Burnwinter Look, it is a relatively minor point and my snappiness was proportionate. I don't need a couple of non-idiotic interlocutors omitt-splaining basic facts to me.

They're all basic facts but I'm going to guess this has more to do with daredevils tone than me.

Burnwinter

And whatever you and others say, the very nature of coming on with 30 mins to go when you need a goal to save your premier league title campaign is a big burden to bear. As is expecting him to have a bigger impact, rightly or wrongly, than guys like Jesus, Sterling, Trossard, Kai and Martinelli, who were all being abused as not doing nearly enough.

Once again to be clear, I don't think earlier subs would be the end of the world and would have liked to see it myself. But I'm taking that those explanations at face value and I don't think it's as ludicrous to do so as being suggested.

        goon his age has got nothing to do with anything. If there's a 15 year old Messi regen that's way better than a 38 year old Saka for example it would be negligent not to play the better player.

        Claudius Saka was not managed by him at all. In fact Saka was brought into the team before his time. Martinelli was played way more before he came as well.

            Claudius you're setting up made-up opinions to argue against instead of what people have actually said.

            "Nwaneri should get more minutes."
            Claude: Oh, so you want to be like Barcelona and start the teenagers every game?

            "Saka should be subbed off when we lead by a few goals."
            Claude: Now Havertz, Rice, Partey and Martinelli are benched just like you wanted. If you're not happy with this, you're a hypocrite."

            Also, someone being negative to a lineup against Nottingham Forest does not equate to thinking we'll lose to them. No matter what lineup you pick out from our players, the team will be better on paper than what they can put out on the field with their best players. Being negative to a lineup equates to thinking another lineup would be better. In this case, most of the rotation was probably injuries since these players stayed home from international duty as well.

                goon And whatever you and others say

                It's not like I'm running around in a circle. It's the same thing I've said since his first appearances this season.

                At this point you're stretching with this claim that playing Nwaneri half an hour a week to give Saka or Ødegaard a bit of a break is placing a psychologically damaging expectation of winning matches on the lad.

                You've only gotta see how he plays to understand this. It's not a matter of placing greater expectations on him than on Jesus or Sterling, but of rewarding him for being the better option that he's proving himself to be.

                  It's Jesus who has been unable to handle the weight of expectation, I think it's kinda sad some of you want to throw the man straight back to the dogs rather than shielding him from harm by selecting a brilliant teenager 😆

                  QuincyAbeyie I'm just repeating what you are saying.
                  By the way, what you never say is that Nwaneri actually played 30 minutes in a premier league game this season. Against Newcastle. And came back with half as many touches as he did in his 8 minute cameo this season. Was incognito that game. And I could sympathize with him that day.

                    Don Pacifico

                    It's classic Dunning Kruger, everything is always so simple when you're sitting a million miles away.

                    People are outright dismissing a fundamental concept of Sports Science, and thinking that because Arteta has taken a certain approach with other players, he is consigned forever to repeating that same approach with every other player, like as if he has no capacity to take a different approach or learn from his past, or that players at different ages justify different approaches. He did it with White, so he must do it with every one else. Absolutely zero considerations involved.

                    Arteta has presented a very plausible explanation for why he's being cautious with Nwaneri, and there's absolutely no reason for him to lie about it. What possible incentive is there in doing so? but accepting his explanation would involve admitting that perhaps the hasty criticism was misplaced, but we can't have that, so people keep digging even deeper holes, with absolutely zero evidence to the contrary. It's hilarious.

                    Ethan Nwaneri is two minutes shy of equalling Lionel Messi's total season minutes at the same age, and it's only fucking November.

                        daredevil People love throwing in stuff like Dunning-Kruger and thinking they're the rational person on the curve until they're asked "oh, so you think it was stupid by Thiago Scuro to sanction the Balogun transfer? Could you please show me where you'd put yourself and him on this Dunning-Kruger graph?"

                        Since every person at every PL club is objectively more qualified for that job than me and you, it's "classic Dunning Kruger" whether you're disagreeing with Pep's football tactics or with United signing Antony for 90m, or with any referee decision.

                        The entire concept of an online football forum for a PL club includes having opinions about things even though all the people involved in making that thing happen are more qualified than you. Whether that thing has failed miserably or not.

                          Clrnc what I mean is that there are multiple factors that have to be considered when choosing who plays a match against West Ham at the weekend. I'm not saying anything that you don't know already but when you're picking your XI, it's not just a about beating West Ham, it's about what's going to give us the best chance to win the league over the course of the season, what's going to be optimal for win our CL tie midweek, what will build quality youth players so we're successful 5 years down the line (etc.). And that doesn't even take into account the intangibles like the mental conditioning of an individual player versus the collective mood of the squad.

                          My point ultimately is that even if you believe picking a player for a match may help us in the here and now, there are knock-on effects that a manager should be considering that impact our long-term performance.

                              goon Expectation management for a 17yr old who has never started a game is a little different than a seasoned pro who’s had to deal with mental trauma…

                              The comment on Jesus was half a joke: it's just evident that Nwaneri rarely looks bothered by any occasion, but Jesus regularly looks like his soul's burning up in realtime under the pressure to finish a chance, any chance.

                              Psychological welfare and confidence are a major question for players of any age. But the terrain varies hugely and the best practices at any age are far more nuanced than "just play him less".

                              You guys have landed in this peculiar faux-sensible position where you insist it's too physically and spiritually risky to use a gifted 17 year old as a sub for half an hour a week even though he looks great every time he's on the field.

                              Make it make sense, as it seems a delirium of overthinking to me.

                                  Burnwinter

                                  Mine was a full joke light heartedly omit-spalnin' the situation for you again.

                                  I've never said it's too risky, I have said several times I don't think a half hour sub would do any harm and would personally like to see it.

                                  I'm just taking Arteta's comments on the matter at face value and can see the reasoning behind wrapping the kid in cotton wool, overkill or not. If nothing else, it's the simplest explanation as to why we're not using him much more.

                                      goon it's way too conservative as usual with our young players. I think that has been a common theme throughout his reign and he is definitely consistent with his thinking to trust experience players more, whether it's at the expense of results or not but otherwise I agree with your points.

                                      It's those people who cherry picks what to back the manager on, like saying nah Arteta is playing mind games whenever it's something they didn't agree on then say arteta has no reason to lie with something they agree on that's ironic. Every manager says PR stuffs, doesn't mean it's the truth. You would have to be thick to believe Arteta says everything as it is and can do no wrong.

                                        Don Pacifico Yeah I don't agree with the point about preparing the player for success 5 years down the line. That's the same argument people mention that its better to keep Saliba in reserves and not registering him into any matchday line up (which he obviously was unhappy with) just to cotton wool wrap him and playing nonsense players that lost us many matches, so that Saliba has a higher chance of success in future. Don't see the logic at all and has never did.

                                        If the player is good enough, he should be playing irregardless of age. Of course the whole argument here is not to overplay the player, but to use it more so that our chance of winning that particular match is higher. 30-40 minutes here and there cannot hurt. People saying otherwise is intentionally being obtuse.

                                        If the player has looked awful and not ready, it will not matter if he is 16 year old or 26 year old.

                                            Clrnc Don't see the logic at all and has never did.

                                            That's fine. I obviously don't agree and think developing players (or human beings as they're known outside of football! 😆) is more complex than how you make out. You only need to look at kids who graduated during COVID who are lacking basic skills/confidence because they missed out on the support previous generations had in non-virtual education.

                                            Bottom line, kids can be fragile and need to be nurtured carefully; the progression plan for one of them won't necessarily suit another.

                                              Clrnc If the player is good enough, he should be playing irregardless of age.

                                              I'm on the "play Nwanners more" side, but this I fundamentally disagree with. There are other factors at play that are serious, and can very much constitute legitimate reasons not to make kids do adult work.

                                                  Coombs There are other factors at play that are serious

                                                  I agree with this insofar as the "other factors" are that the physical stress of playing first-team adult football might cause injuries that permanently wreck their biomechanics (ala Wilshere and Oxlade-Chamberlain). It seems like the people who are arguing "other factors" seem to mostly be saying something like "If the player plays bad then this will ruin them psychologically", though. This seems like completely made-up bullshit to me. Without even thinking about this too hard, Bellerin and Smith-Rowe both had notably awful first-team full debuts. I think Coquelin and Chamberlain both made their Arsenal debuts in the 8-2 game. All these players turned out just fine. This "psychological scarring" thing seems remarkably undertheorized.

                                                  For what it's worth, I think Nwaneri's gametime just boils down to Arteta trusting Trossard. I don't think it's too much of a mystery. Hopefully, he starts trusting Trossard less, though.

                                                      Claudius I agree, hence the "situations when we are cruising"/in control addendum, such as vs Forest last time out