Morning.
I just woke up. Which is true of every morning until now, thankfully, but my point is I woke up later than I had planned. Which gives me a weird start to the day because I feel like I’m late for something even though I’m not. I’m one of those people who would rather be an hour early than a minute late, so I am uneasy right now. I’m sure it will pass with coffee and more time.
After the Interlull we can start to look ahead the weekend and what comes next in the upcoming batch of games. Mikel Arteta is probably sick of playing ‘three and in’ with Ben White and Kepa, so he’ll be glad to have the rest of his troops back from their travels. Typically, the players will be assessed physically today, there’ll be some training, and then really only one session before our trip to Craven Cottage on Saturday. Not ideal, but when your squad is packed full of internationals, that’s par for the course.
There isn’t a lot of news this morning though, the manager doesn’t meet the press until tomorrow, so we’re in that kind of weird limbo space. However, I did see an interview with Cristhian Mosquera in The Athletic (€) which has some interesting bits and bobs. The one bit that’s doing the rounds is his view of Max Dowman, who he first caught a glimpse of during the pre-season tour:
I don’t mean to compare, but his style and way of playing is like Lamine Yamal. His movements are Lamine-esque. I didn’t have him on my radar and when I got to Singapore, he was already training and playing. When they told me he was 15, I couldn’t believe it. He really is an incredible player, and I think he’s going to be world-class.
To be fair, Mosquera knows Lamine Yamal well enough, having played against him a few times in La Liga and the Copa del Rey in Spain. They wouldn’t have been direct opponents, given where Yamal plays on the right, but he’ll have seen the quality first hand. I do worry a little bit about how – even if Mosquera is clear he’s not making a like for like comparison – that comment will get aggregated to kingdom come, and it’ll be misrepresented as ‘Dowman is the next Yamal’.
On the other hand, the genie is well and truly out of the bottle when it comes to the 15 year old, he played at Anfield already this season, and away at Newcastle Arteta picked him on the bench ahead of Ethan Nwaneri. So, Arsenal have hardly kept him under lock and key, and part of ensuring his development progresses as well as possible is dealing with the hype and expectation. I don’t think anybody’s asking Dowman to be the next Lamine Yamal, but if that’s a comparison people make, rightly or wrongly, then it’s something to contend with – for the player, the club, and those around him. Let your football do the talking etc etc.
He’s also very complimentary about Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly, who he says look like players with far more experience under their belts than they actually have, and I thought he was quite interesting when discussing defending. In particular a new addition to the coaching staff this summer who, it seems, is bringing exactly what you’d expect him to bring:
“Gabriel Heinze has a certain aggressiveness, that spirit that is so typical of centre-backs, and he is helping us defenders improve a lot. On top of that, he is Argentinian, and he is helping me a lot to compete.”
Heinze is a classic of the genre of player you can’t stand because he plays elsewhere, but you’d love him if he played for you. He knows the Premier League from his time at Man Utd, and won the title there. He also won La Liga with Real Madrid, so there’s that understanding of what it takes to go the distance – and let’s face it, he was a mean prick on the pitch, and if some of that gives our defenders the smallest edge over the course of this season, I’ll take it. I think our guys have the intelligence and experience to know where the line is that regard, but when you look at our back four (in whichever combination it comes) these are already guys you don’t wanna mess with, and maybe it can’t hurt to add a little extra.
Right, I’ll leave it there for now. If you want something to listen to before the Arsecast later on, James and I recorded an episode of Waffle for our Patreon members, which you can get instant access to – along with all our Patreon stuff – right here. The main pod should be out around lunchtime.
Until then, have a good one.
Source link
Add Comment