Arsenal square peg set for Jack Grealish future as Mikel Arteta ‘Trumpian’

Eberechi Eze could be the genius Arsenal need but will he be allowed? He would probably get the chance at Liverpool.

This is a belting Mailbox taking in a range of topics from Arne Slot to Marcus Rashford.

Send your views to theeditor@football365.com

Will Eze be wasted in this Arsenal side?

Been trying to gather my thoughts on Arsenal recently because I just keep seeing a repeat of last season with how risk-averse we are. It’s made me think of the players we have and whether it’s the manager of the squad. Rice, Merino, Zubimendi aren’t going to take a lot of risks. Odegaard will but seems to take less than he used to.

That brings me on to Eze. I was delighted when he signed. I felt like we needed a left winger. I know he mostly played behind the striker on a completely different formation at Palace, but he’s played on the left before. The Bilbao game was an odd one. Arteta was roaring at him to come back to the touchline to keep width. Then Calafiori roams inside to collect the ball.

When I see how Saka can take on men and cut so many people out of the game with his dribbling, I crave it for the left side too. Eze reminds me of Grealish under Pep. I think the fun might be taken out of his game. They were both players for mid-table teams that had a free role. They both play in a similar style and have similar qualities. I can’t imagine Arteta will like Eze and his defensive contributions. It’s something that Martinelli excels at and probably produces a similar output to Eze.

I would really like him to use Eze in the middle in place of someone like Rice if we are against a smaller team and know we will have to break them down.
Dion

On the refreshingly honest Arne Slot

It’s hard not to like Arne Slot. Not only does he spend time talking tactics to a deeper level with reporters and pundits alike, but he mostly says it like it is – at least about his own team’s performance. Saying that not only what Ekitike did was stupid – at any time – but especially when already on a yellow and even more so because it was his team mate, Chiesa, who he should have been thanking for laying it on a plate (exactly what I thought.)

Compare to Amorim – even the Pope couldn’t make me change; Maresca – my dad has it harder than Raheem Sterling (so wonderfully spoofed by David Squires) but totally ignoring how brutal the press, particularly the red tops have been to Sterling as he’s black and that means ‘open season’ to the racist b*st*rds at those ‘news’ organizations; Arteta – I got a lot of texts (going almost all Trumpian – beautiful texts, the most wonderful texts) saying how great I was (when bottling) against City. And last year’s Ange…’nuff said.

Managers are a unique breed. Sure, they can get topped at a moment’s notice but hold so much power over their players. Just look at Glasner giving Palace an ultimatum over Guehi, meanwhile, he’d be off like a shot if he’s offered a much more prized position and he’s done end of year.

It must come from the absolutely constant media exposure when managing at the highest level. If you don’t toot your own horn, who will? Certainly not the media, particularly the British media, whose only goal in life is to tear down anyone who seems to have achieved something in life. So, managers always seem to have to rewrite the narrative in their favour. O’Neill writing his narrative in a new book, determining Directors of Football are bad because he got nuked by one, while seemingly ignoring that nearly all the better run clubs seem to be better run specifically because of them. Sure, you can get some right tossers in that role (looking at United’s recent history) but that doesn’t make it automatically all bad. Just as a few tosser managers doesn’t make all managers bad.

It does appear that everyone wants to say ‘we won all because of me’ – top players, managers or the owners. When, with everything in life, it’s a blend.

But back to the top point. For now anyway, until it all falls apart for Slot, he does appear balanced and enjoyably forthright. As Robertson said in the post-match interview “Ekitike won’t be doing that again!”
Paul McDevitt

Liverpool have screwed this a bit though

As feared, Gio Leoni has done his ACL. By equal measure he’s inadvertently decimated an already wafer-thin Liverpool backline. We’re looking at Rhys Williams and that other guy who did the Cruyff turn in his own box kinda vibes now; a promising season derailed by centre-back injury attrition. Get ready for some endless Endo and a mad scramble in January.

If Liverpool stump up an extra £3-5M last summer Guehi would be in red and this is all moot. Hindsight is 20/20 but what about a teeny tiny modicum of foresight. It’s common sense guys.
Eric, Los Angeles CA (In case unclear, by “guys” I mean FSG, Edwards, Hughes, et al.)

READ: Liverpool’s summer transfer business now has a glaring hole with Slot one injury away from disaster

…History repeating itself with Leoni out, Quansah deemed not good enough and Marc Guéhi not purchased? I guess the Gunners hope so.

Surely the answer is total football. If Dominik can play right back then Curtis Jones needs to be able to play centre back, Bradley too, as well as the excellent Gravenberch when Gomez and Konate and perhaps VVD are all in the treatment room.

They say old dogs can’t learn new tricks but Andy Robertson may be able to learn a back three. Not sure Wataro is up to it in the prem though.  Which all begs the question what of Stefan Bajcetic. Does Slot rate him at all?

Actually the best totaalvoetbal centreback option may well be Szoboszlai. Anyway the ‘if you score four – we’ll score five attitude might well be the answer for the red men . Gakpo and Frimpong as wingbacks and a front two rotated from the four biggest forwards. No problem.

Of the highest paid coaches in Europe where does Arne sit? About twelfth? He’ll be earning his corn if all of Virgil, Leoni Gomez and Konate get crocked eh. Too many games , too many star player injuries. Ain’t never gonna change.
Peter (Can’t the AI bots make ACLs out of carbon fibre or grizzly bears or something) Andalucia

Competing with Isak not in Ekitike plans

Matt D, London, I have to take issue with your logic behind saying Ekitike won’t have been remotely bothered by Isak signing after he was signed.

You are right that he will have been aware that in any functioning squad a player will expect to be in competition with someone similar, especially in a team as strong as Liverpool, which will be expecting to compete on multiple fronts.

However, if you think competing with Darwin Nunez, or let’s say Wissa (as an example of a good, but not great PL striker), is the same as competing with Premier League record signing, proven PL striker and last season’s media darling Alexander Isak then you’re only fooling yourself. He’s gone from default starter to default backup instantly. Isak’s lack of pre-season is giving him a head start for sure, but he must know he’s on borrowed time as the number 1 for that position. He will definitely still play a lot of games domestically and in Europe but he’ll be beating the odds if he’s starting against pool 1 CL teams and Cup semis and finals.

Best of luck to him though, he’s pretty handy (and it would be amusing to see him eclipse Isak all things considered).
Derek from Dundalk

Ekitike is a genius

Bit of genius there from Hugo Ekitike there if you ask me. He knows that Isak has a spotty injury record and, not having had a pre-season, isn’t fully Premier League match fit. He also knows that he’ll be watching from the bench when Isak is up to speed.

So get sent off, earn a suspension, force Slot to play Isak more minutes than he’s ready for, watch him strain or twang something and bingo – guaranteed starts.

The boy’s playing football and 4D chess all at the same time.
Conor Malone, Donegal

More on why Man Utd fans dislike Rashford

As I’m in my 40s now I do find it doesn’t take much for me to shake my head at the news and disagree with nonsense spouted in the name of free speech (usually by the Orange Guy). It does seem that accuracy and nuance aren’t so much on the wane as lying on a mad scientists lab bench waiting to be reanimated.

So let me inject some sensible nuance into the Scholes vs Rashford nonsense that’s doing the rounds thanks to some innocuous comments from an old ginger man who was once the world’s best footballer.

Firstly, an important point to note. Before Scholes talks about not being able to feel happy for Rashford, in the actual podcast he was actually complimentary first, talking about how talented Rashford was. This changes the complexion of the conversation slightly from Scholes just having ago to more of a lament at how Rashford’s career has gone (can’t be that bad though, he’s playing for Barca).

Secondly, I don’t think struggling to feel happy for Rashford is as much of a black mark on Scholes’ personality as you think it is. I suspect if you asked every match-going United fan whether they were happy for a player who was paid more than 99% of all United players in the history of the game but refused to be a leader, had regular disciplinary issues – including (we think) lying to the new manager about going out on the town in the week before a game -, didn’t work hard in games, often just ran in to the first defender, ended his United career effectively through the media and, let’s face it, only really turned up consistently for one season, then I think we might all say similar to Paul Scholes.

I want to see him do well so someone signs him permanently but am I happy for him? Not really. I feel let down by him to be honest. We got his name on my son’s first United shirt because we saw him as one of very few players who could be a role model thanks to his good work taking on Boris. Hes completely ruined that with Belfast etc. Should I feel happy for him? No I don’t think I should actually and nor should Scholes. I try my best to be ambivalent but I find it quite annoying that after so many years of defending him to fans of other clubs and other United fans of a less understanding nature that he’s basically mugged us off.

And to compare Scholes’ one misdemeanour to Rashford’s litany of errors is disingenuous. If nothing else Scholes was a superior player and professional to Rashford. Even at the point of his refusal to play in that cup game he’d achieved more in his career than Rashford likely will in the whole of his. And Scholes went on to achieve a lot more. Hands up who has Rashford down to still be playing at the top level in his late thirties? Thought not. Scholes response was to go on to be even more brilliant for United. Rashford’s was to complain to the press and leave. and on another note, it was a League Cup game. Fergie usually threw those anyway.

Yes, Rashford gets way more stick and press attention than Scholes ever did. Yes, unfortunately some of that is because he’s black. Yes the environment at United was better then. But actually that didn’t stop players occasionally being complete tools. Dwight Yorke, David Beckham and Roy Keane, to name a few, famously had their United careers cut unceremoniously short due to their own failings.

In fact, the closer here to Rashford is probably Beckham, who left at what should have been the peak of his powers. Much like Rashford, Beckham’s priorities often seemed to lie outside Old Trafford. Also like Rashford, Beckham got an awful lot of stick from both rival fans and those of United. The difference was that I don’t think you could ever question David Beckham’s work rate and dedication when he was on the pitch. Rashford? You really did wonder half the time whether he even wanted to be on the pitch. Beckham’s off pitch shenanigans famously followed him to Madrid, and perhaps got worse? This is one of the reasons Scholes and others will be suspicious at the first sign of trouble for Rashford. I will say though, that Beckham was lucky that social media was not really as much of a thing when he was still playing.

Fundamentally though, Scholes’ response and those he’s had to every catastrophe that has befallen the club since he left is one of a fan and someone who gave 20 years of their life to the club. He’s fuming, let down. It’s understandable. The problem is not that he has these opinions but that he’s constantly being offered the opportunity to express them. Same for the Neviller. Same for Keane. Etc etc. There is a lack of, let’s call it “mainstream intelligence” when it comes to football punditry. It’s all based on experience of ex pros, many of whom never really had much to say in the first place. Scholes famously never gave interviews as a player and now you can’t shut him up. All the good tactical stuff is online or behind paywalls, still too niche.

Sites like yours are to blame, aggregating every soundbite on the internet into a beautiful and scary repository of nonsense. It’s our fault as well for being too busy or too ignorant to think more about our responses. A balanced report about Rashford would be about how he’s settling in to his life at Barca, it’s starting to look good on him but questioning can he maintain the concentration and effort required to keep his career at that level? United fans will want him to do well but will be constantly asking why he couldn’t do it at United where he was paid as – and treated as – one of the top stars at the club. The truth is probably that Rashford is far too uncomfortable with the expectation that comes with his ability and his pay packet than he needs to be.

His celebration is also utterly ridiculous in light of his trials and tribulations at United. Yet another reason why United fans including Paul Scholes will struggle to feel happy for him, though we really do want to.
Ashmundo

Every fan though?

Interesting to read Aman’s views on Marcus Rashford / Paul Scholes comments.

Aman claims that what he writes represents ‘what every fan feels’. What he doesn’t say is how he has established that his views represent ‘every fan.

Has he surveyed everyone attending matches at Old Trafford or all of Man Utds millions of global fans? Unlikely, so perhaps he shouldn’t claim he represents a consensus of opinion.
A. LFC, Montreal

Where are all the English No.9s?

I’m sure this has come up before but where are all the English number 9s? Yes, Kane, sure although definitely not a classic 9 since he prefers to drop deep. We have Watkins, and Calvert Lewin who’s made of biscuits. Toney? Hmm. Possibly we have Rashford although Tuchel knows better than Flick and Emry apparently.

At a push, we then have Delap, but that’s hardly super inspiring. Where is everyone? Where’s the next Owen or Fowler, Shearer or Cole, let alone a random Rooney?

My postulation is that, since the advent of / fashion for the wing forward, players that are fast and can dribble a bit are more likely to either prefer the somewhat less-pressured role out wide or be stuck there to get up to speed before being stuck there (it’s what happened with Rashford) while the people that get a chance in the middle are going to be tall and strong but that’s about all. Yet other nations can produce them. I would suggest that players like Fowler would barely get a kick because they’re neither particularly fast or particularly strong, while Owen would have been shuffled wide where he can “exploit his pace” like Anthony Gordon.

But what of the Shearer and Cole types? What even of the Sheringham type (possible Palmer might have been one of those)? Surely these types of players still exist, but have they just been fashioned into other roles?

Sorry, no answers, just questions. Can the mailbox answer? Just seems wild that we used to have too many options.

Maybe we can get some passports offered to up-and-coming Scandinavians, because if we don’t win the next tournament, we’re a bit screwed.
Badwolf

Let’s do the Timewarp again….

In principle, I applaud Sky for making the decision to give some lesser-known commentators/co-commentators their chance to shine during the League cup ties.

However, the half-time coverage of Spurs v Doncaster last night was without doubt the worst I’ve seen and heard since Peter Reid disgraced our screens (‘he’s had a shot, it’s hit the post and then it’s gone in’).

Last night they just showed repeated replays of the first half action, with the commentators desperately scrambling around to provide slight variations on what they said when it happened live.

Watching the same footage multiple times whilst hearing their practically identical comments on each incident – several times – sent my brain into some kind of excruciating time loop. Hence my mail.

I don’t demand that Sky assemble an elite team of former world superstars to provide an in-depth analysis of Doncaster’s tactical set up in a League cup tie, but surely they can do better than this.
Zebediah Patterson