Wayne Rooney picked out one Arsenal star who has “not been good enough” after victory over Tottenham on Sunday.
The Gunners showed plenty of bottle as they swept Tottenham aside 4-1 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to leave the hosts concerned for their Premier League future.
Viktor Gyokeres and Eberechi Eze both scored twice in Igor Tudor’s first game in interim charge after he replaced Thomas Frank at the helm earlier this month.
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Eze has scored five of his six Premier League goals against Tottenham this season after his hat-trick against them at the Emirates and while Rooney was full of praise for the playmaker’s performance, the Manchester United legend insisted he’s not been at the level expected of him in general following his £60m summer move from Crystal Palace.
After Kelly Somers, the host of his BBC podcast, hailed Eze’s ‘mentality’ and ‘character’, Rooney responded: “I disagree a bit because I don’t think he’s been good enough this season.
“The two Tottenham games have shined a big light on him but in other games I’ve watched him and not thought he’s been good enough.
“I think a lot of that is probably through not playing consistently, I get that, but when you talk about mentality and character, if I was him I would be trying to make it very difficult for the manager to leave me out, both with your performances and in training.
“Clearly he’s not doing enough to warrant a place in the team consistently. I get that Martin Odegaard is the captain but you’ve got to make it almost impossible for Mikel Arteta to leave you out.
“After the first Tottenham game I don’t think he did enough to stay in the team so you just hope now for him he plays better consistently to stay in the game.
“I think he needs to perform a little bit better than he has so far this season.”
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Rooney now doubts if Eze will be part of England’s squad for the World Cup this summer.
“I’m not sure Eze will go to the World Cup but he does give you a different option because he can play on the left or in the No. 10,” he added.
“Maybe that will be on Eze’s side because those players are so important at a World Cup. In terms of at Arsenal I think Eze is better in the penalty box but Odegaard is better when he’s a bit deeper.
“He’s very clever and picks up some great positions, his movement is very good, you just want to see a bit more from him in the final third.
“If you could combine the two of them you’d have a great player!”
