Claudius he's that away from Saka level but he's good enough to start for us now against Bournemouth IMO. He'd have been a better choice than what we went with. Probably should have started and brought Merino on later in the game.

lorddulaarsenal he wont be overplayed by using him now. He's not first XI so its not an issue in the way it is for Yamal or Saka.

Don Pacifico he doesn't need to last 90. Plenty of other players don't have the 90 in them either. If we can get an hour out of him thats fine.

        He should start - there's no risk of him being overplayed at this stage. I dare say a run in the first time followed with some time out of the limelight once Odegaard returns would do him wonders as he can then take his match day experience and refine it on the training ground.

        It feels the less he plays, the better he gets. 😺
        But I have faith this guy should end up being a a top 5 player even on this stacked squad if we take care of his development and he avoids misfortune.

          Arteta is wrong about something. He seems to think that who you have on the pitch is more important than what they can do. Great characters are great, sure, experience is great, sure, but fundamentally this is about what players can actually do. That means scoring and creating goals just as much as winning duels. I get that you have to earn it, but we don't have the luxury of dropping points just to prove them.

          Claudius or the more the other players play the more we realise they aren't what they are hyped up to be and we need someone with real attacking talent.

              9 days later

              Big question for next year is whether we can play Rice Nwaneri and Odegaard as our midfield.

                est

                Jesus, he could have broken his leg hitting the ball like that. (Sorry @Claudius )

                Missed the game, how was he in general?

                • est replied to this.

                    goon Missed the game, how was he in general?

                    Just wonderful. Scored another, but Havertz was offside. Then had a hit just like the goal which hit the crossbar and went over.

                    Everything about him just screams class.

                        RowJimmy I don't see why not. Especially given the sort of full backs we use.

                          est he’s another who looks huge on the pitch despite not being that tall.

                          Amazing trait to have

                          • est replied to this.

                              lorddulaarsenal He has that special player aura about him, no doubt.

                              At one point he chested a quite difficult bouncing ball, quickly managed to kill it dead and manipulate it, turn out of some traffic in midfield and played the ball to the opposite flank fullback in acres of space. I was thinking to myself that I can probably just count on one hand the players in our squad capable of pulling this off.

                                  is there a chance he can play LW? lol