Olympique de Marseille's Ethan Nwaneri in action vs RC Lens
The French media have not held back when it comes to criticising teenager Ethan Nwaneri, after the Arsenal loanee missed a decisive penalty in a Coupe de France clash for Marseille.
Marseille were held to a 2-2 draw by Toulouse in the quarter-final clash at the Orange Velodrome, needing a penalty shootout to decide the tie.
And unfortunately for Nwaneri, who had come on as a second-half substitute, he would miss the decisive sudden death spot-kick, with the scores at 6-5 to send Marseille out and Toulouse through to the semi-finals.
Toulouse Players Celebrate As Arsenal Star Left In Tears
nwaneri
It was a cruel break for the teenager, who would not have been expecting to take one, having not been in the first five names on the list, and he was reduced to tears after sending his penalty high over the bar.
While the Toulouse players celebrated close to him, Nwaneri hunched over with his shirt over his head in tears, with goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli and a staff member going over to console him.
The French media delivered a brutal verdict on the youngster's performance.
He scored just 1.5 out of 10 in Le Phoceen's player ratings, with the comment: “Brought on to inject some attacking energy, the young player never managed to match the intensity of the match. Too quiet in duels and imprecise in his passing, he quickly gave the impression of being a passive participant rather than an active influence.
"His touches rarely led to dangerous situations, and he failed to inject the dynamism of Marseille’s attack as hoped. In an already tense atmosphere, his introduction did nothing to change the team’s attacking performance."
90min in France gave him a slightly better score of 3 out of 10, but said: “The English striker provided some link-up play at times without truly influencing the game. His bursts of speed generally didn’t lead to clear-cut chances. His missed penalty eliminated Marseille.”
It has not been the best of loans so far for Nwaneri, despite scoring on his debut against Lens. He has played seven times - although only four of those seven appearances have been starts - with the one goal and one assist to his name.
Mikel Arteta Made It Clear Why Marseille Was Right For Nwaneri
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta
He was sent out on loan to Marseille mainly because Roberto De Zerbi was in charge, but the Italian left within weeks of Nwaneri's arrival, replaced by Habib Beye.
Mikel Arteta referenced former Brighton boss De Zerbie when making the decision to send Nwaneri out to France. He said: "We had to pick the right place, and having all the options, understanding the experience that we had in Marseille as well with William [Saliba], the fact that Roberto is there, and he’s an incredible developer of young talent, and he’s a really courageous manager in the way he plays with young talent as well.
“He has a big track record about that, and I think it fits the way of playing for the qualities that we want to see for Ethan. So it’s going to be a great experience for him.”
Mikel Arteta in the Champions League