It was yet ANOTHER afternoon to forget for Arsenal as they fell to a 3-1 defeat vs. West Brom. The Gunners were shocking, especially in defence.
One player to receive plenty of criticism is Hector Bellerin. Bellerin was widely praised as amongst the best players in the Premier League earlier in the season, and was even linked with a move to Barcelona, but poor recent form has seen fans turn on him.
Bellerin has been uninspiring in attack lately, and particularly poor defensively. Earlier in the season he was regularly making important defensive contributions, but in the new year, this aspect of his game has vanished, and it’s worrying.
Here’s some reaction to Bellerin’s performance against West Brom, and his recent form in general.
Love Bellerín but he has been awful for a few months. Definitely feel like no competition in his position has made him complacent.
— Pádraig (@afcpadraig) March 18, 2017
Mustafi and Bellerin have been shit for a while now but with this squad it's hard to drop them. Holding for Mustafi would be nice.
— Paddy (@VieiraPaddy) March 18, 2017
Bellerin has been abysmal since his injury
— Jayyy (@its_jayy93) March 18, 2017
The players should be putting in better performances, but it is clear for me, that the manager is at fault in general. We know what the likes of Aaron Ramsey, Bellerin, Mustafi, Ozil etc. are capable of, but under Wenger in recent months, they have been terrible. We have seen how a very similar Chelsea squad changed in performance from last season to this season with a new manager, and it’s hard to argue that Arsenal would not currently benefit from a similar change.
It would be crazy to suggest that Arsenal need to improve on Bellerin, as in my opinion, it would be equally stupid to suggest we could sign an upgrade on Mesut Ozil. The issue for me is clearly that the manager has lost the dressing room and can no longer get the best out of this squad of players. For me it couldn’t be clearer, Arsenal have to change the manager, at the end of the season at the very latest.