Analysing Hector Bellerin’s lacklustre performance in Arsenal’s 3-3 draw with Bournemouth

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Arsenal managed to recover to avoid an embarrassing defeat to Bournemouth, but they have lost ground on some of their rivals. The comeback showed that there is fighting spirit and bottle in this Gunners squad, something that has been widely talked about in the media during recent weeks. There are still several questions that need to be asked, but they managed to limit the damage done to the club’s season. A comeback such as this can actually do wonders for the togetherness of the squad and it is important that Arsenal take the positives rather than the negatives from this match.

That said, there will be questions raised about Hector Bellerin’s defensive ability as he was often caught out of position and was outclassed all evening by Ryan Fraser. It was a poor afternoon for the right-back and one that could have devastating consequences for his confidence. He received a Whoscored rating of 5.5, which is worse than any other player involved in the match at the Vitality Stadium. Only so much can be taken from ratings such as these, but it provides some perspective of how poor Bellerin was on Tuesday evening.

He was at fault for two of the three goals and gave Bournemouth the opportunity to lead by three goals. The first goal came as a result of poor defending down Arsenal’s right hand side. There was a lot of space left down Arsenal’s right, which was exploited by Charlie Daniels. Bellerin tried to get back to prevent Daniels from getting a shot away, but was easily beaten and the Bournemouth left back fired the home side into a lead.  Although Aaron Ramsey should have done more to get back and cover Daniels’ forward run, Bellerin sold himself too easily when he managed to recover. He could have done much more to prevent the goal.

The third goal also came as a result of Bellerin being pushed too easily off the ball as he tried to shepherd it to safety. Ryan Fraser easily picked his pocket and had the easy task of putting the ball into the back of the net. Bellerin should have been stronger and made sure that Fraser couldn’t bully him off the ball. On another day, Fraser’s challenge would have been called for a foul, but that doesn’t excuse the mistake made by Bellerin. He was bullied by Fraser all evening and the winger knew that the ball was winnable. A more experienced full back wouldn’t have made the same mistake.

To sum up a sorry evening, Bellerin didn’t manage to complete a single ball recovery, win an aerial duel or complete one dribble and he was booked. He failed in two tackles and his pass completion was only 76%, which is significantly lower than his season average of 84.8%. The goals had an effect on his confidence and he didn’t manage to recover from them. Although Arsenal came back, Bellerin continued to struggle and that will be a concern for Arsene Wenger, especially as the alternatives in the squad aren’t up to scratch.

It was one of his worst performances of the season, but that could be a result of the amount of football he has been asked to play over the last month. He remains a young player and performances like this should be expected from time-to-time. Bellerin’s pace is his greatest asset and sometimes hides his defensive flaws. His positioning and decision making needs work, but at the age of 21 time is on his side. It is important that he puts this match behind him and learns from it rather than letting it affect him over the coming matches.

Featured image: All rights reserved by Stuart MacFarlane