Newcastle United scored six goals in the Saturday midday kickoff against title contenders Arsenal. The match went 1-0 in favour of Eddie Howe and his team, due to an Alexander Isak goal – but what is more concerning is that one Gunners ace has received a lot of criticism.
Under Mikel Arteta, the north London club has emerged as one of Manchester City’s strongest Premier League title rivals, edging Pep Guardiola and his team by five points in 2022/23 and only two in 2023/24.
Stuck in a rut without Martin Odegaard, Arteta has tried a variety of techniques to compensate for the Norwegian magician’s absence, including using Leandro Trossard in the No.10 position as well as a front two.
However, the change to the starting lineup hasn’t gone as planned, with Trossard failing to impress when appointed a starter by Arteta and his entourage, as seen by his sluggish performance against Newcastle in their 1-0 loss.
Inside Trossard’s Torrid 71-Minute Stint versus Newcastle
According to Sofascore, the Belgian received the worst rating among Arsenal’s starters.
From his decision-making to his failure to make intelligent runs behind a dogged Newcastle defensive line, most of what Trossard gave on the St James’ Park grass lacked both conviction and effort. His disastrous spell on Tyneside ended in the 71st minute, when he was replaced by Gabriel Jesus, who has also received criticism for his performances this season.
The Belgian is widely considered as one of the greatest two-footed players in football today, and he has frequently served as Arsenal’s secret weapon off the bench. However, when it comes to beginning an outing, he finds it difficult to assert his power.
Online, Arsenal fans were unimpressed with the 29-year-old’s poor performance against the Magpies, which resulted in a three-point loss as Liverpool and Manchester City faced Brighton & Hove Albion and Bournemouth, respectively. One supporter stated:
“Nah seriously every single action from Trossard is poor at this point.”
According to Sofascore’s database, in 71 minutes on the pitch, the Genk graduate had only two shots on goal, neither of which were on target, leaving Nick Pope’s goal mostly unchallenged. His mobility when in possession of the ball was likewise inefficient away from home, with only 0/2 successful dribbles and no successful long balls, demonstrating his incapacity to combine with his teammates.
In terms of general passing, he had a pass percentage of 77.3% (17/22) throughout his 71-minute cameo and lost possession 12 times, often caught in two minds further afield. Overall, he received an overall rating of 6.4 after winning two of his ten duels in a terrible performance that prevented Arsenal from glueing in attack and posing an attacking danger to opposing teams.
