According to the Mirror, Mikel Arteta’s treatment of Lucas Torreira has been slammed on the latest edition of the Kevin Campbell Show on AFTV.
The former Arsenal forward questioned Arteta’s handling of the combative midfielder in the side’s draw against Burnley.
Arteta decided to leave Torreira out of the starting lineup, only to bring him on for the second-half to replace the injured Bukayo Saka.
Campbell’s co-host, Lee Judges, hinted that Torreira being left out of the starting eleven may have made sense given the aerial threat of Sean Dyche’s side.
Here’s what Campbell has to say on Arteta’s handling of Torreira:
“Where was Torreira? If you believe in your players, play them.”
“There’s enough big lumps at the back to be able to go and head the ball. There’s only one ball, go and head it.”
“That’s what you’ve got centre-halves for, that’s what the likes of Granit Xhaka is in the team for, to be able to go up and challenge aerially, everyone’s not going to be big, we know that.”
“Look, for me, these moves don’t make sense, to leave him out and put him on the bench and then bring him on in the second half. Why?”
“There’s going to be more pressure in the second half with them putting balls in the box.”
It seems as though Arteta ordinarily sees Torreira as a key player.
The former Arsenal captain brought the Uruguayan back into the fold after he was used sparingly in the latter stages of Unai Emery’s doomed reign.
The 23-year-old has made 29 appearances for us across all competitions this season, starting on 20 of these outings.
Is the use of Torreira really one of the main things we should be targeting after a lacklustre display against the Clarets or did our faults lie elsewhere?
Arteta’s start has been encouraging and perhaps we should give the Spaniard some credit for lifting the atmosphere at the club rather than analysing every one of his decisions.
Arteta would be the first to admit he got a lot wrong at Burnley.But it’s the first game since he took over that he has been questioned so let’s put it all in perspective. MA has improved us defensively, of that there is no doubt. It’s the midfield and attack that needs addressing now while still keeping it tight at the back. We are improving, but results speak for themselves and nobody will need to tell the Manager that fact.
Absolutely right
Indeed, why should we question every move Mikel makes? Because we are football fans and everyone knows that football fans ALWAYS know better that the coach what is good for the team, not so? It’s in our DNA. So we will always question team selections to the end of time. Even Liverpool supporters will question Klopp’s team selections, in spite of their unassailable log position. So let’s not make a big deal of it.
Football fans can never be satisfied. We av about 32 players and only 11 could play. Let’s support whoever wears the arsenal shirt.
I think he has a good point, there!
I actually thought it wasn’t that bad a decision from Arteta. Burnley pose a huge aerial threat, and it was smart of him to take that into account.
What we should be talking about was Arteta’s decision in persisting with Laca, and Ozil away from home, when clearly they both need dropping. At least with Laca one could argue he works hard off the ball, but Ozil offers literally nothing! Arteta needs to start getting ruthless, otherwise we will continue to languish around mid-table.
Arteta needs to know his players well and to change the style of play and etc. that needs time
which is why he needs a good summer pre season to prepare and make changes
The decision of bringing on Torreira on in the second half was good by MA considering the aerial threat of Birnley, but persisting with Ozil was maybe questionable. Ozil has been on the decline so maybe Ceballos should have been given a chance. Also, MA should have played Auba as the CF with Martinelli and Pepe in support and bring on Laca as a sub in the second half. Laca has played well as an impact sub. He could start the cup games but than also MA should think of the EUL because it is the only hope of getting into the CL.