Former Arsenal player Paul Merson criticizes Arteta over their new signing Jorginho. Arteta played Fabio Vieira over Jorginho. Arsenal ended up drawing to 20th place Southampton.
What Paul Merson said about Jorginho
According to WhoScored, Vieira took two shots but neither was on target. His overall game was awful. He just played one key pass, had a pass accuracy of 75%, won one header. He took 35 touches, and put in two crosses which ended up providing nothing.
Jorginho, who joined Arsenal in the January transfer window for £12 million (Sky Sports), was an unused substitute. Arteta said he was signed to add that we’ll need experience to the squad.
Paul Merson said:-
“Arsenal played Fabio Vieira instead of Jorginho last week, and I thought that was unbelievable. They’ve brought Jorginho in to be a calm head in big matches.“
“I didn’t think the game against Southampton was a foregone conclusion, and to keep Jorginho on the bench was a big mistake.“
“Southampton wouldn’t have believed their luck when they saw Jorginho on the bench. He sits in, dictates play, and controls games.“
“With Holding playing instead of Saliba, Arsenal needed protection from their midfield – not people getting turned. Arteta hasn’t done a lot wrong this season, but he made a mistake there.”
Now, Jorginho is not the quickest player. But he is very experienced and knows how to play against big teams in big matches. He played a crucial role in Chelsea’s Champions League winning campaign. However, Jorginho can only play the role which Partey plays. Vieira played as a replacement of Xhaka. Arteta prefers a left footed player to play that role. Moreover, Vieira has been awful recently and Arteta could have tweaked a bit here and there. If results want to go their way Arteta needs to make his team adapt to different situations.
