Mikel Arteta has spoken about Nuno Tavares amidst the questions over his Arsenal selection this weekend.
The Portuguese returned to the starting line-up after Kieran Tierney succumbed to injury last week, but he was only given 45 minutes before being replaced by Gabriel Martinelli, with Nuno playing a part in both of Crystal Palace’s goals in that half.
There is now much debate about whether he will get to continue in the absence of the injured Scot, with many lacking confidence in him given that he failed to get through more than 45 minutes in either of his two most recent starts before being hauled off (for good reason), but Arteta claims he the youngster is ready to play.
Mikel told Arsenal Media: “Throughout your career you have to go through difficult moments, and he’s had some really good periods since he arrived at the club and he was playing many more minutes than he was probably expecting. That’s the life of a player, especially at that age. There’s ups and downs and we are here to try and help him and make his career better, and that’s what we’re going to do.
“He is ready and he is willing, and he will be disappointed, but it’s part of the job and we have to make decisions to try to win football matches. There is nothing personal there.”
It is unclear whether Arteta is saying that Tavares ‘will be disappointed’ with his previous performance, or is saying that he will not be happy to find that he is not being given the chance to start in against Brighton, and while I feel it would be a slight risk to play him again, our options are rather limited.
If he could find the form he had from his outings in 2021, he could well be a positive for our push to qualify for the Champions League, but I feel like his defensive weaknesses have been exposed now and that leaves us at risk, and would be looking at alternatives for the role.
Personally I would shift White to right back, Cedric to left back and Holding to CB o4 play 3 at the back.
Tavares should be introduced from the bench to get the minutes that his legs and mentality needs as the poor fella has come in from the cold and I wouldn’t have expected him to hit the ground running.
Whatever happens as long as Xhaka is nowhere near left back I would be more than happy.
Haha. You last sentence is so funny.
He should be given a chance.he is the only senior natural left back we have in the team,a run of games will do the trick i guess.
I’d be very surprised if Tavares didn’t play at left back today and equally surprised if he didn’t have a decent game
Gabriel needs to do better next to him and I think he will do as well
Martinelli has shown to be a better defensive cover option on that flank than ESR so I reckon he might start today
The left is the side that we have been a bit exposed on a few times this season, not just Monday night but I think we will be OK today
I think MA will start with Tavares today and sub him if he finds the going tough. That said, we have very little options other than Tierney and Tavares as natural LB’s so he has to play. I only hope he improves in his game and we are able to beat Brighton. Since Tierney will not be available for the rest of the season, it is vital that Tavares plays reasonably well as a perfect cover for Tierney.