hard to see his former club in the mess they are today.

He added: “It’s just the effort and the quality. Yes, we’ve spent a lot of money, the most in England at the moment, but it’s the quality, the consistency, the experience.

“We’re always looking for the potential, it’s always good to have potential, but sometimes you want that instant guaranteed success.

“This is a very, very young side, you have to remember that, there is a lack of experience – but it’s the basics!

“Some of the players need to do the basics. You can lose, but the way we conceded some goals was too easy. The reaction times of some of the defenders not backing each other up, not assessing danger.

“The first goal [conceded against Chelsea] has slipped across the six yard box – get back and defend. Don’t just wait!

“That’s simple, that’s A, B, C defending. Allow Chelsea to score really good goals, not those simple goals. It’s too easy.

“The gulf of talent and experience was on show. You couldn’t really miss it. Chelsea had so much time and space. They were a cut above.”

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Carragher labels Arteta ‘naive’ for Chelsea plan

Meanwhile, Sky Sportspundit Jamie Carragher called Arteta “naive” for his failed plan against Chelsea on Sunday.

“There’s a lot of criticism for the manager. When there’s a set of bad results, people say he hasn’t got a clue, what was the plan,” Carragher told Sky Sports.

“Mikel Arteta had a plan, we studied it this morning, it hasn’t worked, maybe it was a touch of naivety, but when you play against Chelsea, there’s a lot of talk about Lukaku but that’s not the only problem, it’s how you deal with their system. A centre-forward and two number 10’s, with wing-backs who play as wingers.

“Holding’s job was to look after Kai Havertz, Mari was in the middle with Lukaku and Mason Mount was deeper with Granit Xhaka. They almost went man to man, maybe a touch naive.

“You see them sticking with those men and, when the ball goes wide, Kieran Tierney’s job is to get out to the full-back, Reece James, and Xhaka’s job is to get into a left-sided centre-back position, almost a back three.

“There was a lot of talk that they should have played a back three. Maybe if Ben White was fit they would have done. A lot of the times, it was a back three. You see the initial idea of how they wanted to play.

“The two goals, they went away from the system we’ve been talking about slightly and they’ve got caught out.

“The plan was never to stop the ball coming into Lukaku, it’s how to stop it going into Havertz and Mount. It goes into the striker and you have the problem, Tierney has been dragged inside and we know the consequences.”

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