Tavares gets criticism for his reaction to being hooked in FA Cup defeat

Arsenal boss admits North London derby looks shaky

Arteta was left unhappy by Tavares’ performance against Nottingham Forest.

Arsenal left-back Nuno Tavares gets criticism from Pundits Roy Keane and Ian Wright for his reaction to being hooked in Arsenal’s FA Cup defeat. EFL Cup’s semifinalists and 2020 FA Cup winners suffered an early exit from the competition.

Nuno Tavares was hooked in the first-half of Arsenal’s FA Cup game at Nottingham Forest. He started at left-back for the Gunners, with Kieran Tierney dropped to the bench as Arteta made the decision to hand the Scottish international a rest.

This decision backfired him nine minutes before half-time. Arteta was left unhappy by Tavares’ performance against the second-tier side.

Tierney was brought on to replace him, with Tavares clearly unhappy with his manager’s decision to axe him.

Expert Wright was talking to ITV Sport and said, “He started very poorly. You look at his reaction, there’s kind of like a – he’s coming off and he’s throwing his gloves down.

“I think this is the wrong manager to do that with showing this like, kind of like, attitude. He doesn’t want to be touched.

“I think the disrespect he’s showing at the minute is something that Mikel Arteta won’t like. He should be acting better after the performance he’s put in.”

Keane meanwhile questioned why Tavares was so unhappy at being substituted, branding his performance as “sloppy”.

“Why is he upset? Why is he? He must know. He’s in front of the dugout, the manager, he’s been sloppy with everything he’s done,” the Irishman told ITV.

“Okay, a player can make a mistake but that sloppiness, a lot of that is down to his attitude the way he started the game and you can’t start a game like that. You get dragged off.”

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