Arsenal attacker Leandro Trossard started for Belgium against France in the Nations League.
The 29-year-old came up against his Gunners teammate William Saliba in Brussels, and it was a fine game to watch for the neutral.
Saliba had a disastrous game for France. Trossard, on the other hand, wasn’t that bad, but he wasn’t particularly great either.
Belgium’s national press have had their say on the Arsenal star’s performance, and they have given him an interesting review despite his underwhelming display.
What Belgium’s media are saying about Arsenal’s Leandro Trossard after defeat to France
Trossard has had a decent international break in October.
The Belgian was dropped by Domenico Tedesco in September and we’re sure that annoyed the Arsenal man. It really didn’t make much sense at the time.
Trossard returned and produced a Man of the Match display against Italy in the first game of October’s international break.
He earned a lot of plaudits for his performance then, but Trossard had a much quieter game against France in Brussels on Monday night.
However, what’s interesting is that the Belgian media have gone out of their way to point out the positives about Trossard’s performance instead of just slating him.
They want him to keep his place in the squad for the foreseeable future, which is great to see after what Tedesco did in September.
Voetbal Primeur gave him a 6.5/10 rating and said: “The really big flashes did not come from Trossard, but he was just more than solid and hardly suffered any loss of the ball. With Kounde as a direct opponent, he also did not receive a big gift, which Doku has experienced several times in the past.”
Wallfoot gave Trossard a 6/10 rating and said: “Not decisive and quite discreet, he still offered some good centres and worried Maignan on a free-kick in the second half. Far from the ghost of the Euro, this Trossard deserves his place among the Devils. In the eleven, it’s another matter.”
Finally, Nieuwsblad rated Trossard a 6/10 and wrote: “Stirred before and after half time. However, the finishing touch was missing, because Maignan was good twice.”
READ MORE: What Leandro Trossard was ‘begging’ the referee to do to Arsenal star William Saliba
Trossard has proved one thing to Arsenal and Belgium
Trossard is a very impressive footballer.
The Belgian is a fantastic finisher, is great in tight spaces and his dribbling is very good too. He is good enough to play for a lot of top teams, and his performances for Arsenal and Belgium have shown that.
However, the one mistake Mikel Arteta and Tedesco should stop making is deploying Trossard out wide – that is not his best position.
The 29-year-old is a lot more effective centrally, either as a false-nine or as an attacking midfielder. He almost always has a good impact on the game in those two roles and has proven it for club and country recently.
Tedesco and Arteta should change Trossard’s position permanently and deploy him more centrally from now. That would make both Arsenal and Belgium more dangerous in attack.
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