Mikel Arteta took positives from Arsenal’s 1-1 draw with FC Nurnberg but also alluded to injuries in the camp that will require caution.
The Gunners fielded a strong starting lineup for the first pre-season friendly of the summer and deservedly led at the break through Bukayo Saka’s early strike.
However, we looked far less assured following a raft of substitutions and were pegged back by Jorginho’s freak own goal just past the hour mark.
Afterwards, the boss was asked if he liked what he saw from the touchlines.
“Yes, many of the things that I saw in the first half and especially with the effort of the boys,” he told his press conference.
“They have only had three training sessions so I had to give them minutes and exposure for them to understand and start connecting with each other again.
“I’ve seen some really good things despite the amount of changes we made and that is why the game declined, especially in quality and in control but we knew that was going to happen.
He added: “The way we played in the first half was really good and I think we could have scored more goals, even in the second half we had some big, big chances to score and we didn’t. It’s part of football, and mistakes are part of the sport.”
In the closing stages, academy trio Reuell Walters, Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly all got game time and showed flashes of what they’re about.
“It’s great as that was the opportunity that we wanted to give to them, especially with the amount of changes,” said the boss. “Not playing in the right environment with other players as well is difficult but I think they did really well.”
Martin Odegaard had been due to start the game but picked up a knock in the warmup, Leandro Trossard limped off in the second half and there are whispers that Oleksandr Zinchenko has picked up an issue in the last few days.
Pressed on the fitness of his squad, Arteta revealed: “[Martin Odegaard] and Leo [Trossard] are struggling and we had other players with issues picked up in the week so we have to be cautious.
“It’s pre-season and some of them have only had two or three training sessions so we’ll take it step by step.”
Arsenal return to London tomorrow and are hoping to confirm the signings of Declan Rice and Jurrien Timber before flying to the US on Sunday. In typically coy fashion, Arteta wouldn’t be drawn on exactly when those announcements might take place.
“At the moment we are working with the group of players that is here,” he said. “We have nothing to announce yet, and when it is done you will be the first to know.”
Hey, I’m never going to get too ostracised about preseason.
Buuuuut, the first time I was excited about the true extent of the project was last preseason when I watched us utterly demolish team after team.
So I do think we maybe need to find our sharpness in the next few games. Not that I’m too fussed.
But it would be contradictory of me to say that last season’s preseason filled me with so much hope and optimism. And then to say that this seasons doesn’t matter.
I loved last year’s pre-season too, so remember it quite well. Keep in mind that at this same point last year we played in Germany before a few of our main players had come back (still playing with the likes of Cedric, Pepe, Amn etc), and looked just as disjointed as we did last night. Fell behind against Ausburg I think, then Jesus had to come on at half time and bail us out. Wasn’t until we went on the US tour and got our starting XI together that things really started to take off. Hoping for the same this… Read more »
Zinchenko injued already gets me nervous. Fragile player and as we saw last year no similar replacement. Kiwior has looked good in spot duty but unproven over a run of games.
Still the principal issue of the contrast in quality between the first eleven and the others…. hopefully the drop off will reduce this season….I’m hoping balogun becomes the assassin we need in the box…needs to take his chances..
To be fair, this wasn’t a case of bringing in a couple of your top substitutes to replace a tiring starter or to change things a bit. This was wholesale disruption, and with lots of kids who will rarely, if ever, get into a match this season.
Starting to wonder if Zinchenko will be a chronically injured player for the forseeable future. Perhaps an unfair assessment but wondering what our longer plan for cover at left back is? The oft-injured Tomiyasu? Someone else? Seems like Tierney is still ear-marked for a move elsewhere because of his style of play
On Tierney…Mikel would now rather play a natural centre back in place of him… alarming!!
Assuming Timber at right back is the plan if Zinchenko is injured. Jakub or Gabi at left back.
Possibility: if Zinchenko is injured, Timber becomes our right Zinchenko, Tierney stays and is used as a more orthodox defender playing in that WM shape. That’s a good internal solution if Tierney is willing to stay, if only for a season or two. If he goes, the defensive makeup of our squad starts to look very imbalanced. Seems easier and a more effective use of resources to repurpose Tierney in that way than sell him and hope to sign a better or more tactically apposite player.
Apposite? Very nice
Think Benny Blanco is perfectly capable of playing the inverted full back role as well. And Kiwiors quality on the ball seems to suggest he could play that role too.
I think Kiwior will play 25+ games this season and it’s not in big Gab’s place
I wonder if Big Gabi is the new Vice Captain
He seems to have the gem. I can see it in Rambo as well.
“when it is done you will be the first to know” – who is this referring to, the football media? Surely to say they’d be the first to know about a piece of football news would be redundant, because that’s the whole point of the football media. Would be much more interesting and noteworthy if, say, the Latvian embassy in Kathmandu would be the first to know about us signing Declan Rice.
An average person speaks more than a thousand words per day. Let a few ones be redundant, man. Take it easy.
He’s taking the piss.
If David Ornstein were appointed the new Latvian Ambassador to Nepal, then their embassy in Kathmandu would indeed be the first to know. Also, lots of fresh news about Mt. Everest attempts.
I realize that the game last night was a friendly but for me it did show up some AFC weaknesses first concern was Arteta’s comment in an interview afterwards saying he is not sure where Havertz will play well ether he is playing it cagey or he has spent 65 million on a player who did nothing special at Chelsea and did nothing in last nights game when he came on i hope Arteta is right about him cos i have big doubts,second our third choice goalkeeper who played in the second half was awful its one game lets hope… Read more »
Did nothing special besides score the winning goals for the club in both the Champions League final and Club World Cup final whilst playing out of position.
Y’all need to chill fr.
I can confirm to you that it’s true the boss has no idea where Kai plays. He has never watched him play apart from when we faced Chelsea and he only met him once Edu signed him. He was being totally honest with the press because that’s the most important thing in football management to give out as much information as possible
You just broke my sarcasm meter… it doesn’t go up to 11!
My guess is Arteta intends to use him instead of Hein when Ramsdale is injured but isn’t saying so because it might hurt Turner’s feelings.
Yep. Tell whole world your plan by screaming in their ears
Stan Adams please meet the full stop. Full stop, Stan Adams.
Next time, please separate your thoughts with a paragraph or full stop. It’s hard to read this way.
However, 28 downvotes can’t be wrong. So, I’m adding another one.
Sounds like the team are going through some trials in Nuremberg
They”ll rally
Pretty sure they’ll rally.
I do wonder why no one is talking about the fact that we had to pay to watch a pre season match but still could not watch it. And the club has not said a word about it. @arseblog
Arsenal is a big and respected football club. I know it was a friendly game in Germany, but honestly I was expecting nothing but good results. It’s kind of disappointing that they didn’t come out as good as expected for me.
balogun is levels ahead of nketiah and possibly jesus as well. I don’t think even jesus scores the goals balogun scored with reims in the french league, nketiah definitely wouldn’t. its clear to see nketiahs ability is limited. nketiah is 2 years older than haaland btw. arteta needs to be brave and play balogun, sell nketiah and rotate jesus. same thing with arteta insisting with holding last season and costing us the season, when he should have trusted/played kiwior. also if we had to buy a player like balogun in the current market (20+ goals, 22 year old phenom) we… Read more »