Journalist Charles Watts has recently talked about Nuno Tavares and his weaknesses as a player.
Tavares featured in Arsenal’s recent 2-2 draw against Rangers in a pre-season friendly. The ex-Benfica defender found the back of the net, helping the Gunners equalise to make it 1-1. He arrived at the club earlier this summer for a fee of £6.8 million.
Will Tavares play regularly?
Yes
No
Watts spoke about Tavares in the latest video on his YouTube channel. One topic of discussion was his weaknesses and some strengths as a player.
Watts revealed that people in Portugal have told him that the player’s weakness is defending, but he does have some strengths in an attacking sense.
He claimed: “Tavares didn’t have to worry too much about the defensive side of things. And that’s the one area of his game, when you talk to people from Portugal who’ve seen him develop in Benfica, [they] often say it’s the weak point of his game. But going forward, that is certainly the plus point.
“Everyone that I spoke to who I knew who had seen Tavares come through at Benfica, had always talked about his plus points – his pace down the left-hand side, his ability to play with his right foot even though he’s a natural left-sided player, this kind of impact that he can have in the final third. He showed that all during that 45 minutes.”
TIF Thoughts on Tavares…
While Tavares scoring on his unofficial debut for the Gunners is certainly a good sign for the club, but there is still a long way to go.
During the 2019/20 campaign, he contributed to five goals in the league for Benfica but he got dribbled past 0.8 times per game. He also made 1.5 fouls per game. Last season, he won just a single aerial duel per game for the Portuguese giants, albeit amid limited opportunities in the past couple of campaigns (as per WhoScored).
So he clearly does have weaknesses in his arsenal, but at least he does come in as a backup option in the left-back position. That’ll only add depth to the side.
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