Monday 25 April 2016 12:08, UK
Arsenal blew their big Premier League title chance this season and striving for the top four each season is "boring," according to Jamie Redknapp.
The Gunners were held to a goalless draw with Sunderland on Super Sunday - one that leaves them only five points ahead of fifth-placed Manchester United having played a game more.
And while Redknapp expects Arsene Wenger's side to clinch a top-four finish, he delivered a damning assessment on a side he believes has been "brainwashed" into thinking that acceptable.
"It's like groundhog day," he said, reflecting on the Stadium of Light stalemate.
"We've seen so many games like that from Arsenal, where they seem to run out of ideas, look like they're waiting for something to happen. When Alexis Sanchez isn't on form, you wonder who's going to score.
"It looks like they're going to limp into the top four again and that, for me, is boring. They deserve better than that.
"You can't keep doing that and be brainwashed into thinking fourth is good enough. They should be doing more. They should be looking to win the title.
"I know you can say Chelsea and Man Utd are still behind them but this was their big chance and unfortunately, they've blown it."
Wenger had spoken exclusively to Geoff Shreeves prior to the match, pointing to injuries and a poor run in March as among the reasons for their failure.
But Redknapp - speaking in the Super Sunday studio prior to kick-off - believes Wenger has to take responsibility for a frustrating campaign and must strengthen if his side is to mount a challenge.
"He can talk about all the things outside the club - like Leicester being a freak season - but Arsenal have let themselves down this year and that has to come from the manager," Redknapp said.
"There comes a point when it becomes tiresome from a manager when you hear the same voice year in, year out. That works if you're winning, but if you're not, then there has to come a time when there has to be a change.
"I look at Arsenal and it's the same thing every single season. It gets boring for us talking about it. Why don't they buy more players in the window? They said Petr Cech would be the answer, and has he? Of course he hasn't. They need more than that.
"They need to defend better, they need a killer striker and they are all elements that, for me, Arsenal keep getting wrong year after year. This was their time to win it, and they'll never get a better one. It looks to me like Tottenham are going ahead of them and they need some players in the window.
"The counter argument would be a team like Leicester, saying that you don't need a lot of money to win the title, but they still need that X factor at Arsenal. He has so much trust in his players, but there has to come a time when they need to be stretched and have some questions asked of them."
Redknapp identified two games on which he feels Arsenal's season changed - and suggested Wenger's side have lacked an "edge".
"The games where they needed to show something were Manchester United away, when five or six of their top men weren't playing, and Swansea - but they disappointed," Redknapp added.
"They remind me a bit of the Liverpool side that I played in where we were full of quality but we didn't have that edge.
"Wenger speaks about hunger and opportunity, how a lot of these players haven't been through the 'red carpet' and I agree with that.
"But Tottenham's players have and look at the hunger and desire they're showing. They look full of energy and that has to come from the manager - he has to set the hunger. Barcelona have hunger and look how well they play."
