Former Arsenal defender Stephan Lichtsteiner has weighed into the sacking of manager Unai Emery.

Despite being dropped by Emery towards the end of his year in North London, former Juventus star Lichtsteiner refuses to stick the knife into his old gaffer.

But the Augsburg defender did have one major criticism of the ex-Sevilla and Paris Saint-Germain man.

Speaking to ISPORT, Lichtsteiner said: “When a manager doesn't play you for two months it is easy to criticise, that's not my style.

“Over a long time it was really good, then the last two months [of the season] I didn't really understand what had happened.

“Training was good, the team that we had last year was an amazing team, so it's not my thing to speak bad about the coach because it is too easy now that they are struggling to say something against him."

He continued: “I'd say [he is] a good trainer, a good coach, but maybe he struggled with the top players.

“With the big players, he hasn't maybe the relationship to bring more out [of them] and get the top performances.

“Maybe that point I can say [something] negative, but the rest was almost everything positive."