Should Leandro Trossard be better coming off the bench or starting?

(Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images)

Is Leandro Trossard a better option for us off the bench? 

 Throughout the world and history of football, we’ve had players who’ve seemingly performed or perform better off the bench. Super-subs as the footballing community know them as are players who have the ability to play way better when called upon in the latter stages of games, they usually contribute with goals or greatly impact the flow of the game positively.

We’ve seen some examples of these players over the years in the Premier League with Jermain Defoe, Peter Crouch and Divock Origi being a couple out of many I’m not remembering at the moment.

We’ve also had super-subs at our club in the past with Olivier Giroud being the first name that comes to mind more recently. Currently though the hottest and best example of a super-sub in the Premier League and possibly even in the World is Aston Villa’s Jhon Duran who has been a cheat code to Unai Emery’s side this season.

Arsenal’s closest player to being that is none other than Leandro Trossard, he has only scored one goal off the bench in this campaign, however he has shown in the past seasons that he is very much a super-sub, scoring great goals off the bench against really good sides like Bayern, Chelsea and Liverpool in the last campaign.  

(Photo by Steve Bardens/Getty Images)

 He has still shown this season what he can still offer from the bench with the impact his introductionl made in games like Villa away and Southampton at home. With players like him who play well off the bench, it’s expected that it’ll be rewarded with more starts and that’s exactly what Trossard has got this season.

The Belgian has made 8 starts out of our 13 games this season while making an appearance in all but one of those 13 games and that was because he was suspended! With his increased starts from kickoff it has left some gooners wondering wether he’s a better option off the bench because of some underwhelming performances in recent games, in fact he has only managed a goal and an assist in the 8 games he has started so far in all competitions which will surely warrant some questions being asked. 

 However looking at it currently, is it safe to say he’s a better option for us off the bench? Absolutely no, in my opinion, and this is due to a couple of factors we need to take into consideration. Firstly he has had to play different roles this season due to a combination of his versatility and covering key absentees from the starting lineup throughout this season.

He has played on the left wing, as a false nine and in midfield throughout this season which would’ve surely impacted his performances in some of those games, Furthermore the absence of key players all through the season would’ve also affected him, due to the instability it would’ve brought to the side.  

A lot of other reasons are to blame as well as the player himself, but he’s an absolute must have in our starting lineup because of his finishing and technical ability. Without Martin Ødegaard, he’s the next best player to receive the ball in those pockets in midfield while turning and attacking centrally in the squad. This makes him an important player who’s pivotal to our general attacking play even though he has flattered to deceive in the past few games. 

 What about you? Do you think Trossard is better as a supersub or not?

KENNETH BENJAMIN. 


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7 Comments

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  1. The Belgian is more deadly coming off the bench having studied the opposition for a hour, he reminds me of a certain player and recent manager nickname Babyface from Man United.

    The problem is he may wants to see more game time personally after his exploits.

  2. Methinks Trousard is a great subtitude. at least from 20 minutes to the end of the game . He did so well in such instances. But when you start him, he goes flat

  3. As the article mentions, he hasn’t been good as a starter. The problem for Arsenal is – as it has been for a while now – that they are “light” in strikers or offensive players anyway.

    For example, Havertz started well, but seems to have gone off the boil scoring-wise (and, despite his many other attributes, he doesn’t have a recent record as a particularly prolific scorer). Trossard certainly doesn’t appear to be effective as a starter. Jesus just isn’t effective – full stop. Sterling has disappointed so far, I think it’s fair to say. It all puts a lot of pressure on the likes of Saka.

    I’m not sure what the solution is here in October. Keep experimenting and hope that someone up front gets their scoring boots (back) on.

  4. When we have a full compliment of players, he may or may not be a starter in Artetas’ mind. But he is the best finisher in the team and has intelligence in what he tries to do. Yes he had a brain fart with his back pass that ultimately caused Saliba to lose his cool and get a red card but he is a very very intelligent player. Probably only bettered by Odergaard. You dont see him running down blind alleys, lashing balls into the stand and putting wild crosses in to nobody. He us suffering a bit at the moment because he is being asked to do left wing, 10 and a mixture of striker and all 3. Against Liverpool (and nobody at all has mentioned it on here) he was finding great positions when Haverz had dropped off in the false 9 or 9 position ( i am guessing he was told to do so) and nobody had the intelligence to pass to him. Twice I saw him in loads of space, in the second half, free for a pass and he would be away and nobody looked up or even tried to pass to him, behind the Liverpool defence. He was one of the few players that kept possession against Liverpool and didn’t try to boot it away. Top players in big games must keep possession. That is a big minus for us by many, who are not able to keep possession. Should he start or be on the bench? To win the league, we need intelligence and technique, over rash and lack of technique. Is he better than Odergaard or Saka, no. Is he better than Martinelli or Jesus, yes.

  5. IMO neither Trossard nor Martinelli are doing it for 90 minutes. If Odegaard was playing we would see rotation of these two. Trossard is a better finisher and technically better than Martinelli but lacks his pace. Both players seem to have better impact from the bench. I am losing faith that Martinelli will hit and retain the levels we were expecting he would reach.

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