Big squad, limited minutes, international ambitions
Morning all.
We are now 100% in the Interlull. We approached it, circled it for a bit, but now we’re in it. If you want to find out who is doing what, and where, during this break, we have you covered in this post over on Arseblog News.
There are some Arsenal players in action tonight. England face Serbia at Wembley later with Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka and Eberechi Eze all potential inclusions in Thomas Tuchel’s side. Saka spoke a bit about Rice’s leadership qualities, which will probably spark some more discussion about the Arsenal captaincy, but it’s not a particularly interesting topic for me. Players can be leaders without an armband, and let’s not overlook the fact that in Martin Odegaard’s absence, it’s Saka himself who has been leading the team out.
I’m happy with that. I don’t think it diminishes Rice’s ability to bring his own personality and leadership to the team at any point, and that’s more or less it. There’s enough drama in the world without create more unnecessarily. Speaking of which, the absence of Myles Lewis-Skelly from the England squad this time around led to a report about how other Premier League clubs might be interested in taking him on loan in January, which in turn led some online backlash against the reporter who ‘broke’ that story.
What I’d say is this: it’d be a huge surprise to me if there weren’t clubs interested in Myles. He’s a really good player, right now he’s not playing, and if he has World Cup ambitions, then that provides a potential opportunity for a club to offer him the minutes he’s not getting at Arsenal at this moment in time. I’d be a bit surprised if it happened though, and news of small injury issue for Riccardo Calafiori as he joined up with the Italy camp might also play into that, but let’s not take exception to the idea that other clubs might be keen on having someone like Lewis-Skelly for half a season.
It certainly doesn’t warrant any kind of pile-on to the person reporting what seems a fairly obvious story, and if you were Lewis-Skelly, as much as you love Arsenal having grown up at the club etc, if you’re not playing, you’re probably not happy. So far this season he’s yet to start a Premier League game, and hasn’t even racked up 90 minutes of playing time the 7 substitute appearances he’s made. Two starts each in the Champions League and EFL Cup will have kept him relatively content, but ultimately that’s not enough to be in the England squad as for as Tuchel is concerned, so that’s a situation worth keeping an eye on, in my opinion.
It is a bit curious to me that both Myles and Ethan Nwaneri had breakthrough seasons last time out, signed new deals in the summer, and have since played quite a bit less than they would have hoped. Interestingly, Nwaneri has more Premier League minutes this season (163) than Myles (86), but I’m sure neither will be completely happy right now. Players, regardless of age, want to play. This might be about demonstrating to them that there’s still work to do to realise their huge potential, but right now Myles has Riccardo Calafiori and possibly Piero Hincapie ahead of him in the pecking order, and while Nwaneri was the man to replace Odegaard when he got injured against Leeds and Forest, he has Eze to contend for that position.
As happy as we all are with our big, deep squad, packed with good players from top to bottom, the reality is that some of them will find themselves on the fringes. I think that’s what we’re seeing a bit with a 19 and an 18 year old, and at a key stage of their development, I just wouldn’t 100% rule out a January loan for either or both if the situation remains the same. They need to play to continue the fantastic trajectory they’re on, and a short-term move doesn’t necessarily spell the end of the road at Arsenal either. Something to keep an eye on anyway.
Elsewhere tonight, William Saliba will be in action for France, and the aforementioned Calafiori looks set to sit out Italy’s trip to Moldova. Fingers crossed everyone involved comes through unscathed.
A couple of quick bits to finish. It wasn’t a good night for Arsenal Women last night, throwing away a 2 goal lead to lose to Bayern Munich. Tim and crew have the report and reaction over on Arseblog News. Things also seem difficult right now at Academy level, as Jeorge Bird reports none of the U21s, U19s or U18s have won a game since September 26th.
Finally, just a reminder that we need your votes for the FSA Awards, as we’re up against quality opposition for the Best Fan Media (Fran Merida) award this year. If you had the time to give us your vote, it’d be very much appreciated. You can do that here – https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/fsa-awards-2025 – thanks in advance!
Righto, that’s it for now. We are recording an Arsecast this morning, so we should have that ready for you around lunchtime. Until then, have a good one.
The post Big squad, limited minutes, international ambitions appeared first on Arseblog ... an Arsenal blog.