Arsenal legend Nigel Winterburn says Nuno Tavares doesn’t understand his role as a fullback urging the player to up his game in a bid to rescue his career at Emirates.
Tavares signed for Arsenal last summer and hasn’t impressed in Gunners jersey resulting to being dropped by Mikel Arteta.
A three-time league title winner in north London, ex-Gunners left-back Winterburn does not believe Tavares is defensively equipped to succeed in the position.
“I just don’t think he fully understands the complete role of a full-back and I think there’s a lot more he needs to learn defensively in terms of the situations he puts himself in,” Winterburn told the Mirror.
“He needs to learn that side of the game very quickly and get back to the form going forward that he showed earlier in the season.”
On confidence
“The problem is when you’ve had a couple of games like the ones he’s had, then your confidence just drops so quickly. You can also lose the trust of the supporters, so it makes it difficult to come back when that happens.”
The north London side will travel to St. Mary’s Stadium to take on Southampton on Saturday having lost back-to-back Premier League matches to Crystal Palace and Brighton.
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