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  "path": "/2026/02/13/has-adapt-arsenal-star-warned-laid-back-style-brentford-draw-26876903/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-02-13T13:41:54.000Z",
  "site": "https://metro.co.uk",
  "tags": [
    "Football",
    "Sport",
    "Arsenal",
    "Brentford FC",
    "Eberechi Eze",
    "Nigel Winterburn",
    "Brentford",
    "Premier League",
    "Mikel Arteta",
    "held to a 1-1 draw in west London",
    "Crystal Palace",
    "Martin Odegaard",
    "another quiet display for the 27-year-old,",
    "Mr Luck",
    "Sign up here",
    "@metrosportuk",
    "tottenham",
    "manager",
    "premierleague",
    "frank",
    "prioritylist",
    "♬ original sound – Metro Sport – Metro Sport",
    "check our sport page",
    "Facebook",
    "Twitter",
    "Instagram",
    "Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google Add as preferred source",
    "@flemingben"
  ],
  "textContent": "Arsenal dropped points against Brentford on Thursday (Picture: Getty)\n\nEberechi Eze has been warned that his ‘laid-back’ style may be costing him after his latest anonymous display for Arsenal against Brentford.\n\nEze was handed his first Premier League start since mid-December as Mikel Arteta’s side were held to a 1-1 draw in west London on Thursday evening.\n\nBut the former Crystal Palace midfielder’s evening lasted just 45 minutes before he was replaced at half-time by Arsenal skipper Martin Odegaard.\n\nIt proved another quiet display for the 27-year-old, who had 17 touches in the first half and completed only nine passes, the second fewest of any Arsenal player.\n\nEze looked to have arrived in an Arsenal shirt when he scored a memorable hat-trick in the north London derby, but the Englishman has failed to kick on and secure regular minutes in Arteta’s side since then.\n\nFormer Tottenham striker Peter Crouch labelled Eze a ‘passenger’ after his half-time substitution against Brentford, and former Gunners defender Nigel Winterburn said Eze’s style of play may be stifling him at present.\n\n‘He’s now at a huge club in terms of expectation, and he, Havertz, and Odegaard are battling to be in the same position,’ Winterburn told **Metro** via _Mr Luck_.\n\n##  Get your football fix\n\nDon't want to miss the week's biggest football stories? **Metro's** exclusive football newsletter, In The Mixer, is your essential guide.\n\nFrom the latest transfer rumours and managerial moves to analysis of the biggest games and a lot more, our experts have you covered.\n\nSign up here, it's an open goal.\n\nEberechi Eze struggled against Brentford (Picture: Getty)\n\n‘The one thing I would say is Odegaard’s all energy. Eze looks a little bit more laid-back with the way, the style he plays.\n\n‘When he gets that opportunity, I would just like to see him a bit more demanding of the ball in the creative areas and really showing us what we know he can do.\n\n‘He’s got lovely close control, can pick out a pass, and can score goals.’\n\nWinterburn, though, was not ready to write of Eze’s chances at Arsenal, and said the midfielder may simply be taking time to adjust to the rigours and demand’s of Arteta’s system.\n\nEze has not scored or assisted in the league since his hat-trick against Tottenham (Picture: Getty)\n\n‘From now to the end of the season, I would think Eze is going to get plenty of game time,’ he added. ‘He’s a player I really like.\n\n‘Although we don’t like to say it, sometimes, when you sign players, you give them up to a year to completely settle in.\n\n‘We want everyone to hit the ground running and show us exactly what they’ve got. But Mikel Arteta’s style is a high-intensity press.\n\n‘It’s a huge amount of workload on the players, and Eze’s just got to adapt to that situation.’\n\n> @metrosportuk\n>\n> Who should Tottenham hire next? 🤔 Following Thomas Frank’s sacking from Tottenham, quite a few names have been linked to the North London outfit to replace him. So here are @flemingben’s BEST three picks for Spurs to consider as their next manager. #tottenham #manager #premierleague #frank #prioritylist\n>\n> ♬ original sound – Metro Sport – Metro Sport\n\nAsked about Eze’s half-time withdrawal against Brentford, Arteta explained post-match: ‘Because with the way that they were pressing\n\n‘I think we needed another kind of profile to generate many more problems for them around those areas and I think [Odegaard] came on in the pitch really well and the team had another gear and more threat to arrive to the areas that we wanted to do and that’s the decision.\n\n‘I think he had moments and it’s not easy when you move to a new club, it’s always like this and when you play against a team that is like this,’ Arteta added.\n\n‘The ball is a lot of times not on the floor and you have to be constantly breaking the play and do that, especially for attacking and creative players, it’s more difficult.’\n\n**For more stories like this,check our sport page**.\n\n**Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on**Facebook, **Twitter and Instagram**.\n\nComment now Comments  Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google Add as preferred source ",
  "title": "‘Has to adapt’ – Arsenal star warned about ‘laid-back’ style after Brentford draw"
}