Reiss Nelson impressed again with an assist against Portsmouth.
It’s hard to remember the last time Arsenal had so many exciting young players coming through at once, with the sheer volume of talent being produced by our academy that it’s hard to actually keep track of them all.
Reiss Nelson is certainly one of those. The 20-year-old did not enjoy the same explosive start to life in the first-team as Bukayo Saka has this season, while Eddie Nketiah is also catching the eye at the moment after his return from loan at Leeds, while others like Joe Willock and Ainsley Maitland-Niles have enjoyed a great deal more playing time in general.
Nelson, meanwhile, first started playing in the first-team in 2017/18, and also had a decent start to his loan spell at Hoffenheim last season before fizzling out.
Still, he’s still only 20 and he’s shown in recent games that he can still be a big part of our future. Check out this stat below…
2 goals and 4 assists 😅
— DailyAFC™ (@DailyAFC) March 2, 2020
Two goals and four assists in his last eight starts is very impressive from Nelson, and his improvement couldn’t be coming at a better time for us.
With a top four spot looking difficult but still not impossible, we need everyone in the squad performing at as high a level as possible and pushing each other to improve.
Nelson may still not be right at the top of Mikel Arteta’s pecking order, but displays like this when he does get on the pitch will give Nicolas Pepe a bit more to think about, or at the very least give us the option of rotating a little more so our FA Cup exploits don’t leave us burnt out in the league.
We may only have been playing League One opposition last night, but it’s hard not to be encouraged by Nelson’s recent improvement and growing contributions to the first-team.
The more times I watch the goal scored by Nketiah last night the better it looks. Great run and cross from Nelson and whilst one top profile blogger said Nketiah “bundled the ball into the net” it was far better than that. A fabulous first and second touch then lashing the ball into the roof of the goal. Watch the replay from behind the goal to fully appreciate the skill.
He held his composure in front of goal as you said to make a couple of controlled touches under pressure which allowed him to make space and knock it in.
Agree with you it was a very good goal, Nketia has the talent hopefully he can grow into a consistent player for us.
Nelson is certainly catching the eye with his performances and the stats show that clearly. We need everyone at that levelto have a successful season. Up the Gunners!
One thing is Nelson always bottles it when there’s pressure. He has the tools to become a better player. He needs to put up a consistent performance to warrant a starting berth. Great work from him yesterday.
Yeah, but atleast he is way younger. Judging by his skill set as compared to gynabry when he first broke to the first team, I believe Nelson is on the right track to emulating gynabry
Watched the game and was so bored. Poor play all round. Everything seems so mechanical, no style or plan.
It seems like the whole team just go in there hoping for the best
A win is a win but how many times are we going to keep saying the same thing?
We have these sorts of uninspiring games daily and assure ourselves “Not the best game but we won etc”. Then when we lose or draw we melt.
It looks more likely that the road ahead is goig to be very bumpy for us fans. It’s depressing this trance : limbo we are in. Never sure about the performances.
That’s unfair of you on the players. They met a team that they could easily wear down from the first 30-35 minutes and thereafter comfortably beat. The fact they didn’t need to exert too much energy to beat them , and do just that does not deserve your condemnation.
nelson and nketiah needs to play regularly
the youngsters can form a core with a few experience senior players
There is no such thing as “Arteta style” just as there is no Ancelloti style at Everton.All a new Manager can do is motivate the group of players he has to work with and find a system which suits their abilities with a view to grinding out results during the first 2/3 months of his tenure.Most players will find an additional 10% as they try to impress their new boss,but as Klopp found at Liverpool, it can take seasons before a team style becomes apparent.We need to give Arteta our support as he tries to turn the Arsenal tanker around.
It was a very boring match, I know a win is a win but let’s be honest here, what exactly is arteta style, is it tiki taka like pep that allows quick, incisive football that ultimately becomes too difficult for the opposition to handle, or an high-intense, counter-attacking style of football like kloop. Can someone please explain arteta style to me.
Yes it’s a combination of the two. We moaned for years that Wenger never had a plan b, now we have a manager that uses different formations, different styles and tactics, people are still unhappy.
I’m prepared to give Arteta this season and next, before I reserve the right to be judgemental.
Wengerball has gone, Emeryball failed, long live Artetaball😎