Sunderland suffered their second defeat of the Premier League season on Saturday night, losing 2-0 to Arsenal at the Stadium of Light.
The Black Cats had the perfect opportunity to take the lead when they were awarded a penalty, only for Enzo Le Fee to see his spot kick saved by David Raya.
Former Newcastle United star Bruno Guimaraes then scored a fabulous goal just 120 seconds later, before Bukayo Saka converted from the penalty spot to seal a 2-0 victory in stoppage time.
Reinildo was dismissed for a second yellow card after giving away the penalty against Saka, though there is a strong argument that the Mozambique international was harshly treated by the referee throughout the match.
The left-back’s first booking was particularly controversial, with Saka falling to the floor while holding the defender rather than being fouled in a conventional sense, yet the referee awarded the free-kick and booked Reinildo.
His challenge for the penalty was a legitimate attempt to win the ball, which under the double jeopardy rule for straight red cards should have resulted in only a yellow card, meaning the dismissal was arguably unjust.
Outside of those two incidents, Reinildo actually produced a composed defensive performance, winning five of his eight duels, making four clearances, and not being dribbled past once during his 90 minutes on the pitch.
However, the bigger concern for manager Regis Le Bris should be the display of Thomas Meunier, who was rated just 4/10 and was arguably the worst performer on the night despite Reinildo’s red card grabbing the headlines.
Meunier, who joined Sunderland on a free transfer in the summer, has been deployed on the right side of the attack for the second consecutive Premier League match despite being a right-back by trade.
The Belgium international took just 30 touches during his 76 minutes on the pitch, fewer than goalkeeper Robin Roefs, who registered 38 touches from between the posts across the full match.
Meunier failed to create a single chance for his teammates, did not attempt one dribble, and crucially won none of his ground duels against Arsenal, offering little to the team in either an attacking or defensive capacity.
Too often the Belgian collected the ball in advanced areas and looked reluctant to commit to attacking Arsenal directly, going backwards more than a wide player should, largely because it is simply not his natural position or style of play.
This was not an isolated performance either, as Meunier struggled in a similar fashion against Brentford the week before, losing all six of his duels and failing to create any chances in the 1-1 draw with the Bees.
The pattern across two consecutive matches is now clear, and Le Bris has sufficient evidence to conclude that the experienced Belgian cannot deliver what is required from a wide attacking role in the Premier League.
With Sunderland needing to find solutions quickly to remain competitive at the top level, dropping Meunier from the starting lineup looks like the most logical and necessary decision the manager can make.