Arsenal invested quite heavily last summer. They spent more than 200 million pounds on a series of rookies. However, except for Declan Rice, the rest have not made too much of an impact.
Timber has not yet contributed much to Arsenal.
Kai Havertz was trusted a lot at the beginning of the season and so far, he has only scored 1 goal in the Premier League, coming from a penalty kick given to him by his teammates.
The more unlucky Jurrien Timber only played a few minutes in the opening match, then suffered a serious knee injury. In recent days, there have been images showing that Timber has returned to training with the first team. But perhaps in 2023, Timber will not be able to play football.
The person who has somewhat gained Mikel Arteta’s trust in the last 2 months is David Raya. However, unlike Rice, Raya’s performance was not stable. There were matches where he played very well, but there were also matches where he made inexplicable mistakes, typically against Lens or Chelsea.
With the ambition to defeat Man City to win the championship, Arsenal will need more personnel to fight after January. However, Mikel Arteta can look at the first team and take advantage of some people who are “no different from rookies”. “.
The most obvious is the case of Timber. He has only been on the field for a few dozen minutes and is no different from Arsenal’s rookie in the winter. This player’s strength is his versatility. In the Ajax shirt, Timber is often placed as a central defender. However, during pre-season, Arteta mainly played him as a left-back.
Oleksandr Zinchenko is a person with good attacking ability. However, he still has a bit of limitation in his defensive skills. This is understandable because Zinchenko’s background is a midfielder.
The appearance of Timber, on the one hand, helps Zinchenko not have to plow too much. On the other hand, The former Ajax player will provide Arsenal with a more respectable defense.
Young talent Emile Smith Rowe has not been fully utilized so far. Two seasons ago, Rowe was Arsenal’s brightest young player, better than Bukayo Saka.
Arteta needs to rotate more in the near future.
However, injuries caused Rowe’s career to slow down. This season, Rowe has no more serious injuries, but he has only played 106 minutes in the Premier League. The English midfielder can play both at number 8 and number 10. Therefore, the English midfielder has the ability to replace both Havertz and Martin Odegaard during the Christmas – New Year period.
In general, Arsenal can still spend money shopping in January. However, they have quality players on the bench. And if used well, these people are no different from the Gunners’ rookies.
Last season, Arsenal ran out of steam in the sprint phase when Arteta rotated the squad inappropriately. This year, things need to improve and people like Rowe need to be given a chance.
Ngoa Long | 21:05 November 16, 2023
