Of all threads that should be popping, why this one?
Dude is hardly getting any minutes, let alone starts.
I think we should loan him out in Nwanueri.
Shouldāve been on for Trossard by now
Blood him in slowly. We do not need to be billing him up as some kind of saviour. 10-15 starts this season across all comps would be more than adequate.
If he has the talent, fuck the age semantics. Get the lad on the pitch. Heās the most positive thing about our lot since Saka emerged at LB in 2019/2020.
Blood him slowly while Saka and Odegaard are injured, others playing loads of minutes after having played multiple times a man down?
I donāt see him being made out to be a saviour, however, if the idea was to barely play him even when weāve suffered with injuries to key players and the team is clearly jaded then you have to seriously question the transfer strategy in the summer where the attack was neglected yet again
No one can tell me that he canāt offer something with how weāve been playing so far this season with a distinct lack of X factor, creativity or flair in games in which we consistently start so slow.
If he canāt get the occasional start then we should have signed more attackers period.
He can definitely add something to the team, but why not from the bench and in the cups?
If heās playing as our creative spark, we need output.
Letās say he starts 5 games - we need performance and 3-5 goal contributions. We have Liverpool at home and then Newcastle away. Play Nwaneri in the cups and as a late sub. There will be plenty of occasions where we have a nearly full squad and optimum conditions for him to start.
Partey and Rice are starters, between Trossard, Merino and Havertz, we can cover Odegaard for 5 weeks or so whilst slowly integrating Nwaneri.
We arenāt going to agree on this.
When did this kid become the saviour lol? Keep him away from the first team and play him when heās ready which Iām sure is exactly what the team that coach him everyday doing.
How is he being made to be a saviour?
Weāre taking about giving him a look in when weāre down two key players, if he isnāt ready for that then we should have signed more attackers and not just the ghost of Sterling
Overconfident transfer policy when weāve won sweet FA with regards to major trophies and weāll look back on it as a mistake
Iāve not seen a single minute of this kid play that made me think we need to slot him in midfield and he can do Odegaardās job in his absence.
Looks tidy and accomplished for his age but heās young and if anything I agree with trying other solutions before turning to him. Letās see what we can get from the experienced players and vary it up a bit there.
I have faith that Arteta will deliver some good tactical solutions.
Whoās saying he can do Odeagards job?
No one in the squad can offer what Odegaard brings but heās shown he can offer something especially when weāre weakened and consistently start games so slow and lack creativity and flair
Like I said if this was the vision for Nwaneri even when key players are down OK but we should have signed more attackers, we let four attackers go who yes were barely used but we should have brought in more to replace them. Trusted pool of players is too small.
I think the only game for the argument is Bournemouth and it helps that we ended up losing and looking shit.
The lineup we used last night (trossard attacking 8) has been working for the last month since Odegaard was out. Worked pretty well at the start too.
Mikel and Edu opened themselves up for this though by letting ESR and Vieira go without bringing anyone in, meaning nwaneri seemed like the new backup. Reality is it was Trossard.
Really and truly weāve got:
Odegaard
Partey
Rice
Jorginho
Merino
Trossard
Havertz
Jesus
Saka
Martinelli
Sterling
Thatās 11 players between 6 positions when we play a 4-3-3.
So weāve got 5 midfielders for 3 positions, with Trossard seemingly the replacement for creativity in Odegaardās absence.
In the attacking positions weāve got 6 players for 3 positions.
So ultimately weāre covered numbers rise. Itās just that we happen to have lost our two best attacking players at the same time in Odegaard and Saka. Before Saka went down we looked absolutely fine and were still winning games and producing good performances.
The numbers excuse doesnāt wash. We donāt need more players we made the right tactical adjustments when Odegaard went down and just approached the game differently.
Losing two key players has also forced us to bed post injury Merino into the team probably quicker than we might have liked and he looks off pace.
This kid belongs on the bench.
Jesus whoās been shit for ages hasnāt scored for nine months, Sterling who is washed. I donāt rate them as options highly.
Saka injury was inevitable, weāve been incredibly fortunate with injuries up until now to key players. You wonāt continuosly get away with it especially with the minutes ours get through in all comps club and country.
And why Iām talking about numbers is because we will likely get more injuries and burnout with the current approach. In terms of challenging on all fronts ultimately Iām not confident itāll be enough, Liverpool went toe to toe with City for three plus seasons and flamed out and needed a small rebuild. Competing so consistently is a tall order.
We for sure need a change whether itās Nwaneri or not
Iām so confused about whatās going so badly atm that people want to see this kid so desperately.
Going down to 10 men and playing ultra conservative cost us against Bournemouth. But all in all, weāve been good since Odegaard got injured.
Saka going down hurts us more than Odegaard going injured but the moment we get Saka back from injury I think weāll be fine.
Prior to Bournemouth:
3-1 v. Southampton
2-0 v. PSG
4-2 v. Leicester
2-2 v. City away with 10 men
That has all been without Odegaard.
Disagree with this but the rest spot on.
Saka getting injured AFTER Odegaard has made us look shitter than I expected tbh but itās also been a tiny sample size.
If Odegaard was fit then martinelli/trossard would be starting RW and weād be fine as well.
I thought we could cope with sterling/nwaneri for a couple of games without both saka/ode but apparently not.
But we need to be able to function a little better without Saka.
He is so good but means his absence is badly felt.
Wish we had another. Need Musiala
I agree with this just worded it incorrectly. In isolation I think losing Odegaard is worse but the Saka injury has cost us more BECAUSE of the Odegaard one
In other words I agree with you I just worded it badly