The best thing for a manager is when you win, but still tactically have things to fix. It means you get to learn from your flaws while not having to drop points at the same time.
The great coaches are the ones who always find room for improvement.
It would have been easy for Mikel Arteta to have got caught up in the manner of our victory at Villa Park. While he would have returned from Birmingham proud of the resilience shown and aware that mentally his squad had taken huge strides, he thankfully knows that Arsenal can’t clinch the title defending how they have been and more importantly with their striker wasting chances.
Before the Aston Villa game, the Gunners had scored once in open play in their previous 4 fixtures and we can’t rely on long range strikes from Zinchenko and Jorginho every week.
If there can be one criticism aimed at our boss recently, it’s that he wasn’t changing things, you could guess every week what our starting line-up would be.
The Spaniard’s response to his team not showing up at Goodison was to play the same attack against Brentford. Despite again looking tired, the same front three faced Man City.
That was in contrast to Pep Guardiola who experimented with Bernardo Silva at left back at the Emirates and was constantly tweaking his system on the touchline .
Most concerning, our manager was super positive after dropping points in our last two home matches. If he was saying these words to keep moral high then great, but my worry was he actually believed what he was saying, like he was watching something different to the rest of us.
That’s why I was relieved to see him try Trossard in the middle at the King Power.
I have long given my opinion on Eddie Nketiah, who is simply not good enough for the level we aspire to get to. When Paul Merson commented before Xmas that Eddie wouldn’t get into Wolves first team, it made me think; how many Prem first teams would he get into?
At 23 years old, he’s played over 120 times for the first team, more than enough to judge if he can consistently score at this level.
Gooners have argued that too many of his opportunities have been off the bench, but that sums up our current society who have a sense of entitlement.
This is elite sport, you make every chance count because you don’t know when the next will come.
Since the World Cup he’s had his run in the team and has failed to score in his last five, not helped in the knowledge that there’s not another natural striker to replace him.
Eddie’s a decent finisher in the penalty area, but doesn’t offer the other skills required to up front on your own.
Trossard on the other hand has footballing intelligence, he knows when to come deep, can hold the ball up, is comfortable In tight positions.
Suddenly our play was unpredictable, Leicester not knowing when the Belgian would switch to the left so Martinelli could run through the middle.
Martinelli has also been guilty of going through the motions but since being dropped has responded with two goals.
Hopefully this will light a fire in Eddie to prove a point?
With Jesus hopefully fit enough to have a run out in the Europa League, suddenly we have options again.
Like I wrote in January, Trossard is a signing that can get over the line and make us champions.
Every title winning squad needs a Trossard, a talent you can trust to fill in and be reliable every time.
Dan
———————————————
WATCH – Jonas Eidevall interviewed ahead of today’s big Chelsea clash, discussing the effect of the internationals and the fixture congestion for Arsenal.
Follow Michelle on Just Gooner Women on Twitter for regular updates on the Arsenal Womens Team!
Do you want to read more about the Arsenal Women’s Team? Click here….
