Micah Richards has claimed that AFTV could be having a negative effect on Arsenal players' confidence, as they fell to defeat against Manchester City in the Carabao Cup.
The Gunners have come in for criticism from all places in the past few weeks and Tuesday night's quarter final loss was their fifth in the past eight games in all competitions.
In their poor run of form they've also failed to win any of their previous seven Premier League games and have fallen to 15th in the league table after 14 games.
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Mikel Arteta's ability as manager has been heavily questioned and so have the players and Richards, talking on Sky Sports ahead of the game against his former side, said that the role AFTV play on social media is hammering the player's confidence.
"I would just play the kids. The kids are better than some of the senior players," Richards began, "People talk about Granit Xhaka and I feel sorry for him because I think he's a bit of a scapegoat but just play the kids.
"They're playing with more freedom, with more confidence.
"You know AFTV, I'm a massive fan of it, I love it. But for the players, the amount of pressure... you could be scrolling through and your name pops up and someone's being horrible and it can affect your confidence.
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"These players now look at social media. Players work hard, trying to be better every day but there's negativity..."
The lads on AFTV are sure to be thankful of Richards appreciating their content on live television but for neutrals it's only really worth watching after the Gunners fail.
Last week, following the loss to Everton, DT lost his head, after a fan messaged in and host Robbie agreed with the fan, throwing his phone on the ground and breaking it on their live stream.
On Tuesday night the north Londoners got off to a terrible start as Gabriel Jesus opened the scoring after just three minutes and Pep Guardiola's side dominated possession in the early going against his former assistant's team.
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The Gunners grew into the game somewhat and Alexandre Lacazette's 31st minute goal made sure they went into half time level.
However there was to be no repeat of Arsenal's win last time the sides met in cup competition, their victory in the FA Cup semi final in August, as they capitulated in the second half.
Alex Runarsson made a terrible error from a Riyad Mahrez free kick to make it 2-1, Phil Foden scored a delightful chip over the keeper for the third, though VAR would have likely ruled him offside and Aymeric Laporte rounded off the scoring for a 4-1 win.
Featured Image Credit: AFTV/Sky SportsTopics: Manchester City, Football News, Carabao Cup, Micah Richards, Premier League, Arsenal Fan TV, Arsenal, Mikel Arteta
