I think he's probably better coming off the bench when the game gets stretched and opponents tired. Yesterday Leicester were trying to sit so deep and while most the other players passed it around he was able to take advantage of that. I think that's the best option for now but after the champions League game could be another one to look at starting him in.
Nwanners!
Qwiss 100%. Let’s see what he has. We have really lacked someone who gets on the ball and drives from midfield. Nwaneri is a breath of fresh air. That 360 in the box yesterday. Here’s a kid overflowing with skill and confidence. You saw him starting games in the summer and knew we had a gem.
Arteta will protect him though. I know when he first had Saka, he was careful with him, so I don’t expect Arteta to wring him like a sponge this season.
I think having him beside Saka is really difficult to defend and he's surprising teams at the moment. All of a sudden you've two powerful, extremely tricky ball carriers to deal with as a defence and they're right beside each other, not on different flanks.
Arteta was impressed: on winning during a difficult context of the match:
So happy - that’s what I told them. It got nasty, it got difficult, it was emotionally difficult to accept with the amount of situations that we created and the amount of goals that we should’ve scored but it wasn’t and now what? You don’t feel sorry for yourself, you take ownership, you start taking more risks, everybody. Nwaneri, 17-years-old - he takes the ball the first one is an action like this, he runs past two, three players and wants to take a shot. I just love it, you want to play here, you want to be at that level you need to play with that courage. I really, really, really value that from the team today.
Love to see an academy kid break through. Very exciting. Can't wait to see more of him.
The key right now for Nwaneiri is to build a foundation for his game and confidence. I’m not of the opinion we should be rushing him (further) because Ode is out. So I think starting him vs Southampton is a little too much, when he can continue to build with a 25-30 min role.
No need to have him thrown to the wolfs if it goes tits up vs Southampton in the first half (and he’s playing).
He's rapidly building trust, but let him do it organically. If he starts getting 20-30 mins and keeps making that sort of impact he'll be knocking the door down, which is how it should be for a young player.
He's already getting twice as much of the ball as the likes of Vieira because the starters around him trust him to use it. And that's been said since he started training with the first team, which was a year ago. It's all boding very well.
While I agree with @MistaT that we should be careful to not rush him, I do think it would benefit him to see how he does starting an EPL game and dictating the flow from the start. He plays in a position where it won't be a disaster if he is a little flat but if he shines, it could be a huge boost to his confidence and open up even more opportunities moving forward. I would want the plan to be taking him off around the 55/60 minute mark so nothing close to the full 90 but let's see what he can do. It would have to be in the Ode role though with either Rice/Partey, Rice/Jorginho or Merino/Rice in the midfield with him. Needs some stability to let him thrive IMO.
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samthegooner dude, there’s really no rush. He’s been playing against kids. Our players are big guys who are used to a high level of athleticism. You can see how Timber and Calafiori, two experienced professionals, are running out of steam in our games. So let Nwaneri ease into the team. He has 15 years of his career ahead of hi.
For sure a full 90 mins vs Preston as that game is tightly squeezed between Liverpool and Newcastle.
Three games in five days already happening by the end of October….fucking hell
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MistaT For sure a full 90 mins vs Preston as that game is tightly squeezed between Liverpool and Newcastle.
Three games in five days already happening by the end of October….fucking hell
With 3 away games in 6 days to Newcastle, Inter and Chelsea to close off that stretch of games and start November off with a bang.
It sounds bad on paper but in reality not so bad.
Newcastle away Sat 2nd at 12.30
Inter away Wed 6th
Chelsea away Sunday 1630
Plenty of recovery time between those games. All beatable teams but one game at a time etc
Newcastle are shit. Inter are manageable. Chelsea have a a very tricky transition offense. But their defense is absolutely shocking. If we can manage that dynamic, we are fine.
teams with shitty defenses and great attacks scare me because our finishing is so poor we aren't built to take advantage of shitty defenses.
Claudius Like @Clrnc said, if you're good enough, you're old enough. Not sure how you can look at what he's done in the limited opportunities he's had in PRESSURE packed conditions, both this weekend chasing a game and at Spurs defending the game, and think that we need to go overboard on easing him in. If that was the case then he should be playing with the youth teams.
Arteta clearly thinks he's good enough and let Vieira leave as a result. I don't want to rush him in either, but at this point, he's shown he's got the quality so I think it would be good for his development to start introducing more minutes and different conditions than just coming in as a sub. At the very least, it will give us an idea of how ready he is for certain circumstances when we actually might need him with the congested fixture list that is being referenced above.
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Clrnc the development of the human body is not so straightforward. Children shouldn't have their careers compromised just because they're talented, nor should they be expected to have the requisite stamina and resilience of a more mature player. You have to consider these factors. You are old enough when you are old enough, and that's different for everyone.
Yes but you shouldn’t baby them too much. You should play on merit and after that 20 min cameo on the weekend (following his MOM Carabo Cup performance) he deserves mins. Let’s not overthink it just because he’s young.
Cesc, who looked weaker physically than Ethan at the same age, played at 17 in 2005/2006 no problem and didn’t look out of place with some of our legendary players at the time.