Hello, welcome to a new week. If there’s a silver lining to Saturday’s result, it’s that there’s a chance to erase it very quickly.
We have a Champions League game against Shakhtar Donetsk tomorrow night so we have no choice but to box Bournemouth and focus on that. Mikel Arteta is scheduled to meet the media this morning and I’m sure he will echo some of the comments he made after Saturday’s game.
He was asked how the team recovers and he said:
The best thing to do on Tuesday is to take advantage of the pain we feel right now. It’s happened three times in eight games and I don’t feel bad about missing our captain, one of our best players, Jurien and all that. It won’t get us anywhere – let the energy go. These boys deserve it because they will try and get going again on Tuesday the way they want to.
That’s absolutely necessary. Any team can have a bad day, any team can lose a game in this league, but how you react and how quickly you react is what really matters. There’s no need to scratch that Premier League itch tomorrow night, but a good result and performance will certainly give them a boost ahead of Liverpool on Sunday.
Considering the distance between Tuesday and Sunday, I don’t think we’ll see it in terms of the rotation as much as some people might think or actually like, but there’s one player I’d really like to see start tomorrow night: Ethan Nwaneri . I know the idea that putting too much pressure on a 17-year-old could be counterproductive, but given what we’ve seen from him so far this season, this feels like the perfect opportunity for him to start his best career. -Level game. He is the epitome of the adage that if you’re good enough, you’re old enough.
Don’t forget he started and scored twice in the EFL Cup win over Bolton. But his first Champions League start would be another small step in his development and reputation. I think if you polled Arsenal fans asking whether they thought he was ready for this, the results would be unanimous. As I said in yesterday’s blog, I think he should have played earlier against Bournemouth, and the same was true a few weeks ago when we were trying to demolish Leicester.
What struck me about his brief cameo on Saturday was how impactful he can be when he’s on the ball. This is something the team is missing significantly in the absence of Martin Odegaard. There was a moment when he found space deep in our half and when the opposition blocked him, he collected it and delivered a beautiful pass to Gabriel Martinelli on the left. It was done with speed and accuracy. Soon after, he ran towards goal and was harshly punished by the referee after the Bournemouth player fell on himself.
This moment stands out in the dying stages of the game we were chasing. Because it offered some hope on a night we struggled to create. Part of that was the fact that we were light men, but part of it was that the midfield trio of Thomas Partey, Declan Rice and Mikel Merino lacked the kind of drive that Nwaneri brings. To be fair, Rice does this in a different way, often driving from deep and Merino setting up Martinelli’s good chances, but generally speaking it is more of a functional than creative midfielder.
If we’re 2-0 down against Liverpool and we want to close out the game and take control, that’s the kind of setup we can feel pretty comfortable with. Not so much if you’re trying to rescue a game or create a scoring opportunity. And it will be very interesting to get a glimpse of what Nwaneri can produce. If that’s what he can do in such a short period of time, it’s interesting to think what he can offer in 90 minutes.
I think it’s a low risk, high reward situation for him to start tomorrow. Take nothing for granted about your opponents. There are still other options on the bench if a change is needed, and even if he doesn’t perform well, this is still an important step in his development. With Odegaard out, Arteta has tried to win games in a different way, that’s what I understand. But in this match he has to go with Nwaneri, the closest comparable player in our team. We can all imagine the benefits that good performance can bring to a team, but how it can benefit the players themselves is also an important consideration. I really hope that happens.
Okay, I’ll leave it there for now. Of course, today we will prepare Arsecast Extra. We called with questions thread @gunnerblog and @arseblog with hashtags #arsecastextra – Or, if you’re a member of Arseblog on Patreon, please leave a question. #arsecast – Additional questions This is a channel on our Discord server.
The pods will be out around noon. For now, have a good time.
