Last season, Arteta only had specific players his squad could trust. However, that has changed with the new arrivals Kai Havertz, Jurrien Timber, Declan Rice, and David Raya, plus players like Emile Smith-Rowe and Fabio Vieira looking reborn, not forgetting the winter arrivals Jakub Kiwior and Leandro Trossard, who must now feel at home, Mikel Arteta now possesses a huge quality squad; we can’t argue about that. Now the headache is keeping all of his players happy.
In a “coded message” directed to his players, the Spaniard has hinted that he won’t pick names but will pick players who convince him on the training pitch that they deserve to play. After the 2-1 win over Nottingham Forest, the Arsenal boss made a claim while speaking of how determined Eddie Nketiah has been to play, hence why he had no choice but to play him this weekend — a decision that was significant to Arsenal picking their first win of the season; Nketiah scored the first of Arsenal’s two goals versus Forest.
“Eddie sums up what we want this season in terms of the squad,” said Arteta. “He was a player who was really disappointed not to start against Manchester City in the absence of Gabby, but he had an incredible impact in the game against City, and he trained this week like a beast.
“A lot of players ask, ‘Why am I not playing?’ and the thing is that Eddie is telling you, ‘Look at all the reasons I’m giving you to play me’. When you play him, after, you know you’re going to have that response because he’s not looking for excuses or anything; he’s looking at his own performance and what he can do for the team. This is the example that everyone has to look at.”
Players like Emile Smith-Rowe, Jakub Kiwior, Reiss Nelson, Leandro Trossard, and David Raya will all want to make it to Arteta’s starting 11. They now know how to do that.
Daniel O
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Seems like a his comment is aimed to inspire Balogun.
Yes,it looks like
Leandro is giving you all the reasons to play him but are you?
He just won you the community shield and his reward was a clean sit at the bench.
Exactly
Kai probably just sips juice whilst sitting out training and still gets played! So much for training like a beast!
I guess Havertz must be killing it in training! seriously though,MA claims that he picks players based on their form.if it were really the case,Trossard would start then,no?and I don’t want to hear about LT being a super sub/impact player.
I can’t understand why fans are sounding like he is victimised, leo alongside his fellow substitute played their role in ensuring we draw level to take the game to penalties where again all our penalty takers scored to see us clinch the community shield and here you are giving kudos to trossard only for the achievement moreover he is always the constant substitute to come on and help do the most vital to the gaffer impact to change our dimension not sure why starting from the bench should be a problem for him given he will surely come on to impact and who knows he might be in the gaffer’s main plans for UCL, Don’t get players big headed FFS cos it’s exactly what mikel is against which in turn has helped him stamp his authority on the team and we can obviously see it’s results.player power is a recipe for disaster if only fans can take note.
Had you been an Arsenal fan first instead of Arteta fan first you would have seen that benching in form and deserving players is what caused us to hand the title to City willingly.
So you mean trossard would have won us the league if he was a starter upon jesus’ return?? Lol delusion at it’s peak.
No its not delusional at all, stupid comment. Trossard would in my opinion done a lot better than Jesus who was awful after he came back and gave us nothing. I am sure Trossard could and would have give up more. From then on, we cant say what may have happened.
Give us more.
He could’ve as well save us against forest and brighton if he was way ahead of jesus.
Reply to @HH second comments
Bolagun has it all and proved that in France,please play him.
There was me thinking that professional footballers know what is required of them, in order to be selected for the first team.
This is a revelation and I hope the likes of Jorginho, Tierney, Trossard, ESR etc FINALLY realize what they have to do….what a shocking state of affairs that they hadn’t a clue before Nketiah showed MA he had what it takes…months after signing a, reportedly, £100k a week contract!!!
I wonder why Willian got away with not showing the boss he had what it takes?
Not to also mention OZIL ,Ken!
Whoever could be the Gunner or Gunners who has trained hard and harder convincing and impressing Arteta he’s or they are much ready to start or play. The gaffer should not hesitate to start/play him or them. But this perceived norm shouldn’t be limited to particular Gunner or some Gunners. But applicable to all Gunners in the team who have done very well or is doing highly well in training. However, Arteta should try to resist the urge to not be over driving the Gunners in training. So as to avoid to have some of them getting injured.
Too much training might as well exhaust the player before the real game ,I remember Tevez never trained alot but gave it all during game time,so fitness is the whole factor.
True,Ozil at his best was never a good trainer.Hazard at Chelsea,according to his teammates was the worst trainer but would deliver in games.
I think this is the message those crying about the signing of Raya need to hear. Names don’t win matches; performances do. If and when Ramsdale doesn’t perform up to expectations, then a fit and capable Raya should must take up his position. The bus to the PL title carries no passengers.
Whoever could be the Gunner or Gunners who has trained hard and harder convincing and impressing Arteta, Him or they are much ready to start or play. The gaffer should not hesitate to start/play him or them. But this perceived norm shouldn’t be limited to a particular Gunner or some Gunners. But applicable to all Gunners in the team who has/ has done very well or are doing highly well in training. However, Arteta should try to resist the urge to be over driving the Gunners in training. So as to avoid having some of them getting injured.
Never understood the logic ‘train hard and you play’! You play your best team full stop. If that were the case in days gone by Patrick Viera would never had played according to Ray Parlour. Overtraining can have an opposite effect on the pitch and can lead to unnecessary injuries – there has to be a balance.
Overtraining is a subject for the injury prone, older players and players at their best potential. Eddie Nketiah need to train harder to horn his skills better to be modern player. Young players in a more competitive environment and objective must train harder. Nketiah gotta work more as he is a Hale End boy challenging some of the best players in the world.
Andrew, so correct!
What a gaffe. What a player. Eddie Nketiah had improved a lot since last season. And deserved his selection and his goal. He knows he is different from Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz and he just stayed true to himself and worked harder. Now we have 3 different type of CF for different occasions. Arteta is not blind because he is just. The true ethos of this club. I’m so proud.
All seems like manager speak to me. They have to say something and praising Nketiah as a reminder to the others that game time can be had if they work hard seems pretty straightforward to me