(07/03/26) Mansfield (A)

Arsenal vs Mansfield (A) 

2-1

Player Ratings 

Kepa - 7/10

Salmon - 6/10

Mosquera - 6/10

Calafiori - 6/10

Nørgaard - 7/10

Havertz - 6/10

Martinelli - 6/10

Madueke - 7/10

Dowman - 8/10

Trossard - 5/10

Jesus - 5/10

3 Things We Learnt 

1. Systematic Football

A criticism of Arsenal football club is that the football we play is boring. However this narrative could be argued, as today we reached 100 goals this season and have the most goals from open play. Today we tried to be like Man City or the clubs that have free flowing football with the players having vast amounts of freedom on the pitch. Yet today despite getting a result it's evident the performance was poor, which came from the way Mikel Arteta had setup. The lineup proposed was a 3 at the back and Martinelli and Madueke were used as wingbacks with a congested midfield of attacking minded players. With this in mind you would expect a battering of a perfomance with all due respect to our opponets, who are in a relegation battle. But this didnt translate onto the pitch as there was no structure ,it was a free flowing game that was scrappy and positons of players were across the pitch. I would like to think Mikel used this as an opportunity to test players in different positions and to try see if the team could work in a way of such vast amounts of freedom. When in truly the best Arsenal side you could get is when there is a structured side thats fighting for the 1-0 wins that Arsenal have been known to get within their history. 

2. Max Dowman 

Words can't describe a player of his talent at the age 16 years old being integrated into the first team. He came into the side today after a 3-4 month setback from a harsh injury he served that sidelined him away from the squad and his development. After appearing in some academy games to get himself back into match fitness he went against a side in Mansfield that saw this as their biggest game this season. Despite this Max showed how he could take on the players with such ease driblling the ball pass players with such great feet to progress the ball into excelling spaces for the team. You could tell by his reactions he was devastated from not being able to get on the scoresheet through missing chances you would expect him to put away. Although, he took his opportunity and looked far better than the senior players who needed to put on a performance to integrate themselves back into the staring xi. 

3. Integration Of Young Talent 

Hale end is becoming known for bringing up some very well talented young players through the academy, but struggle fully integrated them into the first team. Earlier on the seaon we saw Ethan Nwaneri go out on loan to Marsielle and has struggled to fit into the side. With also the likes of Hutchinson, Patino, Cozier-Duberry, Heaven, Kabia, Butler-Oyedeji, Chido Obi-Martin, Kacurri depaturing the club within recent times. This is relentless talent being loss repeatedly who could’ve gone onto to succeed at Arsenal football club like Bukayo Saka, Ashley Cole, Cesc Fabregas etc. Today we saw appearances from Max Dowman, Marli Salmon, Jaden Dixon and we have to see them grow into this team and become apart of this first team.