Busy international duty for our boys!
Yet another international break is upon us and we will be losing 11 of our first team stars to their national sides.
As the Arsenal website reports, when you have a fully fit squad you have to be prepared to lose your key players to their international sides because lets put it this way, why wouldn’t you want your top players playing for their countries right!
Tierney, Xhaka, Aubameyang, Elneny, Runarsson, Leno, Bellerin, Saka, Maitland-Niles, Kolasinac and Gabriel have been called up to their respective teams and Nketiah has also been called up to the England U-21 squad for their upcoming European championship qualifiers.
I think this international break will be more exciting this time round, and it is only because there is more of a chance that some of our stars will be coming up against one another if they play every game. The likes of Bellerin, Leno, Xhaka, Saka and Maitland Niles could be coming up against each other at some point or another, whether it will be for friendlies or for qualifiers and each player will play at least one game as their teams have up to three games in the space of two weeks.
It will be a daunting time for us fans, despite being showered with so much football, international games are just not the same as domestic club football, but we will still watch with some form of intent if only just to make sure that our players if playing, do not get injured.
So good luck to all our boys over the international break, I hope they do get to play at least one game, otherwise the travel and time will be wasted when really it could be put towards them practising and analysing what needs to be improved for when they are ready to return.
But I have no doubt that this international break will be a blessing in disguise.
Our inconsistent run since the last break needed to come to a head and a break was needed for things to be looked at in more detail rather than trying to analyse over two days and then having to step back out and going again.
Arteta will hopefully be able to use this time wisely and get us back to where we are expected to be after the international break, barring any serious injuries or real bad luck of course. Gooners?
Shenel Osman
How can Arteta “use this time wisely” when half the team are away on international duty?
Shenel one of your better articles overall, though it will be almost impossible to “use his time wisely” with so many players away on national duty.