EDDIE SCORES & FABIO DAZZLES
Listen, it’s only a mid-season friendly, BUT, we already know Arsenal are VERY good, and if they are VERY good in a friendly, it means the good vibes can indeed be taken seriously.
3-0 against Lyon is great.
Two key areas of importance to me.
- Eddie scored in his first run out. That’s great for his confidence. It’s promising for Arsenal fans that are a little weak-kneed about the prospect of not having Gabriel J for the next 7-8 Premier League games
- Fabio Vieira looked a bit special. His pace for the Eddie assist was absolutely electric. His finish for his goal was blistering.
The theme that I hope we’re going to see in H2 of the season is that writing off young players as duds, in this new world of Mikel Arteta and Edu, is not smart business like it used to be.
The Edgelords of the past 10 years could literally say any player we signed would be shit and invariably, they’d be right, and look like heroes gaining huge social clout in the process. I’m not sure that issue was always the fault of the players. It’s quite clear Wenger signed Xhaka not understanding how to use him; I think there were other players that didn’t get to meet their potential because Wenger was a dinosaur of tactics and coaching by the time they joined.
Fabio Vieira has immense amounts of talent but he’s incredibly inexperienced. I don’t think he took to the ideas of Arteta immediately, he’s clearly a bit of an artist on the pitch, but as we’ve seen before, that doesn’t rub with Mikel and his mathematical approach to tactics. Freedom is offered, but in the right moments.
That’s where good coaching comes in. Arteta has probably spent quite a bit of time thinking about how to get more out of certain players and my hope is he finds a way of making Fabio bang. The kid has great control, he’s extremely aware of his surroundings, he has a killer pass, and he has this hammer shot that seems to be his thing. We need to see some more of that unleashed in H2.
As for Eddie, he scores goals, he is a very good back-up striker who is going to put some people back in their box again. Give him time, give him rhythm, watch him deliver the goods. He has the same power and pace Jesus has. He lacks the same technical skills, but it’s not a painful drop-off. He’s secure in possession, he reads the game well, and he’s shown that he’s more than capable of developing his game.
If he has a start as fast against West Ham, we’ll get 5 goals from him. That’d be a good return. His main personal focus has to be this: Make it really hard for Arteta to put Jesus in for the City game in February.
The biggest thing from that Lyon game is that our second team played like it was a first team. Everyone was motivated to do the work. We need that to carry through to next season. Players need to feel like there’s always a chance to contribute and they are valued even if they are sitting on the bench.
Mikel Arteta said after the game that ESR is on the right track. I don’t think people realise this is a player that has struggled with pain his entire career so far. If he’s fixed, we are getting back an ANIMAL of a player that will change the game for our options.
He’s like a new signing, right?
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Ok, love you all, see you in the comments x