Arsenal loanee Nuno Tavares is having an up-and-down time at Marseille to say the least.
The Gunners signed the 23-year-old full-back from Benfica before the start of last season.
He began the campaign well and even kept Kieran Tierney out of the side for a while.
However, Tavares’ confidence and form dipped after the turn of the year.
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta duly decided to loan him out to Marseille last summer.
He began well, scoring three goals in his first three Ligue 1 outings for his loan side.
Tavares also scored in consecutive games just after Christmas.
However, he has sadly lost form of late.
‘Often overwhelmed’
Tavares struggled against Paris Saint-Germain and Rennes ahead of Sunday’s meeting with Strasbourg.
In those games, the Arsenal loanee featured on the right flank (Transfermarkt) as opposed to his usual left flank.
However, Tavares wasn’t much better in his preferred position as Marseille could only draw 2-2 with Strasbourg.
Footmercato awarded him a mere 1/10 for his display on the day.
‘Worried and worrying in recent weeks, the left-back loaned by Arsenal was highly anticipated against Racing,’ they wrote.
‘Returning to his preferred flank, the 23-year-old Portuguese delivered another disastrous performance.
‘Although he was willing to attack, he was mostly notable for his inaccurate distribution, his technical errors (25 balls lost), and his imprecise passing.
‘Completely outplayed by Dagba, the number 30 of OM experienced the same mistakes after the break.
‘Fragile, out of sync, and often overwhelmed, he couldn’t even take advantage of Marseille’s comeback.
‘Even late in the game, he was slow to react to the Strasbourg’s goal, and Tavares is going through a very dark period.
‘A reaction is expected.’
Want him to succeed
It’s a massive shame to hear Tavares has lost form.
Many have been rooting for him to succeed and impress on loan at Marseille.
The ideal scenario would be for Tavares to do a William Saliba, come back a much-improved player and take the Arsenal first team by storm next term.
However, Tavares’ last few outings haven’t been great by any means, so let’s hope he can pick himself up and really kick on.
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