Morning all, a very quick Saturday round-up for you.
I referenced this earlier in the week, but Kieran Tierney has spoken about the decision to play Takehiro Tomiyasu ahead of him in the Liverpool game last weekend. As you would expect, he didn’t like it, but nor was he going to throw a strop after Arteta took him aside and explained his thinking:
“The day before, he’s took me in and said, it’s not on your performance, this is just a tactical change I want to make. I was like, I’m gutted. But that’s all it is.
“I’m not going to be angry, not going to not try hard, I’m gutted because I want to play every opportunity that I can, especially big games you want to play and soak up the atmosphere.
“There’s nothing I can say, we went out and won and Tomiyasu played amazing and the game plan worked. It just shows you, not many managers would think, we’ll switch the right-back over here. But he did, and it worked.”
This is the reality of having a bigger squad, with the ability to be tactically flexible all over the pitch, and you can’t fault his attitude at all. If Arsenal are going to achieve success this season – and we can have the debate about what that word means in Premier League terms at another point – we are going to need the full depth of our squad. It will mean some players will be as gutted as KT at certain points, but it’s for the good of the collective.
Last week Tomiyasu, who was outstanding in the first half of last season, spoke about how he has to work harder and learn from Ben White in order to get his place back. That’s the way it’s going to be. I do wonder what kind of reaction Tierney might feel if Tomi starts against Leeds at left-back, but this is part and parcel of the challenge.
There are more comments about how he’s found this season tough – because he’s not playing regularly right now as he makes his way back from knee surgery last April, and the fact he’s having to deal with a scenario where he’s not the obvious first choice for the first time in his career. He’s 25 now, so should be well able to come to terms with that and the demands it’s going to place on him, but at the same time he’s out in front of Zinchenko in terms of minutes played, so it’s not as if he’s been warming the bench the entire time.
The worst place any footballer can be, apart from Stoke, is a comfort zone. Which isn’t to question Tierney’s desire or professionalism for one second, but sometimes you need to be pushed to levels you didn’t know you were capable of, and this is what he’s facing now. I’m sure he’s going to give it 100%, as he does with everything.
You can see the full interview with Kieran Tierney here, where he talks about his own situation, but is also really positive about what’s happening at Arsenal right now:
Elsewhere, it’s being reported that when the season breaks for the World Cup, Arsenal will go to Dubai for some warm weather training with the players not involved in the tournament. Everyone worries about the physical impact of those who will be playing, but a 6 week mid-season break for finely tuned footballers is unprecedented, and also something the physios and fitness have to contend with.
Apparently there are going to be friendly games against Lyon and AC Milan, with former players like Olivier Giroud and Alexandre Lacazette involved for the opposition. Whether we get to see those games or not, I have no idea. It’s not beyond the realms of possibility that modern football clubs might use these fixtures to sell some tickets locally and sell some streaming packages to fans Jonesing for a fix of their team while the World Cup is going on, but we’ll have to wait and see.
Right, that’s it for now. Have a great Saturday, back tomorrow with a Leeds preview on the blog, and our Patreon preview podcast will be up for you early this morning.
Cheers for now, and yesterday’s Arsecast is below if you haven’t had a chance to listen already.
