You know how some call Arsenal the ‘banter club’? I do see how we got there.
I do hear words that make me cringe, where you’re left thinking ‘we don’t help ourselves.’
Predictions that if it came from any other fans not called Gunners, we would call them arrogant.
Arsenal win every fixture this season (ended at game 3), Eddie Nketiah preferred to Mbappe (now at Palace), Havertz scoring more than Haaland (currently reads 2-10).
While everyone is entitled to their opinion, how many are based on football knowledge, or a bias simply on what colour shirt a player wears?
Yet this one takes the cake …
In the last month I have read how Ethan Nwaneri is more skillful than Lamine Yamal. Yes, the same Yamal who won the best young player at the Euros.
A teenager with similar talent to Odegaard.
A midfielder that reminds them of when a certain Fabregas emerged.
The likes of AFTV predicted the 17-year-old was going to start the last three games (he didn’t), his cameo in the North London Derby was praised (he came off the bench on the 86th minute), and message boards were flooded with requests that he would dramatically improve us in the 2nd half in our last two matches.
Yet based on what?
Quite simply, I have never seen someone who’s done so little be told how special he is.
When I say little, we are talking about approx. 30 mins of senior football in 2 years. At the same age Yamal has played 58 times for Barcelona and lifted the Euros for Spain, contributing a record 4 assists.
Comparing the two is an insult and deluded. Yet we live in a society where you can just say crazy things no matter the credibility of your words.
To put it out loud, a player yet to start a senior competitive game is more skillful than Yamal!
You would think if that was the case, our manager would be rushing to play him?
Don’t get me wrong, the talent could be special, and I hope he is. For years now he’s been the name on everyone’s lips at Hale End, while he became the youngest player to appear in the Prem at just 15
Yet, just because you want something to be true doesn’t make it reality. For anyone to get promoted from the academy to the first team squad, it means your ability is unquestionable.
Which is why the lavish praise in the NLD because he passed the ball twice was patronizing. What we need to learn is does he have the mentality to cope with the pressure of playing for a club our size?
Which is why a League Cup tie is the logical next step for his development.
Once he puts a body of work together that’s when Gooners can make appraisals.
Because so far, all hype has been playing make believe, zero validation, devoid of evidence.
The Kroenke Family will be grateful for the hype. It can only help sell tickets for Wednesday night, with Nwaneri one of the main attractions.
A first competitive start at the Emirates in front of his family and friends is a huge moment and there is no need to add to that pressure by putting a spotlight on him.
So, whatever he does against Bolton, let him take little steps at a time.
Be humble.
Dan
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There’s no comparison, even the beginning of one.
Our lad is four months or so younger than Yamal, so age here is not a factor, it’s what they’ve done at their similar ages. Yamal has done a huge amount already as the article suggests (enough to attract a bid of £210m from PSG for him apparently). Whereas young Nwaneri has done bug*er all so far.
Of course, we all hope he will do things and if/when he does (and on a regular basis, like Yamal), we’ll be able to compare them one to another at least a little better. That’s likely to be way off yet though.
Dan
You can’t compare the 2 at this stage but imo EN looks special
A boy in a man’s body and when I have seen him on few occasions he doesn’t seemed phased
Hopefully he gets eased in slowly and learns his trade. He has some good teachers around him which should enhance his progress
Only time will tell how good he could be an if he does the right things then he can cement his place in the starting line up in the future.
Onwards and upwards
Is this Haaland writing? I heard the “Be Humble” by Haaland recently, I think.
Jokes aside, I don’t remember anyone comparing Nwaneri to Yamal. Did anyone? I must have missed.
That’s a ridiculous comparison to say the least. Yamal is a full-time senior footballer for more than a season now, and Nwaneri is yet to play any meaningful minutes. I think it’s the age factor that people are compelled to compare, but there’s nothing really to compare. Nwaneri can be compared with Yamal when he plays a full season consistently in the league, which is not happening soon tbh.
And I don’t think they are much similar in profiles to have even a hypothetical comparison.
Oh I been asking us for years to be humble mate lol
And yeah you missed it
It’s a silly comparison made by maybe 2 comments on a topic in the past which I’m sure people don’t even give any serious attention to until Dan kept repeating it and eventually writing about it now…. I don’t see the need for this to be taking serious.
Oh I can give you more then 2; examples mate
Sometimes I feel like you make up stories to ‘create content’ . It would be nice if you can actually quote these fans who make the claims you’ve outlined . I’m yet to hear anyone say we’d win all our fixtures, that they’d prefer Nketiah over Mbappe or that Havertz would out score Haaland.
I’m confident in saying 99.9999% of Arsenal fans don’t have such views. Your articles would make more sense if a majority of our fans had these views. I consume a lot of Arsenal content and I’m yet to see anyone compare Nwaneri to Yamal. It’s like looking through a hey stack and making a story about the one needle. A mountain out of a mole hill.
You also need to be humble by not ascribing the views of a small minority to an entire fanbase.
The guys who make such ridiculous statements don’t even mean them or believe them. They mostly do it to create traffic for their blogs,podcasts and channels. Obviously if you say something absurd you’ll get many reactions and responses and that is what drives profit in social media. I can’t begrudge them because it’s the way they earn their bread. But to take their views as representative of Arsenal fans is equally ridiculous.
And it’s not just Arsenal by the way.All football fanbases have such characters. It’s up to every individual to decide what to believe or follow on social media networks.
This particular author has a penchant for selecting fringe extreme views and using them to create articles in order to generate traffic.
By using “clever” language he then claims that he was simply quoting a point of view no matter that very few hold such opinions.
Would you like the quotes ?
Direct quotes mate …
‘Pure Talent-wise Nwaneri is more skilled than Lamine ‘
‘Nwaneri is the only player we have that have similarities and skills to deputize for Odegaard’
What’s the origin of that quote Dan? I’ve seen more of Lamine and at the very highest level (like most of us I suppose), and think him already world class, while Nwaneri has hardly made a start at Premier League level.
But out of the 100 or so regular posters / commenters on “JustArsenal” how many have stated such a viewpoint with regards to Yamal vs Nwaneri?
I bet it’s about two or three individuals that would make such a ridiculous fringe comparison. You will always have a very tiny group of sensationalists on any given topic.
So if about 3 out of 100 people made such myopic comparisons, does that mean one has to overinflate the whole thing?
I have always loved having a snoop at our EPL rivals fans here and there every season to guage their perception of us. And there is this consistent talking point in those forums where nearly all of the posters on the Man United, Chelsea, Spurs, Newcastle, Aston Villa, Liverpool etc fans forums keep saying to each other: “Be patient with the manager and give him time to build his own squad. Look at Arteta at Arsenal, 3 season ago the vast majority of their fickle fans wanted him sacked but the owners kept faith in him even if most of their fans wanted him sacked. Now the Fickle Arsenal fans all of a sudden love him today”..
But what those rivals fans don’t get is that the vast majority of our Arsenal fanbase has always been behind Arteta while just a fringe but very loud terminally online group were the ones that wanted him sacked back then.
But the rival fans will only look for the fringe view and try to overblow it.
Same as with this Nwaneri vs Yamal comparison. I am 100% sure that it just one or two individuals that have made such a ridiculous comparison. But then you picked it up and tried to overinflate it like sizeable factio of our fanbase believes the same. 😊🤞
I agree with both Onyango and David, just because 1 or 2 people made the comparisons it didn’t warrant the article. I think you’re trying to create a debate that’s not there at moment.