Former Arsenal manager George Graham says Arsene Wenger has struggled to live up to the expectations that his early success at the club brought, with the Scot believeing he would have been sacked if he had failed to deliver a trophy in eight years.
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Graham won six major titles during his time as manager at Arsenal between 1986 and 1995 and says Wenger raised the bar of expectation during his first eight years at the club, though the former Scotland midfielder is concerned with how far standards of slipped.
When asked by talkSPORT whether he would have clung onto his job at Arsenal if he had gone eight years without a trophy, Graham responded: "Probably not, probably not."
But he did offer a caveat, adding: "Let's be honest, Wenger's first spell at the club was phenomenal. He was up there at the time beating Sir Alex Ferguson at the time. Three league titles, winning FA Cups, that's a phenomenal record, it's fantastic.
"He has raised his own bar and he has to ask himself if he has fallen a little bit. I just think in the last few season, the standards have slipped."
Graham went on question whether Wenger can revive Arsenal's trophy ambitions, as he suggested the Frenchman has lost his touch in the transfer market in recent years.
"Arsene's philosophy since he came to the club is attacking football and he cannot set out to play a tactical game," he said. "He loves all his players to go forward, that is his philosophy.
"It was great for his first seven years at the club. Phenomenal teams playing attractive football and making good players into world class players, but in my opinion, the players who are coming into the club are inferior to the players who were there a few years ago.
"Arsene Wenger has admitted it, Arsenal's strength is in midfield, but they are weak either side of the midfield. If [Jack] Wilshere is there, [Santi] Cazorla and [Mikel] Arteta, that is a good midfield. Either side, they are weak.
"People ask me about Arsenal's failure and I say it is all about the players. Arsene has never been a big, big spender. When he first came to the club, he got players for bargain prices and turned them into world class performers, he did that.
"Just in the last few seasons, it has been slipping away gradually to the point where the onus now is to reach the top four. Before that it was winning the title, but (the ambition) has slipped."
