“It’s time to drop him to the bench after poorly in the past matches now”- Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke has fired a serious warning to Mikel Arteta to drop £110k-p/w star after recent shameful performances and even against Chelsea

Arsenal: Arteta must bench £110k-p/w dud who was “running in treacle” vs Chelsea

The Gunners struggled to dominate against Chelsea, with one man particularly poor.

Arsenal will be delighted to have snuck away from Stamford Bridge with their unbeaten Premier League record still intact, after a disappointing afternoon as they drew 2-2 with Chelsea.

“First half from us the worst we’ve played this season in terms of sloppiness,” Declan Rice would echo, whose impressive long-range effort kickstarted the comeback from two goals down.

It was a match that was always going to be decided through blunders, as for all the positivity of the home side, their quality seldom told. However, with the Gunners, whilst few can question their quality, they cannot afford for so many of their key players to go missing all at once.

It very nearly cost them the match, had Robert Sanchez’s gaffe not handed the 24-year-old the opportunity to half the deficit.

Overran by the energy of the Blues, and terrorised down the flanks by the raw pace of Raheem Sterling, Mauricio Pochettino deserves praise for how he set his team up, and how it negated the strengths of their visitors.

However, his job was made far easier by the performance of Jorginho, who once again struggled to compete with the physicality of such an all-action and impassioned affair.

How did Jorginho play vs Chelsea?

As a midfield conductor who thrives with time and space to pick passes, placing Conor Gallagher beside him marked a nightmare for the Italian.

Often lambasted for a lack of pace or urgency, he was harassed by the former Crystal Palace loanee, who made it so the 31-year-old could not calm proceedings down and establish the control Mikel Arteta craved. So often do his team seize possession and cease to release it, tiring out their opposition with combinations in the engine room.

That was an avenue they could not explore, with Jorginho’s failures a key component in those struggles.

Although the statistics might paint the picture of a dominant display, given he recorded a 91% pass accuracy and enjoyed 77 touches, that could not have been further from the truth.

The eight times he lost possession is perhaps more reflective of the torrid afternoon he endured, which journalist Simon Collings sought to detail in his post-match ratings. Writing for The Evening Standard, he gave the 48-cap dud a 4/10 rating before penning: “A poor performance from the Italian as he returned to his old club. Could not give Arsenal the control they wanted as Conor Gallagher hassled him non-stop.”

This was a notion further supported by news aggregator Connor Humm, who took to Twitter to lambast the £110k-per-week flop: “Jorginho running in treacle again. He’s so slow at recovering. Get Partey on for crying out loud.”

The 6.35 rating handed to him by WhoScored was a fair reflection of a tough return to the Bridge for the former Blues and Napoli metronome, who must surely see his starting spot under threat now with the options Arteta has at his disposal.

Who could replace Jorginho?

There are many options that the Spaniard could seek to explore in an effort to remove the sluggish presence from his midfield. After all, he has already proven himself as an innovative coach, and one who seeks to offer revolutionary progress to rival Pep Guardiola’s.

As such, there is every chance that Oleksandr Zinchenko could be moved there permanently, allowing the in-form and perhaps more orthodox Takehiro Tomiyasu to take up his full-back spot.

Then again, there are a whole host of actual midfielders in Kai Havertz, Fabio Vieira and Emile Smith Rowe, all of whom would love to be handed that spot beside Rice.

However, the outstanding option, and one which Benn actually referenced earlier, must be to finally recall Thomas Partey and reintegrate him back into the first XI.

Having started the season in stuttering fashion, as he desperately sought to return to fitness, it seems that the Ghanaian general is now ready for action, but remains on the bench. A short cameo in their win over the Citizens marked his return, whilst he was an unused substitute both against Chelsea and in their loss to RC Lens in the Champions League.

His absence is a confusing one, given he can provide that same controlling presence that Jorginho supposedly offers, with far more physicality. After all, he surely proved that to everyone with his performances during last season’s title push.

How good is Thomas Partey?

“He is still important to them, for sure,” claimed pundit Lee Hendrie told Soccer Special on Sky Sports (03/10/23 at 7:40 pm) earlier this month. “He is a big player, no doubt about that. The two Rice and Partey can play in that middle. You give that freedom and luxury, more so, to Odegaard to really join in and be a massive threat (further forward).

“Yes, having him back amongst the squad. The availability, he is definitely a starter in my side for Arsenal.”

It seems he is well aware of the foundation his partnership with Rice could build for the Gunners, who would surely use that added stability to reach even loftier heights.

After all, last campaign saw the 30-year-old shine as the key defensive anchor in midfield, allowing Granit Xhaka and Martin Odegaard to push on and contribute offensively.

As such, he would maintain 2.1 tackles and 1.2 clearances per game, winning an impressive total of 59% of his duels in the league as he featured 33 times, via Sofascore.

And then, as if to emphasise his technical assets, when compared to other midfielders across Europe, Partey sits in the top 5% for passes attempted, the top 11% for pass completion, and the top 3% for progressive passes per 90, via FBref.

Against Chelsea, Jorginho struggled because of the pace of his opposite men, and his lack of. Were the former Atletico Madrid monster selected in his place, there would have been far less emphasis on that issue, as his strength and speed would have helped him thrive.

The £200k-per-week titan is the perfect defensive midfielder for this side, able to play football as well as get stuck in. It should therefore come as no surprise that Arteta suggested he was a “super important player” over the summer.

Perhaps now is the perfect time to match his actions with his words, and regain that control over the midfield by ditching Jorginho for Partey.