Three talking points from our win against villa.
Arsenal have made a strong start to the new top flight campaign with back to back wins under our belt, our most recent one, a two nil win over a very good Aston villa side. After a pretty cagey first half where we could have easily been two goals down, it was second half goals from Leandro Trossard and Thomas Partey that sealed a pretty professional win from us. I made key observations throughout the game and here are the key takeaways from the win.
- Leandro Trossard should be starting ahead of Gabriel Martinelli: having not been on the field for more than five minutes the Belgian international fired us into the lead with a lovely well placed finish beyond the reach of Emi Martinez. His instinct in front of goal was on show with the way he reacted quickly to a deflection in the box to punish the villains. This is exactly what we need in our starting lineup on a consistent basis especially given the pretty poor form of Gabriel Martinelli as of recent, he’s still rash in his decision making and still utilizes his raw pace to get him out of trouble which is okay but must improve on other aspects of his gameplay before he keeps on starting games for us. Trossard should be trusted to start the next game imo.
- Raya is looking world class: Most gooners would have disagreed with Arteta’s decision to make Raya his first choice goalkeeper last season but he looks to be proving his doubters wrong, with a solid display that got him voted man of the match. Having pulled off a wonderful save last weekend against Wolves he then followed that up this weekend with an even astonishing save, reacting quickly off the ground to keep out a point blank effort by Ollie Watkins. Two games and two clean sheets for our number one means that he and the entire squad have got off to a very good start to the campaign.
- Signing a Saka back up must be top priority: In a game which marked his 100th win for the club we saw a regular theme from the previous campaign, him getting substituted because of a knock. Having been involved with both goals it was a late tackle that saw him taken off. It was a precautionary measure and I know that the injury is not serious but one has to wonder how we are going to cope without out a natural replacement if he does get injured. Before the ending of this transfer window, I think we should make signing a right winger top priority so as to ease the burden on one our best players.
KENNETH BENJAMIN.
ADMIN COMMENT
So here are some simple rules which I must insist commenters follow….
You agree not to give any personal abuse to other Arsenal fans. Everyone is allowed to hold their own opinions even if you disagree with them. It COSTS NOTHING TO BE POLITE TO OTHER ARSENAL FANS.
CALLING ALL ARSENAL FANS! Anyone who would like to contribute an Article or Video opinion piece on JustArsenal, please contact us through this link…
I can only think arteta values martinelli’s pace and direct runs froma tactical perspective, particularly early in the game when everyone is fresh as it can help open up space. I actually think he’s played well in terms of decision-making in the first two games, but he’s got a big problem with delivering the final pass or shot, which is where trossard really excels. I also think he’s not actually as quick as his reputation suggests – he’s fast, but not enough to beat many defenders on pace alone. He needs to be a bit clever to buy that yard of space sometimes (again, an area trossard is more capable).
Overall, though, I can’t see how we justify martinelli starting over trossard – on form, there’s no contest.
Davi
His cross in the first half negated all his running down the wing. Over hit and a wasted chance and I agree with your last paragraph
👍 l wasn’t intending the first part to be particularly positive – my meaning is that he’s doing the right things but it’s not coming off, and I’m a bit worried for him tbh. He’s clearly lost something from a couple of years ago. Hope he can get that confidence back, but it’s not looking good atm.
Trossard certainly seems to have the magic scoring touch from the bench, at least. Perhaps Arteta will give him a start or two to see how he does.
There’s still time to bring someone else in, possibly a winger now rather than a striker. Lookman seems to be in the news a lot recently, but he’d be very expensive, I guess. Who knows (other than Edu, hopefully)?
I can not and will not accept how Arteta is blind to the fact that Trossard is our most creative and impactful player. I don’t get any of these excuses about it. He probably likes to start Martinelli because he runs them ragged and then brings on Trossard. Rubbish, start realising what you have in Trossard or you will regret it.
After Merino, Arsenal should get a solid cover/competition for Saka and a Halaand-esque striker that guarantees 20+ goals. It doesn’t get simpler than that. Otherwise, this season is going to be long and frustrating. I don’t know why MA is making is own job difficult. But why is it taking a full month for AFC to buy a single player? I don’t get it at all! Because I know MA will come out and say there’s no time to complete a transfer. Arsenal should be more ambitious. We need to do better in UCL. Kai, with due respect, can’t take us there.
Also signing a backup striker, is Jesus on the shelf YET AGAIN?
We simply have to move on from Jesus.
He is unreliable in scoring goals, and unreliable in even staying fit.
We could bubble wrap him and he would still get injured taking a deep breath.