Arsenal left-back Nuno Tavares was hauled off before half-time in the Gunners’ 1-0 loss to Nottingham Forest yesterday evening.
The Portuguese defender struggled with his passing and decision-making, resulting in manager Mikel Arteta deciding to substitute him.
Tavares reacted by throwing down his gloves on the sidelines, clearly frustrated that he had been taken off so soon, but the majority of supporters on Twitter agreed with Arteta’s decision:
Absolutely shocking from Tavares. Right decision from Arteta.
— Emmah 愛 (@Emmahnyrah) January 9, 2022
His concentration level was Zero. He deserves that
— OLA (@Abeeycity377) January 9, 2022
Was getting bullied by that right back
— Oscar (@oscar18291442) January 9, 2022
Right decision he was looking really poor, only a matter of time before forest took advantage of it
— Jonny Bourn (@jonnybourn) January 9, 2022
He’s strange one game he’s a world beater next game he’s an egg beater 😂
— Josh Moreton (@noshboy44) January 9, 2022
he has been very poor tonight. he will come back better
— Drew (@drew_km) January 9, 2022
He had a bad day at the office but he wasn’t the reason why Arsenal lost the game
— Afokogreen (@AfokoGreen) January 10, 2022
Tavares played well when KT was injured. Last 3-4 games he did not play and so lack of game time creating issues with the mindset. His performance yesterday was bad and largely boils down to confidence issue. Arteta should find way to rotate these young players often.
— Vidhyashankar (@evs_ch) January 10, 2022
He's always out of position and puts his team in danger all the time.
— I DeY kAmpE (@allelaw) January 9, 2022
Nuno Tavares = Andre Santos
— David Hickey (@Trickeygooner) January 9, 2022
Managers are paid to make the tough calls and Arteta felt he had to replace Tavares with Kieran Tierney, after witnessing what was a very poor display in the first half.
Tavares has impressed on occasions since his arrival from Benfica in the summer, but his concentration and composure do leave a lot to be desired. At 21 years of age, he still has time to improve his game, although his consistency is somewhat of a concern. Whether he’ll react positively or negatively to his early substitution, we shall have to wait and see over the coming weeks.
