Arsene Wenger: Arsenal manager wouldn't get away with it at another club, claims Graeme Souness

Liverpool legend Graeme Souness has slammed Arsene Wenger for being too nice to his players and claims the Arsenal manager would have faced trouble had it been at any other club.

The Gunners suffered a 3-1 defeat at the hands of AS Monaco in the first leg of the last 16 Champions League clash at the Emirates last month. The north London club are in danger of being knocked out of Europe's elite club competitions.

Arsenal need a staggering comeback in the second leg in order to avoid an exit from the last 16 of the Champions League for the fifth consecutive season. The former Reds manager has blamed Wenger for Arsenal's failure in the Champions League and claims the Frenchman is too soft to confront the under-performing players at the Emirates.

"At the start of each season, we talk about favourites for the title. We don't talk about Arsenal in that breath," Souness told The Times.

"Then we get to what Arsenal will do this year, but already know the answer. Arsenal will do what they have done for the last decade: they will look fabulous when bashing up small teams at home then get rolled over by the big teams. Their recent win at Manchester City is the exception that proves the rule."

"We also know that they will qualify for the Champions League, come through their group and lose their last-16 tie. In the past four seasons they have gone out at this stage to Barcelona, AC Milan and Bayern Munich (twice) and, barring a phenomenal performance in Monaco, it will happen again."

"Wenger wouldn't get away with it at another club. It's not good enough. He's too nice to players, won't control their indiscipline and won't spend on players. It amazes me that you never hear any of his former players criticising him."

"It's impossible to be a manager and not fall out with players, for the simple reason that they are young men with enormous egos. Maybe his players don't have a bad word to say about him because he never falls out with them.

"If you can sit on the bench, as manager of Arsenal, and allow Danny Welbeck to be as positionally indisciplined as he was on Wednesday [against Monaco], you either don't see it or you are not prepared to stand up and shout: 'Get out here'," the former Liverpool manager concluded.