‘It was a smart move’ Keown praises Arteta after Martinelli’s red card

Mikel Arteta quickly subbed on Rob Holding after Gabriel Martinelli’s red card against Wolves last night.

With 20 minutes of normal time left to play, Arsenal risked losing their lead and probably the match as well.

However, Holding’s entrance into the game helped them defend well and earned a huge three points.

The former Bolton man is no longer a regular starter after losing his first-team place to Gabriel Magalhaes and Ben White.

However, he does well when he comes on and former Arsenal star, Martin Keown, has praised Arteta for making the change.

He said via The Daily Mail: “It was a smart move to bring on Rob Holding. Every time he’s come on he’s really performed well and they saw it through. That’s the important thing.”

Just Arsenal Opinion

Coaches are paid to make important decisions that will benefit their team, and that is what Arteta did with the holding situation.

The Spaniard has been making some important decisions in recent seasons, and he deserves praise for doing that.

However, the constant sending off of our players has become an issue and it has to stop. It didn’t cost us points last night, but in another game, it could be the difference between a win and a loss.

Mikel Arteta discusses the win and red cards

Tags Gabriel Martinelli Martin Keown Mikel Arteta

18 Comments

  1. “The Spaniard has been making some important decisions in recent seasons, and he deserves praise for doing that”

    now if this statement is being directed towards his tactical nous, the timing of his substitutions, and/or his substitution choices, this is a largely nonsensical and fraudulent commentary…in fact, these have been some of the most commonplace issues of consternation since his arrival; whether it be sitting too deep, too early with a 1 goal lead, thereby inviting pressure unnecessarily, or the Wenger-like habitual late game substitutions, which oft-times doesn’t make sense from a positional and/or tactical standpoint, there have been numerous obvious concerns in this regards

    as for yesterday’s Holding selection, what else was he going to do considering the circumstances and those available for selection…it was a no-brainer…functionally it would be like having your starting Keeper go down and praising the manager for bringing in the only backup on the bench…that said, kudos to RH for helping to hold the fort

    1. He could’ve brought on another midfielder, ie Elneny or Sambi or a straight replacement for Saka in Pepe. He chose to go 5 at the back with Holding and it worked. Fair play to Arteta.

      1. not worthy of a lengthy response because you would have been slobbering all over any decision MA made so long as 3 points were banked

      2. I wonder if this dudu is a arsenal fan or your eye blind to the great job MA is doing for this club. So stop acting stupidly.

        1. Could be a noisy neighbour jealous that we are going places with Mikel, higher up the ladder every week, cutting our losses on unwanted players while their so called coach is humbling them each week. I remember there was a time when opposing fans would praise Mr. Wenger and wish him to stay longer so that they could drub us once more, all that is gone with the hard work of Mikel.

          1. LC, you would be wise to steer clear of my posts, as you’re in way over your head…stick to the low hanging fruit and lightweight contributors, as that’s more your speed…btw I was a strong proponent of relieving Wenger of his managerial duties long before it was fashionable, as I could see the writing on the wall and simply wanted him to graciously move on before his antiquated tactics and poor recruitment practices turned us into a middling club…unfortunately, not only did we allow him to ply his trade long past his best before date, we likewise hired a poor man’s replica in Arteta, who thus far has showed a similar disdain for “star” players, anyone who might usurp his monopolistic power dynamic, tactical flexibility and filling our most pressing needs before making what might logically be deemed as “luxury” purchases…on a more positive note, at least you won’t make this same mistake again

            1. Pal, as AM was wandering I offered him some advice. We do share something in common mate regarding Mr. Wenger and maybe by the end of the season Mikel will have your views changed regarding him. Cheers mate, moaning and groaning will change nothing between now and summer. Support the team, the manager. Blind hate leads nowhere. Cross your heart and tell me did Ozil, Auba, Laca, Xhaka, Toerrea, Socrates, Kolasinac, Cech, and whoever played at Baku did justice to the club and its fans? Were these not these “stars” hired to propel us to fulfilling our European dream? Mikel’s disdain for useless stars is for real reasons not for some dumb unfounded reasons. Once you remove the rose tinted glasses you will realise the effort Mikel has put it to rid us off the dross. Every manager has blips so does Mikel, but the man is sincere in his efforts. I’m pleased the board hired him rather than Benitez or Mourinho or Rodgers or Wilders or even Allegiri whose struggling with Juve.

              1. LC, hardly a resounding or inspiring testimonial to our present manager…firstly some of those you have marked for expulsion actually play on the regular for your favoured manager; in fact, one were relying on for a European position, even though he’s almost certainly going to be another player leaving on a free, whereas the other is literally the first player on his selection card whenever he’s not suspended…it boggles the mind

                secondly, I’ve never defended any of the players you mentioned, minus Auba, who was one of the best Strikers in Europe until your man MA chose to play a relegation-bound brand of football…furthermore, the fact that you would rather have MA than those managers on your rather underwhelming list, means very little…now if you said you would rather have Arteta than Tuchel, ten Hag or Naglesmann, that would be a different story altogether, albeit you would be foolish to say so

        2. imagine my utter despair when someone of your obvious intellect referred to me as a “dudu”, as such I’ve had a total rethink on my position regarding our present manager….thank you for taking the time out of your obviously busy schedule agboola to show me the error of my ways…that said, I’m a little worried that if you’re here helping me, who the hell is cleaning up after the horses down at the local racecourse

  2. C’mon,stop condeming this man now, there’re lot of ingrates that call themselves fans.what else do you want after the 3 points? I’m fed up with your complain.stop it pls

  3. So easy to say because we have won the match. I am still on my stand that the sub was clumsy and too early against a team like wolves, we submitted to them too early and allow them to keep pounding on us , if wolves are a better team than that, they would’ve equalize and win the game in that 20min.

  4. Great plan “B” for those who say MA has no Plan B that is plan B, that my fellow fans is also a training tactic. Where you play 11 v 10,etc.

  5. Keep it up Arteta! I(we?) have faith in you. You have been doing a great job. Building a great team from these youths, fighting against EPL star players, collecting points after points…. If that’s not some task, what else is?

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