It’s morning everyone.
While we await an update on the possible injuries to Gabriel Magalhaes and Jurrien Timber following Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Liverpool, here’s some information today. I have more concerns about the former than the latter, but Mikel Arteta might get some information from him when he meets the media today ahead of tomorrow evening’s EFL Cup tie with Preston North End.
Whatever those two things are, it looks like that game will be the one where young players get drafted. The manager must find a balance between a team capable of winning games and not putting any more key senior players at risk before we play Newcastle. Inter and Chelsea are away in 8 days. A tough one.
I wonder if there will be any questions today about Oleksandr Zinchenko, who has been on the bench for the last three games but has been overlooked in the last two because of Miles Lewis-Skelly. I’d like to know if this is simply a fitness issue or if we’re seeing a real change in pecking order here. You would have thought Zinchenko’s experience against Shakhtar and Liverpool would have given him the nod for the 18-year-old, who is still learning the left-back position. But the director thought differently. And for someone who has been criticized for being too reticent to use young players, it’s certainly an interesting talking point.
It also makes us wonder what we’ll see tomorrow night. Given that it is an EFL Cup match and Lewis-Skelly started the win over Bolton, you would expect him to start again in this match. However, if Arteta needs to get the most out of his squad, he will likely have to include Zinchenko, and if that suits him, he won’t get any better unless he plays. The youngster’s playing time is important for his development, so overlooking this opportunity would be a bad idea, but what will happen to the Ukraine international? Will Arteta choose him and Lewis-Skelly? So who plays where?
question: Which Mikel said this?
Injuries are part of the game and cannot be an excuse for the result. Injuries have pros and cons. One of the benefits is seeing young players debut and get involved. As a club you want to bring in young players from the academy and give them a chance. You can see that this is a club where everyone can do really good things even without an important player like Martin.
It sounds very Arteta-ish, but it’s 100% merino. It’s clear that Arteta’s mindset on injuries is reflected in his players. A culture of no excuses. No doubt privately managers should express at least some sense of despair. Given the casualty list and the quality of players we are currently missing, who could blame him? But publicly the message is challenging, and it’s easy to understand why.
He won’t allow the players to get out of any kind because we’re not at our best. Injuries make our job much more difficult, but it would be even more difficult if our players didn’t have faith in themselves and their teammates. And as Merino said, there is an element of opportunity. Maybe you can see it in Lewis-Skelly’s case, but maybe not enough in Ethan Nwaneri’s case. But he’ll start again tomorrow and have a chance to impress.
Elsewhere, it was very sad to see Manchester United sack Erik ten Hag after their 2-1 loss to West Ham on Sunday. Are you surprised? Absolutely not, but it’s still a shame that despite a couple of cup wins, they’ve removed this character vacuum that has made them so mediocre in the Premier League. It’s interesting because there’s serious talk about Mikel Arteta and the winning team, but will Arsenal fans be truly happy about winning the FA Cup if we’re floundering mid-table?
I think we will certainly enjoy the win and the day at Wembley, but generally speaking I think there will be a lot of anxiety about consistency. I think there will be a lack of consistency in many matches with good results here and there. It’s the story of mediocre players’ rubbish football and a manager who’s as convincing as a child smearing chocolate on his face when he says he hasn’t eaten all his biscuits.
It’s clear that United should have fired him in the summer, but instead gave him a contract extension that weakened him and made it more expensive to compensate him. It seems this INEOS crowd isn’t as smart as they think. The story linking them to Ruben Amorim will excite fans. He seems like a decent young coach, but he has a lot of work to do. And Antony has £90m too, hahahaha. That would never be funny and would certainly cost £3 million a lap.
Okay, let’s leave it there for today. You can watch our Premier League comprehensive show The 30 right now on Patreon. If you haven’t had a chance to listen yet, watch the Arsecast Extra below.
