Arsenal fans explode over ‘garbage’ player who won zero duels vs Newcastle
Arsenal and Newcastle United were engaged in a controversial and heated Premier League clash at St. James’ Park that ended 2-1 to the Gunners.
Newcastle United had blushes spared in the first half when a controversial penalty was overturned, with Keith Hackett “simply astounded” by VAR after Viktor Gyokeres was fouled by Nick Pope.
Gary Neville was also bemused by Jarred Gillett, with the situation made more controversial by Newcastle United scoring soon after through Nick Woltemade.
Fortunately for Mikel Arteta, the Gunners staged a second-half fight-back as Mikel Merino equalised before Gabriel Magalhaes stormed in to score a winner in added time, securing Arsenal a 2-1 victory over Newcastle.
Arsenal fans furious over Riccardo Calafiori
It was a dominant display in terms of possession from Arsenal and the Gunners managed to take advantage of the few chances they did create from open play, ultimately scoring very similar goals to the one Newcastle scored in the first half.
Both teams scored with headers but there were a couple poor displays from the visiting team.
Riccardo Calafiori, however, was the worst Arsenal player on the pitch and offered little outside of a safety in possession and even then, his 82% pass accuracy wasn’t as good as Mikel Arteta expects from his fullbacks.
Arsenal fans on Twitter weren’t shy with their criticism, suggesting it’s time for Myles Lewis-Skelly to start more regularly.
One Arsenal fan said: “Calafiori getting too many mins ngl. Arteta needs to split that with Myles he’s better than him too.”
Another said: “Felt like a bad Calafiori performance was coming tbh. MLS should have started.”
The only thing Calafiori did that entertained Arsenal fans was his decision to steal Nick Pope’s towel to dry the ball for a long throw into the Newcastle box.
In numbers: Calafiori was poor against Newcastle
It does seem as though Mikel Arteta has a major decision on his hands regarding Calafiori, after some poor recent performances.
Fans weren’t just allowing the emotion of the game to get to them either. The numbers prove that Calafiori offered very little in a defensive sense, while he was ineffective in attack.
Aside from three clearances, Calafiori didn’t complete a single defensive action, which makes his 70th-minute substitution for Mikel Merino quite unsurprising.
| Minutes played | 70 |
| Touches | 43 |
| Clearances | 3 |
| Blocked shots | 0 |
| Interceptions | 0 |
| Total tackles | 0 |
| Ground duels (won) | 1 (0) |
| Aerial duels (won) | 1 (0) |
| Possession lost | 8 |
Arsenal’s next match is in the Champions League against Olympiacos on Wednesday, which could be the perfect opportunity to give Lewis-Skelly a chance to prove why he should be starting over Calafiori moving forward.
Calafiori isn’t the only player who had a poor game after Cristhian Mosquera was subbed off for William Saliba.