Ethan Nwaneri deserved to start against Bournemouth. You will concur with me that, aside from Gabriel Martinelli’s effort, the Hale End Star was the most impressive player when he entered the game during the 2-0 defeat.
Without Bukayo Saka, Mikel Arteta had to find a way to fill the void his star man left. Yes, he opted for Raheem Sterling, but why wasn’t he bold enough to play Nwaneri?
Every time Nwaneri has made an appearance, he has left an impression. He’s clearly shown he’s physically ready, and he’s even demonstrated some excellent composure on the ball even in hostile situations like the 1-0 North London derby win and the 4-2 win over Leicester.
Undoubtedly, with the midfield trio of Mikel Merino, Declan Rice, and Thomas Partey, Arteta ensured his team’s defensive stability. With that defensive side sorted, don’t you think it could lay the perfect foundation to introduce a creator like Nwaneri to try unlocking the attacking side of the team?
In the end, if Nwaneri had started, Arsenal’s loss would have been understandable; in fact, everyone would have appreciated Arteta’s boldness in starting the 17-year-old.
Yes, we suffered a defeat, and we must acknowledge that Saturday 19th was not a day to celebrate. However, it’s annoying to watch Nwaneri come on to run the show, but when we really need him to step up, Arteta overlooks him.
Daniel O
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No. He obviously has a future but needs nuturing. He hasn’t played a full prem game yet. Give him time and don’t rush him. Do we really thing the result would have been different if Nwaneri played? The sole reason we lost was the sending off, not the content of the team.
He doesn’t need nurturing; let him play. Cesc played at his age. You either trust him or you don’t. Yamal, Maino. You saw what happened with Palmer. At what age did Saka begin delivering?
And what happens when he doesn’t do, what some people on here think he is going to do. It won’t be the first time. He hasnt even played many cup games yet, for him to learn. I know what will happen, if he is thrown in and doesn’t live up to the hype straight away. What difference in yesterday’s game would he have made? Experienced prem hardened players struggled. Rather than Nwaneri being on there Saliba playing a full game, would have been the difference. Lets get real and not start dreaming.
“I know what will happen, if he is thrown in and doesn’t live up to the hype straight away.”
I think the risk is more if he does something costly like trossard did – if he simply doesn’t live up to the hype, it’s not such a big deal. People are understanding to that extent at least
No they are not!!!!!
He would be fed to the wolves.
I can’t think of when that has happened to such a young player. People generally understand a young player having a bad game or not quite being ready.
What are you talking about? Do players get experience by sitting on the bench? “If he didn’t perform…” We’ve seen enough of him to know he is more than ready for the bug stage. How old were Pele, Messi, Saka, Fabregas, Maine, and now Lamine Yamal when they were tearing defences? Please enough of these excuses. That was how Arteta almost lost Saliba to Real Madrid when he didn’t want to play and was sending him out on loans instead. No, we didn’t lose tonight’s match because of Saliba’s red card; we lost because there was jo creator on the pitch in the mold of Saka and Odeegard. We lost because virtually every player, including Raya, were sloppy and mistake-prone. We lost because Arteta resorted to playing a low-bloc, against Bournemouth o! Nwaneri
would have made a difference today. That boy need to be starting games at least until Odeegard returns.
And when will he ever get to play the full prem game? If he can’t play now when Odegaard, Smith-Rowe and Vieira are not in the team, then I can’t see him ever playing. There’s no excuse why he shouldnt be playing these games. Pep, Klopp and any other manager would’ve played Nwaneri in Odegaard’s absence, but not Arteta. When exactly will the lad be ready?
Too late now. It would have been interesting to see him participate – he almost certainly would have contributed more than Jesus did in the time available, but we’ll never know.
Yes, I quite agree with you. There is no better opportunity to hand the young man the opportunity to play than yesterday game against Bournemouth, especially with the absence of Saka. The game actually came to life when NWANERI came in with Jesus and it started looking like there was hope. If Lamine Yamal can start week in week out for Barca I think Ethan can.
Nwaneri should’ve played RW and Sterling on the left wing
Trossard would’ve likely made more impact as a super-sub and he wouldn’t have made us lose the match with his bad decision
Trossard has made us lose five points, so he shouldn’t start in any EPL game
Personally, i put all the blame on the coach Arteta’s decision. He thought his selection would work but since it isn’t working why bring in J&Nwaneri at the 80th minutes. He removed Sterling the only pacey forward upfront and left Havertz chasing the wind.
The coach should take responsibility sometimes but I see someone very stubborn at times. I hope Nwaneri would still want to be an Arsenal player next season.
Yes, Arteta should’ve benched Trossard and played Nwaneri instead. I don’t think Nwaneri would make reckless passes as often as Trossard did this season
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but it’s all ‘ifs and buts’, we lost caused by Saliba being deservedly sent off and silly mistakes by Trossard and Kiwior that led to both goals. At least Saliba only misses one game, but having so many red cards in so few games is a bit of a worry.
Absolutely, definitely, if not against the Saints? Not against Bournemouth, not in the absence of Odegaard, then when ? A telephone call from God?
Even if he doesn’t start, give him 20 or more minutes. We want to see what the boy holds, let him loose. His unpredictability may work wonders for us. If Saka isn’t fit for Liverpool, risk the boy from the onset. It poses as a risk but big players are made in big games, show him the trust he will deliver
A poor article. If we had lost with Nwaneri not being able to influence the game we would have a different narrative.
We’d have stuff like why are we depending on a 17 year old, why are we over-exposing him in an away game, why was he replacing Trossard, Arteta disrespecting the opposition etc.
Wow!!!!! I agree with you David 🤣🤣
Got to agree on some things. After all we all want our players to do well and Arsenal be successful.
You can make all the excuses in the world David and there is never a shortage of them but in the end Arteta has to win the league or get the sack.
Your endless excuses neither help him win games nor will they stop him getting the sack.
As a true Arsenal supporter you should question the manager and his players why did they lose to a club like Bournemouth if they have title ambition?
I don’t see the point or purpose of excuses really.
The lack of creativity in midfield was a concern before the whistle. 2 of the 3 should start, and there should be a creative/attacking midfielder.
Trossard played well in midfield previously, an opportunity for Jesus to start on the LW and Sterling on RW.
Unfortunately Arteta had other ideas, and didn’t ring the changes soon enough. If Nwanarei can’t come in after halftime with Odegaard and Saka out, Vieira on loan, then when can he?
The team put out yesterday was easily good enough, to get a result. It didn’t because we had a player sent off. The team was not the issue. There were creative players playing, we have had creative players playing for many a game now. But we often look to win a game on set pieces. That is the problem, not the lack of creativity. We were look too often towards our set pieces. Look at the bench when we get a corner. Its like they have all got excited because we have a corner. We don’t create much for a top team, in open play anyway.
I agree with you – our big problem before the goal was poor linkage between the forward players after we got through their initial press – we have it away too cheaply. Not enough runners and I think another attacking player would have made a difference (either jesus or martinelli)
We should go back to the 4231 formation.
Of Partey, Declan &Merino, we should just field 2 of them at a time.Fielding all the 3 leaves so flat,slow and uncreative.
If Odegaard is still injured, Ethan should start in his role.Am yet to be convinced by Trossard as a starter.He plays better as a sub and that should be the case.
Our wings,ACM and C.f position needs beefing up with better quality. Without Odegaard, Saka&Havertz we are a very ordinary team.
Wow! But without them the team still cost 700 mil to assemble. What a waste of money.
We lost the match because Saliba and Trossard messed up big time.I can understand the clamour for EN to start in the absence of Odegaard, but had we kept eleven men on the park I am convinced we would have won despite our lack of creativity.No doubt Kwaneri will start before too long because he is a real talent ,but hopefully he will be introduced as a winger where he would be more of a threat than Trossard rather than expecting him to run the game as our main attacking midfielder.His time will come of that I am sure.
As the great Brian Clough said, ‘the team looked good on paper, but unfortunately the game was played on grass’. The team picked did not play well but it was a team that should have done the job. We win as a team and we lose as a team. I would not have been disappointed if Nwaneri started yesterday but I don’t consider it a mistake he didn’t.
Would we have lost the game if Saliba had not been sent off?
Chances are, No Grandad.
Probably not. At 0-0 and with 60 minutes to go it was impulsive and reckless. They say things come in threes – so hopefully no more red cards.
Why we won’t win the title
We over hype players
He’s started one senior game against a league one team and he has to play ?