Saka, Smith Rowe, Martinelli. All these young players coming up the ranks and coming good together for Arsenal. Now Nketiah finally gets a run of games and comes into form and proves himself a legitimate option at a position we sorely lack depth. It's an interesting predicament for him and the club for sure. He's going to want assurances on playing time to stay. And I don't think we've seen enough to make him the number 1 option, but surely we can afford to pay him enough to make him think twice about leaving. I almost fear the cost of needing to buy 2 strikers over paying Nketiah and buying 1. We're not really going to just let him leave on a free, are we?
Correct, the writer in the article phrased it wrong. I think they were trying to say "in all competitions" (which begs the question why they didn't say "in all competitions" LOL). I just looked it up and it's more than each of them. He does have more goals than them combined this calendar year, though. But that's a little misleading considering the fact Auba was on the outs before leaving.
Is anyone else seeing Nketiah being given mins as another Arteta decision that he delayed and only did due to injury or unavailability of his preferred player in that position. First ESR came after Ozil was sold but wasn't given mins until Mikel figured out that he needs a CAM playmaker. Next Martinelli got mins only after Auba went bonkers. Now Nketiah is playing but it's due to Lack getting injured initially. I worry about this next season.
The above is interesting. It implies that everything that's happened with the recent player successes mentioned are based on a series of flukes vs. opportunities created by Arteta for young players. I don't claim to know which is right. But it's certainly interesting. Without real knowledge about what actually happened, the truth can only be assumed, or established however anyone wants to write it.
Partially, yes. Arteta has acknowledged in recent interviews that he hasn't done a great job of getting Eddie minutes prior to this recent run, and that he should have done a better job. I suppose one couldn't fault you for being worried about that. But I don't think it's being simply reductive to say that maybe he's learning from his mistakes. No one with any sense would think he was the finished product even now after two and a half years.
We know how this goes. Eddie gets encouragement with more minutes, the club gets encouragement because he plays well. New deal signed, he plays less well, gets less minutes. Loan to a bottom feeder. Renewed motivation for preseason. New signing takes his minutes. Loan to continent. Rinse. Repeat.
Fwiw, it seems that Arteta wants to stick with the hot player until he either gets injured or gives the manager reason(s) to make a change. With a small squad having a meritocracy when there are fewer fixtures/competitions, that’s reasonably sensible. But I hope Arteta has the common sense to recognize he needs to do far better in player management and rotation going forward.
Should be interesting to see how Arteta manages minutes with Europe next season, especially given the winter World Cup.
He should def leave. He's young and needs game time while we seek two CFs and stay hopeful on a youth prospect. I feel three strikers are needed because of our return to Europe, but I don't see Eddie staying. He will be a decent EPL level CF. Hope he joins CP would be interesting to see him under Vieira.
Nary a credible option, though, is there? Another point to consider might be how Nketiah has had time to see the new system evolve and learn what the other attackers are trying to do under Arteta. Eddie's movement and runs have been much improved compared to earlier stints, and at least some of that is likely down to everyone homing their craft, as well. ie: Eddie has been more plug-and-play this go round because of how the machine is performing. Possible, anyway.
to be fair, that was true with wenger as well. wenger had his "i put a mirror under his nose and it fogged so he's in the lineup" like ramsey and diaby and he had his, "fuck this guy . . oh, wait. he's hot now. let's ride him until he dies of exhaustion" like giroud. giroud's every year with us was: 1) he sucks, he's a bench warmer and we have a better new guy, 2) whoever started sucked while giroud was scoring off the bench, 3) giroud plays every single minute and you can see him wear down by games, 4) exhausted giroud looks sluggish and goes back to the bench, 5) whoever replaced him sucked while giroud was scoring off the bench, then 6) giroud finishes the season starting. i like arteta and the changes he has brought. the one thing i have not liked has been his inability to rotate. :-/
one thing that struck me in preseason was how much and how drastically his game improved over the previous year. maybe it's bias but, last year, he felt like a worse version of walcott, year 1 where, in preseason, he was actually running with the ball, drifting wide and finding other players. he had the bad luck of going down with injury right when he looked terrific in preseason then being stuck behind 2 different (expensive) senior strikers when the manager and the team were trying to keep their heads above water after a terrible start to the season.
did anyone else note how high up the pitch tomiyasu was? and how far infield he was? i saw him lingering frequently near the edge of the box. i thought it was interesting - given how deep he generally played on the right - and i assume that's just how arteta wants his left-back to play.