Arsenal overcame Sutton United on Monday night with a 2-0 win, however there were many Arsenal fans that left unhappy with a few of the players performances.
One player to come under particular criticism was Jeff Rene-Adelaide. The young midfielder was given a chance in Mesut Ozil’s absence to perform in the number 10 role. He tried too many skills, with pretty much none of them coming off – making him look a little silly.
The unfamiliar pitch can be considered an unsettling factor for all the players, but few struggled to perform on it as much as Jeff did.
He is playing like a luxury player and at his age that is not right. He’s not done enough to prove himself to be in the first team squad yet and this showing will surely set him back. With a new manager and new players possible in the summer then Jeff could seriously struggle to get more first team appearances in the future after this poor showing against Sutton.
I’m sure he will get another chance against Lincoln at home and he cannot afford not to perform against another non-league side!
Here’s some of the reaction to the players performance on Twitter.
Pathethic first half imo. Crap movement, no pace, awful passing and Jeff is a terrible footballer. Two shots on target against non league.
— Scott W (@proudcannon) February 20, 2017
Jeff Reine Adelaide playing soo poooor ??⚽️
— ~J A M I E~ (@jamiedwards2023) February 20, 2017
https://twitter.com/SVRobertEdomi/status/833777791011323905
Jeff reine Adelaide is a proper non league player #Arsenal #SuttonvArsenal #SUFCvAFC #FACUP2017
— Akshit Sharma (@Akki_Gunner04) February 20, 2017
My opinion is that it is too early to write Jeff off, especially as a non-league player. He is a very talented individual, the worry is that he appears to be playing ‘as if he has made it’ already. He needs to work harder, get his head straight and go back to basics.
Jeff could follow in similar footsteps to Alex Iwobi but he really needs to put in the same amount of graft that Alex did to get into the lineup.