Let me stress my stance on pre-season games are that results don’t really matter.
So, I won’t be reading too much into our draw with Nurnberg, as much as I wouldn’t be getting carried away had we won in Germany.
Trust me, some Gooners would have been going over the top had we been victorious on Thursday.
Mikel Arteta will be spending most of his time observing individuals, their character, how they respond to the adversity of last season’s title race, is there any complacency, etc.
It’s believed that this time last year our manager wanted to pay special attention to William Saliba, the person, to see how he integrated into a new environment. It’s been suggested at that point our boss was undecided over the defender’s future.
In our latest summer tour, it could be Folarin Balogun’s turn to impress the Spaniard.
Having aligned his international future to America, the striker will be one of the poster boys with the locals when we head to the USA next week.
While some of his peers were loaned out as a device to get him off the wage bill, the 22-year-old was sent to Reims as part of his development.
He scored 22 goals in France; he couldn’t do much more to prove that he deserves at least a chance in North London.
Yet when asked about his future, this was the best assurances Arteta could offer,’He’s just staying here with us at the moment and we will see what happens’.
Not exactly reassuring words from a man who has the power to give them.
Not compared to 2021 when, despite not having kicked a ball for Arsenal in the League, Arteta went out of way to sell his future to the youngster, such was his reputation in our academy.
So why would his coach be so worried about a talent leaving when he had barely played in the first team, but now be dismissive when only three players scored more goals in Ligue One than Balogun?
So, any indifference towards the forward can’t be down to a lack of cutting edge. It can only be down to personality.
Arteta has often spoken about his ‘nonnegotiable principles and has a record of washing his hands of individuals if they don’t suit his ethos.
There’s a difference between confidence and arrogance.
Balogun’s insistence that he doesn’t want to be on the bench might have been interpreted a certain way?
His employers might not like the concept of being expected to give out guarantees over playing time.
An expectation for assurances translated as a player believing in his own hype after only one good campaign.
It’s worth recalling the year before when he only managed 3 goals in the Championship.
Balogun missed two sitters in our last match, the one player who needed a goal more than anyone. The margin between success and failure can be so small.
In professional sport you never know how many opportunities you will get and you should treat everyone like it’s your last.
How Balogun responds to those misses, and how he deals with the public attention he will get in Washington, will be watched with intent.
Dan
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