Joey Barton Says Current Arsenal Team 'Lack Spine and Character'

Joey Barton's Queens Park Rangers side are currently in the Premier League relegation zone but that has not stopped the always opinionated midfielder from giving his thoughts on teams further up the table. 

And Barton had some strong words to say about Arsene Wenger's Arsenal team when he appeared on BBC Radio 5 live: 

"

Nobody can criticise Wenger on the job he has done to build the infrastructure at that club to a fantastic level. But it's probably been sacrificed at the cost of trophies and challenging at that level.

You think of his teams of [Emmanuel] Petit, [Patrick] Vieira, [Tony] Adams, [Martin] Keown and all those kind of warriors. You look around the Arsenal dressing room now, the people who would win you those kind of games against the top four clubs - they don't really have an abundance of them.

At the latter stages of a season they come unstuck because of that lack of - I hate to say it - a real lack of character or spine within the team.

"

Barton also said that he believes Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho had Wenger "on toast" as he previewed the match between the two London rivals on Sunday.

Barton then took to Twitter in an attempt to clarify his comments, saying they were taken out of context, although he did not completely reject his initial point. 

"

What I said about Arsenal taken out of context. I believe the current side lack spine and character when compared to the Invincibles team.

— Joseph Barton (@Joey7Barton) October 4, 2014"

"

The current side are a very good side but their record against other top clubs in league games recently is very poor.

— Joseph Barton (@Joey7Barton) October 4, 2014"

"

Now whether thats tactics, mental strength, discipline, I'm not sure. All I do know is results say their coming up short. @bbcsport

— Joseph Barton (@Joey7Barton) October 4, 2014"