The father of Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny has described the Gunners' defending as a "disaster".

In comments to Polish newspaper Przegladu Sportowego, Maciej Szczesny - a former goalkeeper himself - pinned some of the blame on Arsenal's centre-backs for the goals his son conceded against Southampton on New Year's Day.

"He made a mistake for the first goal, coming too far from the goal, but please look at the Arsenal defence. How these guys are playing is a disaster, but for some reason, nobody pays any attention to it," said Maciej.

"Laurent Koscielny should immediately have run to protect Wojciech, and Per Mertesacker should have stood in the goal. Unfortunately they did not do that and gave him zero support, and in that situation Mertesacker showed the agility of a rhinoceros."

Maciej also claimed that his son is not getting the required support from Arsenal's coaches and also added that his son "isn't dumb enough" to smoke in the dressing room as allegedly happened after the loss to Southampton.

Maciej Szczesny has been outspoken before in defence of his son, once hitting out at Arsene Wenger for dropping him in 2013.