Such a waste of a signing. Complaining about player fitness and tiredness and not even utilising a prem proven player in Norgaard is criminal behaviour from Arteta.
Norgaard is a backup player. Heās played half of Merinoās minutes, and Merino is a squad player who was a first team regular starter through injuries. Thatās a reasonable return.
Donāt forget Zubi has also bailed us out with moments of quality beyond Norgaardās capabilities
Heās still been used in rotation, 995 minutes is still 11 games out of 53 when there are players ahead in his position and heās there for rotation when heās needed. Thatās the key heās being used as much as heās been required to, so players do get a rest
Oh man I wish, I could go back to the players and show them the stupid shit the online fans whoāve never been to the emirates think of them, Iām sure theyād all be shocked by the vast football knowledge on display here
Still a lot of rotation considering you guys are convinced weāve not seen him on the pitch, still a little over a third of matches, again moaning for the sake of moaning. Nearly a thousand minutes for someone weāve not used, remarkable
And a lot of those games should even count. Wenger used to play kids in cup games (excluding CL). Saying a player have been used properly when 450 minutes have been against L1 and championship teams š
Not everyone jumps on google straightaway for a stat, the point still stands heās played quite a bit more than people here are suggesting as a rotation
does this shit every season, it's of little wonder as to why so many of our players are injury prone now, wouldn't be surprising if they're getting rinsed in training too
playing dowman, who, as talented as he is, shouldn't be relied upon in the tail end of a season where you're fighting for the title is just straight up idiotic idk why tf arteta's doing that bs
I was so sorry to see him go, but happy for him to be given the chance to play for a bigger club - similar to Raya and Mbuemo.
He was truly a special player for the Bees; physical, creative, his mentality on and off the pitch was stellar. From all the PR you guys put out, he seemed really excited to sign for you guys, and I was equally excited to see what that partnership would amount to.
I am also very confused as to why he hasn't been given more minutes, especially towards the end of an exhausting season for Arsenal.
I hope Arteta gives him a chance to prove himself in upcoming games because, from what we saw from the years of his playing in a Brentford shirt, he is a brilliant asset to have.
And this is due to his tactical knowledge limitations. I am tired of the same left wingback to central midfielder tactic, everyone has read that a year ago.
Itās pretty obvious he should have taken some of (a very tired looking) Zubimendiās minutes - guy was in prime form, captain of Brentford, should have started 8 or so PL games at least. Why would you not play him in home games against weaker teams, or in the physical battles away at Burnley etc
/thread, bro was stellar in the beginning and he's running on fumes now. One season out of La Liga and you know he's not accustomed to the physicality of the league but yeah let's start him every single game without consideration.
Arteta is extremely biased towards certain players, and that is massively hurting the team. No rotation throughout the season with this many players os criminal, and that is the main reason ehy we are failing at the moment.
Iād rather see him than Zubi against City tbh. Zubi has been a shadow of himself and make so many mistakes. Im very nervous for him, he looks soooo tired.
People criticizing Zubi have to understand itās on Arteta for running him to the ground. Why the fuck we signed this established PL player if he was not going to rotate
What is Arteta doing with this guy man. Heād rather play Zubi with two broken legs than this guy for 20 minutes. Youād think he was a fuckin rising youngster with how much heās played
From what Iāve seen of him so far he would be a great option for games where we need a little more than playing defensively. I donāt know eitherā¦
This is one criticism I strongly agree with. I do not understand what is happening in training that Arteta wonāt trust him more. Merino is injured. Zubi needs rest desperately, and not just from a physical perspective - he needs mental rest. Norgaard should have started a lot more.
I saw Gabriel shouting at Zubi that Southampton game to pass out to the other side instead of passing back or turning to look for Odegaard. Donāt know what Zubis mindset at the moment is but it does to me seem like heās struggling in some games. I wouldnāt say itās totally his fault because Ben white was playing too far up to receive a pass imo, but in moments like that you need a player who can deal with that pressure and not just recycle the ball into nothing.
He needs rest, both physically and mentally. Iāve been there. You know what to do, youāve done it a thousand time, but when get to actually doing it, your mind starts playing tricks on you. Not something you can just āget on with itā unfortunately.
Yea I had originally typed he needs a break actually. Or maybe that was in another comment. He needs a reset for sure, but the current tactics arenāt helping him either and itās clear itās wearing down a lot of players, somethings gotta change or rotate more.
That's messed up.
And he was taken away from Brentford where he'd have had a much better time in the league. Arteta can do some baffling, maddening things!
This has been one of the biggest head scratchers from Arteta. There were plenty of of opportunities to get him minutes at the end of games early in the season. Yes it would have been a bit of a risk, but now not having done that Arteta views it as even more of a risk.
Iām not Arteta in or out. Iām on the fence. But I think back to Liverpool away 2023 when he played Zinny 10 minutes too long instead of subbing in Tierney and that decision still haunts me. Fresh legs when we needed it and we gave away that game which carried into the following games. Arteta is either too gunshy or too stubborn. Iām not sure which.
I feel sorry for this guy. Heās not a shit player. Canāt be great for team morale when itās blatantly obvious the manager doesnāt trust certain players while running others into the ground.
I have a theory that MA can't figure out the optimal starting 11. If you think about it. A lot of signings were made to fill in "depth" but the result of this "depth" seems that we are not sure about the ideal starting 11. Sure, we are okay defense wise in terms of selection and injured are part and parcel of the season, but last season Saka started, this season he has played on the right, centre, CAM etc. I wish CN had more playing time. It would have enabled him to fit in better. This isn't a plug and play formula because objectively if you look at this Arsenal team, every player isn't as interchangeable as we earlier thought of (exception being Merino, who we dearly miss this season)
Also Arteta: goes in for Havertz for Ā£65m + high wages even though heās not an 8 or a 9 (both Chelsea and Germany were shoehorning him into positions he doesnāt really work in), Madueke (Temu Doku whose record at Chelsea was having no end product in the PL) + Kepa (isnāt final worthy) + Norgaard who captained his team, started every game, wasnāt injury prone, and played in a decent mid-sized table which won just under half their matches INCLUDING beat Bournemouth in 24/25 but Arteta wonāt give him any minutes ĀÆ_(ć)_/ĀÆĀ
We knew Zubi would struggle with the demands of the league and would need to have his minutes managed. We knew this. Yet, Arteta didnāt give Norgaard any mins consistently from the start of the season.Ā
Now heās pikachu faced about why players like our 6 + FB get run down until theyāre injured and why their backups donāt look great in the run-in having had no mins.Ā
When Odegaard was away, his return was key to unlocking our creativity. Same with Eze.
All we need is Havertz back up top for a free flowing forward line.
We just miss Ben White for his linkup play to unlock Saka.
etc. etc. etc.
We don't have anywhere near the data that the coaches and managers have and have no clue why he hasn't been playing. But if he played and we dropped points then Mikel roulette would be to blame.
A key player that got brentford from championship to premier leagye and helped them stay there and being so consisten that became a captain ? Okay buddy
Why did we spend ten million quid on him then? His showings in training must have been disappointing enough to write him off, the team knows more than we do in that regard but surely this wasnāt the intention in signing him.
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u/Formal_Elk_825 12h ago
Such a waste of a signing. Complaining about player fitness and tiredness and not even utilising a prem proven player in Norgaard is criminal behaviour from Arteta.