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Cape Town - Unai Emery is to blame for Arsenal's underwhelming performance in their 2-0 defeat to Manchester City on Sunday, according to former Everton boss Sam Allardyce.
The defending Premier League champions cruised past Emery's side with consummate ease as Benjamin Mendy set up goals for Raheem Sterling and Bernardo Silva at the Emirates Stadium.
The Gunners appeared to be hell-bent on playing out from the back against a City team known for pressing high up the pitch, and they consequently struggled to build any significant attacks.
Allardyce, who is known for his direct style of play, has laid the blame at Emery's door, stating that the Spaniard's tactics were naive.
"It's the manager's fault," Big Sam told talkSPORT. "Don't ask someone to do against Manchester City what you shouldn't do.
"What do Manchester City do? Press, press, press, so why do you try and play out [from the back]? Even the Arsenal crowd cheered when they dropped one in the opposition's half!
"You cannot just force 'the only way to play is this way' in this country. We're getting obsessed with this stupid 'let's play out from the back, split the centre-halves either side of the 18-yard box and go and play from there'.
"It's utter rubbish to play like that all the time... When you're the best you can do it."
