ohboy!!! wrote:Creatively he would help, although I'm not convinced that he would press and help out defensively, not that he would actually produce.
We also have to way up whether it is worth it trying to integrate him back into the squad, only to know he will be gone again in a few months. Plus the message it sends to others in the group allowing him back in.
Yep, at this stage it's kinda moot, the damage is done, but there's no one who can convince me that we've been better off for the last few months while Özil has been sitting at home. We were creating the least chances in the whole league before Smith-Rowe came along.
I think it's an indictment on Arteta, and I dislike managers who feel the need to put their foot down even though it's to the overall detriment of the team. Which it's safe so say it has been, since we were 15th in the table as little as a week ago. There's no rhyme and reason to these arbitrary wars he's waging either. Luiz and him can have a fallout to the point where they're not talking for months and he still gets games. Willian can do whatever he wants; he can fuck off to Abu Dhabi on an off day when he's supposed to be at home and nothing happens, he can visit corona parties and he still gets included. He can play like an absolute sack of shit for half a season and the only consequence is more playing time. I have never seen Özil half as bad as that fraud, yet he and Guendouzi are the ones who get ostracised. Saliba doesn't even get registered, nor is he sent on loan, and Arteta comments on his 'professional issues' when he gets criticised for it. And then we end up with so many injuries in the central defence that we have to reinstate the likes of Mustafi again while Saliba is playing U23 matches. Brilliant management.
I'm kinda fed up talking about it too so I won't comment on it any further, but he's been a weak manager so far, constanty picking the wrong battles and backing the wrong horses. Which is basically why I want him to back Smith-Rowe now; actually back him instead of throwing money on a player that isn't one of his first choices anyway. We have a far better squad than people on OMIT seem to think we do. We have in-house solutions that are good and deserve playing time, and we constantly see how much better off we are for playing them. Part of Arteta's job when he took over was to bring these young players through, because it's the only way we're going to make up ground when our competition is the likes of Chelsea, who spend £250 million on players in a single summer. We're certainly not going to do it by signing their rejects.
Backing the youth is a commitment that is actually hugely important considering where we are right now. And that means you can't have more fucking Willians and Cedrics; and you can't chuck Nelson and Willock just to sign Buendia to put in front of Smith-Rowe right when he's coming along. I think I'm a bigger fan of Buendia than anyone around here and would love to have him, but he'll still be there in the summer if we need him, just like he was last summer when we were completely uninterested. Right now Smith-Rowe deserves time and we should hang onto the other two.
