Mikel Arteta was pleased with his side’s attitude in Holland as Arsenal rounded off the group stages of the Champions League with a 1-1 at PSV Eindhoven.
Eddie Nketiah put the Gunners ahead in style at the end of the first half but the Gunners’ lead didn’t last long thanks to a tidy finish by Yorbe Vertessen on 49 minutes.
Jakub Kiwior had a header ruled out for offside as Arsenal went in search of a winner and the Pole blazed over right at the death after Leandro Trossard had his attempt saved.
In his post-game press conference, the boss reflected: “A top match, we made eight changes. There were good moments, there were moments we lacked that cohesion and timings especially in the way we pressed against a really good side, when you don’t get the timings right you have to defend awkward spaces and we had to do that a few times tonight which could have cost us the game.
“I’m really happy with the attitude and behaviour of every single player, how they tried and in the end we could’ve won it with the chance of Leo and the goal that was disallowed.”
Arteta had been expected to give minutes to a trio of academy prospects – Reuell Walters, Lino Sousa and Ethan Nwaneri – but decided against it with the match hanging in the balance in the second half.
Quizzed on the decision, he said: “I don’t think it was the right context, making eight changes already to throw them in there against a team that hasn’t lost here almost in two years.
“I didn’t think it was the right moment and I wanted to wait to see how the game developed, but it was too much for them and as well we have three little issues, we had to make the subs and then we had no room because we really wanted to play a game as well.”
Intriguingly, when Arteta threw Declan Rice into the fray, he asked the England international to take over from William Saliba in the centre of the defence. It seemed like the manager felt an experiment was necessary, just in case Arsenal suffer further injuries in the coming weeks.
“We are very short at the back, I really wanted to try when something happens, how we are going to resolve that situation and I think it was really good,” he explained.
“He’s played there before and we have to try in case of an emergency. I will have to make sure that we can fill the gap in the right way.”
While the Gunners couldn’t snatch victory, there were plenty of positives, not least the performance of a lively Reiss Nelson and the return from injury of Emile Smith Rowe.
“Emile, we wanted to play him a little bit earlier,” said Arteta. “We were waiting because we had two players with niggles. I was asking them can they continue? I was hesitant to make the change too early and than have six or seven minutes with ten men.”
Unfortunately, there was also a casualty. Mohamed Elneny, making his first start of the season, went down just before the hour mark and had to be replaced. He appeared to be holding his hamstring and Arteta confirmed the Egypt international had done something although “we don’t know the extent of it”.
Shame we did not get to see at least one of the youngster’s though, it seemed like a good opportunity.
For what? Our fans turn on every players given ONE game. So for what?
The net is now the new version of.. I don’t know what the word is. I’ve been called.. cuntish.. so, lets go with that.
Do all you think this is a video game? Are you all 12?
I’d had a lovely supper, and all I said to my wife was, “That piece of halibut was good enough for Jehovah.”
Seems like you’re taking out frustration with other people on this post… maybe you could use more maturity yourself.
If this wasn’t the right moment, when is? There are no more disposable games this season, this was almost certainly the last one. These kids must be depressed as hell tonight knowing their dreams of getting on the field for Arsenal have probably been pushed back to next season, if ever (who knows what will happen by then)
I guess in the boss’s mind there is no ‘disposable game’. I’d’ve liked to see one or two but I think his response is legit, and as a young guy even the chance to travel and train with the first team must be positive. Hopefully (if we get past Liverpool) we might get a kinder draw in the FA cup. Or perhaps loan moves post January could offer these guys some minutes.
Lots of comments on why Cedric played? January transfer window approaching, could a CL be a an opportunity to show that the player has a value on the market? Could that also have been a consideration? If we were to improve our selling, we need to improve the value of the goods we are selling.
I’ve zero issues with Cedric playing, he’s not someone we rely on desperately that could get injured in a meaningless game. Saliba or Gabriel though, or others who came on…
Some reasons I can see: One, Arteta always wants to win, or at least not lose. That’s part of the culture of winning he has tried to establish. This was a dead rubber but if we get spanked it’s bad for morale and raises scrutiny and anxiety around the club, and that can affect the players. Two, There are hard working senior players like Mo and Cedric who are clearly surplus to requirement but still part of the squad, have been good servants and deserved some recognition. Three, and I think this is really the biggest reason, money. The way… Read more »
If Ben White can’t play this weekend, who will be our right fullback? Not Timber or Tomiyasu. If Cedric has to play, would you rather it was his first meaningful minutes in a year or would you be happy he had started alongside Saliba? Can anyone honestly say they would want an academy prospect against Brighton in that situation?
I think the options are Cedric, Saka or Kiwior. Saka is already used to playing on that flank and he cut his teeth at a LWB, so he could play that role for a few games with Jesus ahead of him. Kiwior is not a natural on that side and it’s not ideal against Mitoma, but he could fill in ok.
And we have Declan Rice, who can play anywhere.
Nwaneri is probably happier to bide his time for another year, the same probably can’t be said about Walters who is at that age where you either start featuring or you start going on loans which i always thought was the most difficult experience for young players. And those loans are basically a roulette as to whether you even play there. I think he’d be much more confident doing that at least having featured a single time for Arsenal’s first team, something to hang his hat on those cold rainy nights in Blackpool/Aberdeen/Twente/etc
The players who in my view really really need to play are Reiss, Eddie, Vieira and Smith-Rowe. They’re all too good for loans, old enough to want to be first team regulars but still at the beignning of their careers and not consistently playing, if at all. They need minutes or they need to be sold on somewhere where they will get minutes, otherwise they’re just stagnating.
Why not both? Play those players AS WELL as Walters and maybe even Sousa/Nwaneri can come in at 70′. This was the perfect game to do that. And those players are talented enough to get a result, maybe on the right night they could even do better given how much more energy and motivation they have compared to those who play week in week out much more important games
I did not expect the kids to get on. I figured they were there primarily to get some integration into the squad and experience a CL night. They’ll get minutes when the time is right.
In a game that didn’t matter it probably would have been nice to go with the kids rather than risk the regulars ? Would have stirred a bit of interest in the fans too
Re-read the article and see why the boss thought otherwise
I think the comment is still valid despite what the boss said. Re-read the comment. “In a game that didn’t matter”… That context is the most opportune of contexts in my opinion
AFC fans. go on. While you find one our players to fuck with.. the best fans ever.. Spurs have better fans than our club.
Go on.. break out your hanky,
There are a large section of twats in every fanbase, I wouldnt worry about it. Some peoples idea of critical thought is picking a player/manager to hate and then finding reasons to slate them publically.
a manager has to be responsible and not just play youngsters because he can. if your first senior match is along 8 other players who aren’t used to playing together, against a top side that is doing complex stuff that might make you struggle, it might do you more harm than good. but for some reason fans think they know better than the guy who has spent his entire life analysing football and sees the youngsters train every day
You are making way too much sense. Please stop it.
Arteta might be the most risk adverse manager I’ve ever seen. The guy will run someone into the ground or play a guy that’s been sidelined for 2 seasons over trying something new or unknown to him. It’s a bit unnerving knowing that Saka, and ESR really got their starts under Freddie and not Arteta and that if that hadn’t happened, would they even be where they are at today?
Hilarious. We have one of the youngest teams in the PL and we perform at an extremely high level. We just cleared our first group stage in the CL in years and topped the group, with said youngest team. Arteta has molded Saka and Martinelli into arguably the most dangerous wide pairing in the game, and both are 22 years old. ESR wears the number 10, Saka 7, and Nketiah 14 — at Arsenal. Two of them are our leading scorers this campaign. I mean … Of course Arteta is risk averse — do we really need reminding of the… Read more »
Are you implying that playing Saka who can start in any team in the world demonstrates a risk appetite?
No.
Lol, didnt Freddie manage 2 games for us? Youre really trying to say hes responsible for bringing throigh Saka and ESR?
I like Arteta and appreciate almost everything he is doing, but when it comes to giving youngsters chance, I miss Wenger.
Until now I was pointing out the Oxford FA cup match as an example of how he doesn’t give youngsters a chance, but now when he chose to give Cedric a start and fielded in the last minutes Jesus, instead of giving ANY of the three youngsters a debut — this tops it. And this all in a MEANINGLESS game.
Games are not meaningless to players, maybe to fans but not players. After 8 changes the team want playing with great cohesion. And this is the environment you want play a youngster to build their confidence.
We are short on defenders for the upcoming schedule. Why wouldn’t he get minutes into Cedric’s legs?
As for Wenger using youngsters, aren’t you referencing the trophy-drought years? I.e. the failed youth project years?
I wouldn’t play Cedric anyway, so getting him minutes is an absolute waste.
And maybe, just maybe, if Arteta has put some efforts to bring Walters or Sousa into the first team, now we could have had a viable fourth-choice defender, instead of Cedric..
When exactly would you have been bringing them in over the likes of White and Tomiyasu? Have you actually thought this through?
Fourth choice? Not when the second and third choices are injured. might make sense to play an academy player at right back when Timber or Tomiyasu are available, and you’re pretty confident you’ll never need Cedric. But for the next few weeks, at least, there is a real chance that Cedric will be needed. He is obviously a step down from White, but is he a bigger step down than a 18-year old who has never played in the league? It has been some years since Cedric was the starting fullback on the Euro-winning Portugal team–but, you know, he was… Read more »
If you are telling me that you would trust Cedric more than Walters, that’s your opinion and I cannot argue with that. But what you are Gunner1971 above are essentially telling me is that there is no point of developing academy talent for the first team, and this is something that I strongly disagree with.
What would you think if Arteta played all three youngsters and we lost 3-0 in a meaningless game? It’s all about mentality. Look where he was groomed at? Do you think Barcelona or Real Madrid plays “youngsters” in a meaningless game? No! Go look at Real Madrid’s starting lineup yesterday in their meaningless game.
Maybe it is just me, but I would be absolutely fine with that.
I see it as an investment — give them minutes now, so that they can help us later this season or next season if needed. We could have absolutely afforded to do so yesterday.
I get it. I would of liked to see them play too if we had been up by a couple of goals or a lesser opponent (Antwerp or Crvena).
In January we were 3-0 up vs Oxford for the FA cup. Did Arteta give Butler-Oyedeju (the only academy player he had on the bench!) a run-out? Of course not.