Should Arsenal be smarter in certain situations?
After being left out for the last few matches due to injury, I had a shock tonight when I saw that Kieran Tierney was in the Scotland squad to face Moldova.
In the match against Watford, Tierney was deemed only fit enough for the bench yet less than four days later he has played 90 minutes for Scotland while making key tackles as well.
Now take nothing away from Nuno Tavares because he is showing he can be just as good as Tierney and not just as a backup, but had Tierney been fully fit you would imagine Arteta would possibly pick him and not Tavares.
But why fix something if it is not broken, and I guess Tavares has shown he has deserved to keep his place so far.
So, while internationals are good and have to be done for many reasons, it is for reasons like this that I get frustrated.
The fact that only four days ago Tierney remained on the bench for the Watford game as Mikel Arteta didn’t feel he needed to give him minutes after his return from injury, yet he gets a full game for his country after not having played any minutes at all since returning from injury.
Where is the logic here?
Surely Arsenal would have been better to keep Tierney off the bench and give him a further rest during the international break so that they can be sure that he is 100% fit to be on the bench.
If a player is fit to be on the bench and isn’t just making up the numbers, then they are fit to get minutes and it is just unfortunate that in the league we only get three substitutions and not five like they allow in other leagues around Europe.
Clubs like Chelsea, and Manchester United in particular, I’m sure would leave their players out in the same situation and keep them at home rather than send them on international duty that close to a return from injury.
I guess the most important thing is that Tierney comes back unscathed of course and ready to rival Tavares for his place, but I do wonder whether Arsenal need to be clever in situations like this before going into international breaks in the future with any player, especially with key players though!
Gooners?
Shenel Osman
@sh3n3l_
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