*Weeps at quality of headline pun…apologies*
Right where were we? Ah yes…
Nacho Monreal thinks Hector Bellerin is quite good at football and has a decent future at Arsenal ahead of him.
Coming hot off the heels of praise from captain Mikel Arteta – who claimed the Spanish under-21 international could be Arsenal’s right-back for years – Monreal says he’s been impressed by the way the 19-year-old has grasped his first team opportunities with both hands.
“[Hector] had a great performance,” he said after the 2-2 draw with Hull City.
“He’s been training with us all season, so we know exactly what he can do and what type of potential he has.
“He took his opportunity in pre-season and he did it again on Saturday. He had a great game.
“He’s very young and he has a long way to go in his development. Given that he is so young and he does have such potential, I think he’s going to have a great career ahead of him.”
Elsewhere Jack Wilshere is looking forward to having Theo Walcott back in the team, claiming his England teammate is one of the best in the game at timing his bursts between defenders.
Walcott made a return to competitive action last Friday with a run out for the club’s under-21 side and is hoping to make the first team squad before the end of the month.
“I’ve never played with someone before who times their runs so perfectly and keeps doing it, time after time. It’s tough in a game to repeat those sprints 15 or 20 times but he does it, and it’s a dream for a midfielder.
“People questioned his finishing before but he’s improved so much. He can run in behind and he’s good on the ball, he’s improved that too. When you get someone back of Theo’s quality it’s going to give everyone a boost.
Out for nine months with an ACL injury, Wilshere also noted that Walcott has used his time on the sidelines to bulk up in the gym:
“He’s got physically stronger and he looks quicker than he did before – that might seem impossible but he does. He’s done a lot of work on his quads and his power so he’s going to come back fine.”
My first thought upon reading that headline was ‘someone needs to be smacked for that one’, but your immediate mea culpa is well noted, Mr Hound.
At least the upside to the farcical situation of our injury problems/lack of reinforcements is that the ‘yoof’ are being afforded a chance to shine. Let’s just hope they’re up to the huge task at hand. If they aren’t (and this is by no means a pre-judged write-off of their talents) then the blame does not lie with them.
Really makes you wonder about the future of Corporal Jenks. Hoping he shakes off his injury worries and pushes on with the Hammers this season. Best of luck to both our young RBs
jenks played 90 minutes and whipped in a few tasy crosses for west ham this past weekend. he ended the day with 1 assist and only 1 goal let in. better than our lot it must be said…
I’ve been following him this season. To be honest, West Ham’s looked better than we have so far. By the end of the season, we’ll be ahead. West Ham’s defence will wane. That’s when Jenks will be really tested. Hope he continues to play well.
I’m hoping Jenks will do a Chambers and turn out to be comfortable at RB, CB and DM.
I’m really pleased for Bellerin, looks a quality player and another bargain buy from Wenger. I really have no qualms with him playing against the likes of Hull, it’s just against the big boys (Such as Dortmund) that he will obviously struggle with.
Having seen the pictures of Theo in training, he does look to have bulked up quite a bit. Could be “unstoppable” when back to full fitness!
I don’t think the opposition team necessarily makes much difference but the quality of the opposition LW & LB does. Some very good teams have their strengths in different areas, not always throughout their team, although Reus, Grosskreutz, Durm and Schmelzer at BVD are very strong.
You’re still not invited to my party Nacho. Nice try though.
Comment of the day for me
I wonder where this leaves Corporal Jenks. Bellerin looks a little more secure in his positioning, but I think Jenks crosses the ball much better. It can only be a win-win for Arsenal, especially considering DeBuchy has to come back.
Can’t understand why Jenks was given so much first team experience only to be shipped out at our time of need, especially when he visibly improved when given a run of games. No doubt Bellerin has potential but we’re dropping valuable points while he gets up to speed.
It’s precisely because he needed a good run of games, and with Debuchy, Chambers and Bellerin it would have meant another season on the bench. No-one could have foreseen Debuchy being out for 3 months or Chambers’ CB position. However I do feel Jenko has a chance next season. That way, Chambers can be a dedicated CB/CDM, Jenks/Debuchy at RB and Bellerin in for cup games or as a winger (he started off at Barcelona as a winger).
When we play Ajax next year the headlines will write themselves…
always thought bellerin looked good and I hope he makes the step up but what does this mean for jenko?
A little less talk, a little more action please.
I got thumbed down a while back for giving this lad to much praise I assume…glad Nacho agrees with me
Pro Tip: Moaning about thumbs is a sure fire way to get thumbed down.
We know where he comes from, so his quality is beyond doubt. What is reassuring is that from the two starts he’s been given, he has done well defensively and has looked promising in attack.
In the long term, I think we could be looking at a better all-round player than Sagna. Though Bellerin would do very well if he came anywhere near the remarkable consistency shown by Sagna season after season for 6-7 years, I hope his attacking proficiency could take him beyond that.
Blogs
I wudda gone with
“Nacho Cheese for Taco Bellerin”
Obviously
He was brilliant on Saturday.
Could even leave Debuchy on the bench when he is back.
Oh god……the overhyping of our players continues. He is a very promising player atm, nothing more. Could play over Debuchy?!?!?!?? Have a word with yourself please.
Walcott quicker than before? *salivates a little*
Bloggs
I would have opted for
“Nacho Cheese for Taco Bellerin”
Obviously
Especially as Taco is spanish for plug and Hector has plugged in nicely
🙂
i has internet problambs
It’s started……the ‘Theo will save our season’ hype. We’ll hear it from AW and the players for the next couple of weeks. Great to have Theo back, no doubt about it….but a shame we’re depending on him to rescue our season in October/November.
Our season doesn’t depend on Theo, it depends on the teams starting to play like a team.
Theo will NOT save our season with that defense. What a joke, DM? We don’t have any. We need size and pace at DM or we are out of champions league next season.
I don’t think DM is the biggest issue, it’s pressing as a team and making aggressive runs to provide rapid attacking options. A DM is needed but I don’t think that solves the Hull result (though it would have helped agaisnt Dortmund and Chelsea)
Jenkinson is gone. He was too one dimensional and technically not on par. He also whipped in his crosses blind. Bellerin is a healthy improvement for us but he has a long way to go in development. Wenger opted to be careful at RB replacing our old stalwart Sagna. He had Debuchy who himself keeps Sagna out of the French team plus two young aspirants in Chambers and Bellerin. My guess is if Bellerin can start to kick off, Chambers will be groomed for the Cback slot (wpth Meterscielny now 29/30) at least initially with an option of playing him… Read more »
Nacho loco for bel
IMO… Giving time, (I’m afraid which we don’t have at the moment) Hector will be an upgrade to corporal jenks. He’s already a bag of talent at his age.
I forsee him in future as the best left bag to ever grace the game for years.
*left back
Its doom and gloom lets thumbs down. Thumbing thumbing thumbing down down down. Thumbs up if you hate tottenham thumbs up if you hate tottenham. Our thumbs are doing a mission and changing the universe. Thumbs are so influential we need our thumbs to do our worse. Thumb army thumb army. We are a nation of thumbers
lemme guess……..you posted a comment under a different name that you spent all night thinking of & it got thumbed down, so you’re acting like a weird little child
HECTORRRRRRRRRRRR!! Hey
Goonerbrain eh? Hectors a rightback jenks too! However wenger will soon have him on the left wing
Erm…could somebody please explain the pun to me? I’ve been staring at it for a while and I just don’t seem to see it. Oh god this is embarrassing.
ooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, never mind it just hit me.
Hector has great hair too.
AW could have deployed Chambers in the “DM” role if Jenks was in the team and covering RB – Chambers energy could’ve been positive in the middle?
I think if Wenger knew he wasn’t going to get another CB he would never have let Jenkinson go on loan, especially as he can play CB too
We shouldn’t fall into the Joe Cole Trap, where a player becomes a world beater when he’s injured and the team is struggling (notice how Sturridge has gone from very good to The Best In The World in the eyes of Liverpool fans while he’s been injured). Walcott won’t save our season, not alone. We’ll still need an overall improvement from the whole team though obviously he’s a massive player for us and will only help us get better. It’ll be interesting to see if Wenger plays him and Sanchez together, which isn’t a given. After all, who really expected… Read more »