i am not happy with the lack of cover for MØ8. granted, there's not many who can play like him anyway, but there are a whole host of players who would be a better option than just sticking Havertz in there or throwing Nwaneri into the deep end.
Smith-Rowe and Vieira are two that come to mind.
Exactly.
I get moving ESR and Vieira on. ESR had that injury hoodoo to the point where Arteta just didn't trust him to be fit. And I still maintain Vieira just isn't built for the English game, and probably never will be.
But holy shit, why didn't we bring in a decent attacking midfielder to replace them! Now (for this match at least) we are left with Partey (who isn't consistent and does better in DM, Nwaneri (who is arguably too young and inexperienced to blood in a NLD at this point in his career), or someone out of position, like Trossard, Sterling, or Gabi J.
If we're going to mix it up anyway, I wouldn't mind seeing Saka try to fill the role in Martin's absence. He is good with both feet, he carries the ball well, he has great dribbling ability and movement off the ball, and he has a decent eye for a pass. Sterling on the right wing, Martinelli/Trossard on the left wing, Saka through the middle, and Kai up front, with Jorginho and Partey in a double pivot behind all of them for extra support.
The problem is that basically every player who left this season wanted out. Vieira decided he wanted to go back to Porto. ESR was done trying to get minutes here. Ramsdale needed to play too. Nketiah was never going to fit our setup. We've arguably kept these players for too long, and not moving them on would be a terrible mistake.
Now, for Ø, there's just not many players who can play his role. I'm so glad that Ethan got some minutes in this match, because he might be trusted more going forward, but you have to remember that if he sees himself at the right 8, signing a player at that position would basically force him to leave. And we desperately didn't want that to happen.
I think the only criticism the club deserves here is for letting Ø go on international duty. He was already limping v. Brighton, there was no need for him to play more.
Agreed. I have disliked International breaks for years.
However, to play devils advocate, I was listening to the Arsecast podcast the other day and they mentioned there's a lot of scrutiny on Øde to do well and the Norwegian national team have struggled. Not to mention he is also the captain.
So, I agree in that he probably feels he has a duty to play and not doing so could leave a black mark on him. Ryan Giggs was used as an example of how he wouød always skip international duty for whatever reason. Due to his absences, he was critiqued about his commitment to the Welsh team.
I don't feel I've been very articulate, but I'm sleepy 😅
As someone from an even smaller competitor, I can tell you that if someone chose not to play because of his own club career he'd be shunned, especially if he was remotely important or talented. But then we have a dearth of talent.
There's this one pos who chose to play for China and HKers have hated him ever since.
Is that because of he picked a different country or a rivalry between China and HK, or both?
Øde would just want to play. I guess we could have requested that he play x amount of minutes instead of telling him he can't go. All he probably wants to do is play and represent his team the best he cam as captain.
Both.
They're not selling the pink gk kit. What the fuck is our commercial department doing; first no womens away and now this
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