Phil Neville thinks Arsenal are in an even worse state than when they suffered an 8-2 defeat to Manchester United in 2011.

Speaking to Sky Sports, Neville claimed that the current situation feels like a crisis even more than it did six years ago. But he told Sky there is more wrong than just the manager, saying: “I don’t think the finger should be pointed solely at Arsene Wenger.

“The foundations are totally wrong and are crumbling. When they lost 8-2 to Manchester United [in 2011] it didn’t feel as bad as this. Now it seems like a crisis, a moment in the club’s history when you think something has to change.

“Whether that’s the manager, the board, the players…There have to be big changes.”

After the defeat to Manchester United, Arsenal went on a spending spree, bringing in Per Mertesacker, Mikel Arteta, Andre Santos and Park Chu-young, as well as Yossi Benayoun on loan.

Andre Santos and Park Chu-young have definitely gone down as panic buys in the eyes of most fans, but Yossi Benayoun’s loan wasn’t a complete disaster, and both Mertesacker and Arteta went on to captain the club. So perhaps the business wasn’t that bad after all.

Meanwhile, the rumours as the current window draws to a close are a bit more concerning. Oxlade-Chamberlain seems to be on the verge of a move to Chelsea, Alexis is being targeted by Manchester City, and Inter Milan want Shkodran Mustafi.

If all three leave without replacements being brought in, then it would be a bit of a crisis. Regardless of what Wenger said about needing to trim the squad, you don’t normally start trimming from the first-team. But bring in replacements and it doesn’t look as bad as 2011.

Results certainly need to improve, but Arsenal have done worse than two losses in the past.