Too busy to answer the call!
Mikel Arteta enjoys turning to his young guns when it comes to some cup games and before Sunday’s game at Forest they seemed to always repay his faith.
We saw again against Sunderland he turned to some young guns when he gave a debut to Charlie Patino, and Eddie Nketiah repaid his faith of being given a starting berth by scoring a hat-trick so you cannot blame him for doing the same other times.
Yet this weekend in a cup competition that means a lot to the club, the same two players were nowhere to be seen.
We can forgive Patino as he seems to only be beginning to find his feet where the senior team is concerned, but the main question is where was Nketiah during the game? Did he even play?
Oh yes he did, but he obviously was too busy to answer the call this weekend!
After thrashing Sunderland 5-1 last month in a different cup competition and getting a hat-trick, all eyes were on our forward Nketiah against Nottingham Forest.
No disrespect to Sunderland, but Forest are a better side, however you half expected Nketiah to score against them and help us get the win.
But that was not to be the case.
Maybe he really is leaving though and I for one won’t be sad to say goodbye. If he does leave I won’t blame Arsenal for letting him go based on his inconsistent performances.
And if he wants other clubs competing for his signature in the summer, they are hardly going to be impressed with the performance against Forest, are they?
Like I said in a previous article does he have what it takes to make it on the big stage? I don’t think so. And you can’t get bigger than the FA Cup stage, because regardless of who the opponents are, that cup is ours and we are the most successful team when it comes to winning it.
But Nketiah doesn’t seem too bothered by that fact and I just hope that if he leaves, he doesn’t leave us and then turn into Serge Gnabry, firing on all cylinders and becoming a top player!
Although that remains to be seen, I don’t think he will be a top player, and I may eat my words in years to come but for now we may be safe to let him go!
Gooners?
Shenel Osman
@sh3n3l_