so arteta will rest him against a better team than wolves? portsmouth, ok. kairat, ok. after that it will take 14 epl games (another wolves match) and say 12 or so to win one cup, the epl and the european cup. that would put rice at a personal record high of 55 matches. or, do you suggest letting one or two of those alone?
Iād expect there to be situational resting based on what the next game is and when, probably also much of the FA Cup on the bench. Part of why he started Wolves was the week off afterward
I donāt think he is in the treatment room, thoughā¦so his job is to play most of the time. Carlo Ancelotti played Fede Valverde 55 90s last season because they needed him and he was fit. Thatās the gig!
why is norgaard not getting more minutes. arteta is working rice like a rented mule; that is saka's role! the more lewis-skelly and nwaneri sit, the harder it will be to get quality minutes out of them.
you don't gain confidence or match fitness by sitting in the dugout.
he's a star player, that's what star players do! NĆørgaard is emergency cover and when he's been asked to pass forward out of midfield it's been a good reminder of that. But as with Saka it's nothing other stars don't do - Morgan Rogers, Bruno F, Elliott Anderson, Haaland, Gibbs-White, Cucurella, Van de Ven among those outfielders who've played a higher % of minutes...all but Bruno there are also in Europe.
MLS and Ethan have similar situations - there are better options in most situations, they're both so young and there's no rush there.
of course rice is a better player than norgaard. but re-watch the wolves match. you can see that rice's legs are heavy. he needs a break.
the gunners are set up slightly different this year. zubimendi is breaking lines with forward passes from midfield. the rice 8 has become more box to box ball winner and circulater. that is quite physically draining.
as to comparison with your list. none of those players listed, bar cucurella, have an adequate replacement. there is no logic behind having good replacement players and not using them.
we have 13 matches starting this saturday and the end of january. that is a match every 3.5 days. do we rest rice in the in the league cup vs. palace? or in europe?
Would actually argue there are ways to rotate out most of those guys. But end of the day adequate isnāt a title winning player. There will be times when it will be Zubimendi-Ćdegaard-Eze or Merino but Rice is gonna play 30+ 90s no matter whoās behind him, thatās why you pay Ā£105m for him. Same as why Pep isnāt gonna start Marmoush up top often - thatās an adequate option but heās not Haaland. Cup or lesser CL match? Sure
I sat through that game feeling really aggravated that we seemed to have it all wrong. The line up with Eze in the right 8 seemed silly against a low block leaving Viktor on his own to play against the back 3. This was a game where we needed Trossard in from the start, with Eze playing closer to VG in the middle. We barely even approached the D with the ball and we had no service from the left at all till Trossard came in. He was so poor and missed a real opportunity from a yard out. Shocking miss. I hate that we play VG, but do not feed him the ball. It's so dumb. When Odergaard came in he just ran around and looked busy with no end product again. Then to drop into a defensive crouch at the end of the game and invite them to fire crosses into that 6'4" giant was moronic. At this point, we take the 3 points, refresh and move on. Winning game we would have dropped points in last season is a good thing no matter how much winging there is. There are no points for pretty in football.
And Arteta sees this as well, I am sure they will be working on that āKey Quotes regarding Viktor Gyƶkeres
āOn the Pressure: Arteta urged critics to "leave him alone" and defended the forward's contribution to the team's play, despite he himself acknowledging that the striker needs to start scoring again.
āOn Team Service: He suggested that other Arsenal players need to provide "better service" to Gyƶkeres, noting that the team must put him in better positions to succeed.
āOn Momentum: Arteta mentioned that Gyƶkeres did not have a full pre-season and is currently working to find his momentum and sharpness in the Premier League. He expressed confidence that "the goals will come."
There is actually very little time to train just too many matches so now in a while there is a bit of a break but still very little time before the hectic schedule starts again that's why pre season is so important
Thank you for the logical and calming words šš¾
so arteta will rest him against a better team than wolves? portsmouth, ok. kairat, ok. after that it will take 14 epl games (another wolves match) and say 12 or so to win one cup, the epl and the european cup. that would put rice at a personal record high of 55 matches. or, do you suggest letting one or two of those alone?
Iād expect there to be situational resting based on what the next game is and when, probably also much of the FA Cup on the bench. Part of why he started Wolves was the week off afterward
it does no good to have him in the treatment room.
i get where your coming from, really. but i have come
to see the topic differently.
I donāt think he is in the treatment room, thoughā¦so his job is to play most of the time. Carlo Ancelotti played Fede Valverde 55 90s last season because they needed him and he was fit. Thatās the gig!
btw. rice has played 21 90's so far, not including cup games. by your standard he will have played 34 by the end of january...
Yep he usually plays nearly 50 a season (he wonāt play all 13 until end of January)
wolves?? bottom of the table!
And yet look at all their recent opponents - none of them rotated out their stars. Because theyāre trying to win
why is norgaard not getting more minutes. arteta is working rice like a rented mule; that is saka's role! the more lewis-skelly and nwaneri sit, the harder it will be to get quality minutes out of them.
you don't gain confidence or match fitness by sitting in the dugout.
he's a star player, that's what star players do! NĆørgaard is emergency cover and when he's been asked to pass forward out of midfield it's been a good reminder of that. But as with Saka it's nothing other stars don't do - Morgan Rogers, Bruno F, Elliott Anderson, Haaland, Gibbs-White, Cucurella, Van de Ven among those outfielders who've played a higher % of minutes...all but Bruno there are also in Europe.
MLS and Ethan have similar situations - there are better options in most situations, they're both so young and there's no rush there.
of course rice is a better player than norgaard. but re-watch the wolves match. you can see that rice's legs are heavy. he needs a break.
the gunners are set up slightly different this year. zubimendi is breaking lines with forward passes from midfield. the rice 8 has become more box to box ball winner and circulater. that is quite physically draining.
as to comparison with your list. none of those players listed, bar cucurella, have an adequate replacement. there is no logic behind having good replacement players and not using them.
we have 13 matches starting this saturday and the end of january. that is a match every 3.5 days. do we rest rice in the in the league cup vs. palace? or in europe?
Would actually argue there are ways to rotate out most of those guys. But end of the day adequate isnāt a title winning player. There will be times when it will be Zubimendi-Ćdegaard-Eze or Merino but Rice is gonna play 30+ 90s no matter whoās behind him, thatās why you pay Ā£105m for him. Same as why Pep isnāt gonna start Marmoush up top often - thatās an adequate option but heās not Haaland. Cup or lesser CL match? Sure
I sat through that game feeling really aggravated that we seemed to have it all wrong. The line up with Eze in the right 8 seemed silly against a low block leaving Viktor on his own to play against the back 3. This was a game where we needed Trossard in from the start, with Eze playing closer to VG in the middle. We barely even approached the D with the ball and we had no service from the left at all till Trossard came in. He was so poor and missed a real opportunity from a yard out. Shocking miss. I hate that we play VG, but do not feed him the ball. It's so dumb. When Odergaard came in he just ran around and looked busy with no end product again. Then to drop into a defensive crouch at the end of the game and invite them to fire crosses into that 6'4" giant was moronic. At this point, we take the 3 points, refresh and move on. Winning game we would have dropped points in last season is a good thing no matter how much winging there is. There are no points for pretty in football.
And Arteta sees this as well, I am sure they will be working on that āKey Quotes regarding Viktor Gyƶkeres
āOn the Pressure: Arteta urged critics to "leave him alone" and defended the forward's contribution to the team's play, despite he himself acknowledging that the striker needs to start scoring again.
āOn Team Service: He suggested that other Arsenal players need to provide "better service" to Gyƶkeres, noting that the team must put him in better positions to succeed.
āOn Momentum: Arteta mentioned that Gyƶkeres did not have a full pre-season and is currently working to find his momentum and sharpness in the Premier League. He expressed confidence that "the goals will come."
I find it stunning that it is not already something we are working on. You should watch this video and then ask why we are not leveraging him more
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkFgVe5RjYE
There is actually very little time to train just too many matches so now in a while there is a bit of a break but still very little time before the hectic schedule starts again that's why pre season is so important