It could be a tough and frustrating time for Hector Bellerin at Arsenal for a while. I personally think that Arsene Wenger should have been using him more in the last few months, with Mathieu Debuchy on the injury list after undergoing surgery to fix his ankle ligament damage.
With Monreal struggling at centre back, it seemed an ideal chance to play Bellerin in his right back role with Calum Chambers in the middle, but the boss did not seem to have faith in him. Maybe it was the young Spaniard himself that was lacking confidence, but that now seems to have come, helped by his very capable performance out of position at left back against Galatasaray.
Bellerin told Arsenal Player, “It is a different position to where I usually play but last year, when I was at Watford on loan, I had a few games there so it wasn’t unfamiliar.
“It is difficult to get used to in this kind of game especially. But I felt comfortable and I was happy with my performance.
“I am feeling really good [with the first team], the lads are amazing – they have treated me so well since the first day I have been with them so I’m really comfortable.
“It’s nice to be getting games and starts in the Premier League and Champions League as a 19-year-old.
“It is a great achievement, so I’m really happy and it gives me a lot of confidence.”
Unfortunately for him, with Chambers suspended for this weekend’s clash with Newcastle, the Frenchman has returned to fitness and Kieran Gibbs is fit to play on the left. So just as the 19-year old is feeling comfortable and starting to show what he can do, his chances of playing look pretty thin.
With no League cup games and a tough draw in the FA cup, there are no obvious games for Wenger to rotate and play a few reserves, so when will Bellerin get another opportunity to build on his growing confidence?
How tall is he? Has he ever played in the middle – even in under 8s? Desperate times call for desperate measures.
Lol!
No but debuchy has played cb many times
This juggling of positions that Wenger does with players delays a team’s progress. Poor Ramsey languished in an unfamiliar position for a while, and took the heat for bad team performances. Chambers got totally ran over against Swansea from the first whistle to the last and took a huge chunk of the blame for the loss at Swansea. Monreal has made his own mistakes playing in a position he’s not the most comfortable in. This experimentation of players in unfamiliar positions drags the team down. We can blame injuries, but Wenger should’ve listened to commonsense long before the season started when everyone pointed it out that we needed extra bodies at the back (including a DM). It’s good to have players that are versatile, but Wenger shouldn’t insist on featuring these players in the same unfamiliar positions until they cost the team points. It’s hard to be consistent when you play in a position that’s not very natural to you. I pray that whatever he’s trying works for the sake of Arsenal, but all it does usually is make each next encounter very uncertain.
Unrelated. The biggest reason that people are ‘protesting’ is the media. They have managed to convince a portion of the support that we are doing badly, heading down, under achieving, board is greedy, manager is senile etc… why? Because it’s a great angle to get the gullible to click on their news feed. And of course other supporters have gotten onto this, and are doing everything in their power to keep us believing it, simply because they remember and fear a second coming of early 2000’s Arsenal.
In reality, 16 years straight qualification to Europe is excellent at this level. Not going to talk about stadium debt and oil clubs etc, can’t be bothered, and and you guys all already know about the TRANSITION that we went through that coincided with the trophy ‘draught’ (another media creation), whether you choose to ignore that aspect to propagate the lies you’ve been fed or not.
No, what has happened is that you’ve fallen straight into the media’s and other fans’ trap. They’ve managed to turn a fanbase against its own team when that team is doing fine! Genius! Why have they done this? So that when we win, they can say that we didn’t support the team, are fickle, hypocritical etc etc etc… and basically devalue the win because of the stupidity of a large portion of our support. When Chelsea or city win, their win is so empty and meaningless, I actually don’t really care. Their fans know it, that’s why chelsea fans in particular are so vile: empty sould of a club. Well, that’s what they want us to be, and that’s the gift that alot of people here are giving them.
1) we are doing wrong
2) we are underachieving
3) our board is greedy.
You are another mediocre and deluded fan, that blames everyone or everything, but can not see the truth….
@Int. Gooner.
This is classic AKB.
When Utd, City + Chelsea
win EPL or ECL its a meaningless
victory and their fans are plastic.
But when Arsenal wins the 4th place trophy
this is a glorious victory celebrated by true footballl fans.
That is why Arsenal must keep Wenger and never
win the EPL again and never ever win the ECL.
And its 4thenal 4thenal FC
We’re by far the greatest team
at always getting 4th and its 4thenal …. Sigh.
No one has ever said that. We may differ but don’t invent “facts”.
Every fan wants Arsenal to win.
We we lose we argue amongst ourselves, but I have never heard a fan say even when full of beer, that all we want is 4th place.
You should be a Daily Mail writer, distorting someone’s position to propagate your warped opinion. The point of conversation should be to arrive at a better conclusion for all parties, not to ‘win’ as you so clearly want to you egomaniac. Can’t be bothered to argue, if you want answers, reread what I wrote more closely and without your filters on.
You cannot separate football from some scum fans. They are in every club.
But the internet has released brain dead twats to the world wide stage. Every game demands some “expert” response from these fools.
Pardew out, Allardyce out, Wenger out, Pulis out, Santi out, Giroud out, Smalling out, etc etc etc.
Now these morons think they “know” football. Do these fools tell the mechanic how to fix their cars. Do they tell their dentist how do do a filling. Football breeds some sort of expert” fan who brains swollen with FIFA14 think they can manage.
You cannot you deluded twats; you cannot. You are a fan. You don’t have a coaching badge. Most of you can not hit the ocean if I give you a ball on the beach.
Show some *$%^^* class. Dortmund fans support their team even in last place. Galatasaray fans never stopped singing. It is always some thuggish Arsenal “fan” or some internet twat head swollen by self importance thinks that they know more than all the football managers put together.
After the game, you scream at Wenger, go home and demand your Mum serve you some crisp and a beer. Tough guys !
This.
At ArseneIsYourDaddy – best description of these morons I’ve ever read! Keep up the good work!
No young one, It’s my lack of blame for anyone that so infuriates you. My position: we’ve been doing well, have been unlucky, can improve in some areas. Our current setup is facilitating the improvement just fine, albeit not being immediate (obviously, all growth takes time).
You simply can’t fathom that things sometimes don’t go all your way, thus, like I said, your need for scapegoats. Simply put: you’re spoilt rotten.
What a breath of fresh air it is to read someone who can both write well, but also make sense, all at the same time. I feel like something is wrong with this picture. But I will enjoy it all the same. (Directed at Int. Gooner)
Sure, fans can gripe and voice their discontent. That’s all fine and good. Go ahead. But to delude yourselves that we haven’t done a fantastic job at continuously coming in the top 4 and making it out of group stages in the CL is what I said–delusional. Do we want to win. HELL TO THE YES. Why else would we watch the game? Are we frustrated that we didn’t get all the pieces we needed all at once . . . maybe a touch. But does that mean they’re not coming? Come on, look at the last two years and tell me we’re not actually improving our squad and finally in position to buy the best rather than sell our best. Explain that lack of ambition, please?
Bellerin will likely play based on fitness/injuries of primary defenders. Some defenders may be only partially fit.
Wenger recently stated that he is still missing several defenders. Ironically this has been absolutely and obviously true since the 1st game of the season (although that is not what he meant).
Here are the minutes from Arsenal’s last board meeting:
Board: Worst start in over 3 decades
Wenger: It wasn’t me
Board: Selling TV5 and not replacing him
Wenger: It wasn’t me
Board: Playing Nacho at CD
Wenger: It wasn’t me
Board: Playing your record signing out of position
Wenger: It wasn’t me
Board: Refusing to buy a DM
Wenger: It wasn’t me
In response to not buying a DM, Wenger would have likely responded…… “we have Diaby.”
In a related idea…….
The more fans and pundits scream for some backup CBs, the less likely it is that Wenger will acquire any soon. When the fans and pundits scream, Wenger ALWAYS digs in his heels. Yes he is that stubborn and vindictive.
Good idea. Reverse psychology. We need to start protesting that we don’t need anymore defenders. Wenger will go out and buy 3. We’ll have DMs playing DM, box to box, AM, LW and 5 centre backs on the bench.
After they injure the entire stoke city team next year he will have a sly smile and say ‘look! Everyone said I didn’t need defensive back up but I got it anyway and I was right’
That is a childish thought. Good thing there are adults at Arsenal.
What the hell have I done to see such days.
Even liechester city & burnley have more backup than us.
Wenger call back Jenkinson in Jan
Was Nacho really that bad CB though? I mean obviously I would prefer Koscielny but I think he did decent enough. But for sure, Wenger should’ve rotated in the back more instead of throwing Hector against crazy a$$ stoke city
Nacho isn’t really the issue. The issue is Nacho + Chambers. We can’t afford two injuries in defence that lead to two players being out of position. He should really have bought a second RB as he let both if last seasons rbs leave.
The injury that really pisses me off is Hayden. Would have been great to see what he could have done these past six weeks. Could have been this year’s version of Everton’s Stones.
Love reading the comments on here from both the AKB and AOB brigades but one question I do have for the AKB lot,is your love for Wenger greater than your love for Arsenal FC ?
For them Arsene = Arsenal.
The team is always supported, but that doesn’t include Wenger.
We respect Wenger. I can tell Arsenal fans who became fans in the 2006 era.
There is a different conversation among fans like me , who were at Arsenal before 2000.
Us old guard who saw Arsenal , in 1990, 1980 and going back more, have no patience with the sudden internet fans.
We saw Wenger change this club, we saw him struggle to compete with Arab and Russian billions of stolen money, we saw him adjust, we see him building an English core, we see the Arsenal brand worldwide. We see one man run a multi-million dollar establishment sportswise and financially with an absentee owner.
I have no patience at all with FIFA14 experts. NONE!
Here is thought, if Wenger upsets you so much, think about becoming a Spud.
You know nothing about me but in reply to you when Arsene leaves and the sooner the better you can go with him
Okay old timer, tell me what are you seeing now? What do you see in Wenger? What have you seen in the last 5 or so, years? Did you see the thrashings of last season?
What more can he do for Arsenal? Why do we have 2 centrebacks for the entire season? Why on Earth is Abou Diaby still at Arsenal?
Oh and what are these sudden internet fans? We have won 2 trophies in the last 9 year, last title a decade ago. Arsenal is the least of top clubs who would tempt plastic fans, dont’ you think?
The question should be : do you people have a limit in saying enough is enough, bec i can tell that those braindead Wengerits dont have it.
And to prove your point, the name calling continues. Good job at having appropriate discourse.
What has Arsenal done in the last 5 years? Well, we’ve gone from selling our best with the last being RVP, to buying the best, with Ozil and Sanchez. Last season we had one of the EPL’s strongest defenses. This season we are on task to getting back to that because of what . . . injuries. You scream that we should have replaced TV more adequately. Maybe so. But our defense was solid last season. The best we’ve seen it in years. Good defenses have 2 solid CBs for the entire season. Look around.
The plastic fan maybe a little harsh. But young and impatient, I think that’s fair. Do we all want to win NOW. Again, HELL TO THE YES. But appreciate the make-up of our club. We don’t appear to have that ability. I’ll call again for a thorough review of Arsenal’s finances in an Article or a few that lays it out over the last 10 years, that way we can truly assess that argument. Otherwise, it’s all a bunch of speculation. Assuming we don’t have bags of money like other clubs, have we not done decently? Ask yourselves that honestly. All good things will come to an end. So just enjoy the ride and argue rationally, even if you don’t agree with me. Please.
LOL Thursday is Spursday
Some things never change
Bellerin might still play sooner than we think… its probable that Wenger will play Debuchy at CB.
For a modern-day wing back, you need agility, speed, strenght/vibe, creativity and vision. At just 19 Belerin ticks all the boxes and given a fair chance on the left eventhough he is right-footed will give injury-prone Gibbs and light-waight Monreal a run for their money. Something tells me we’ve got an Azpilcuelta on our hands Wenger permitting.
He do ticks ’em except the strenght, he’s featherweight. Though still 19 years old, he’s got time to bulk up a bit.