Mikel Arteta - Arsenal
Picking a midfield for an away game is rarely just about quality. Some players need time on the ball. Others survive when the press arrives in waves and there is no second to look up.
A summer signing can look like the answer off the bench and then look lost when asked to start the same job against a different opponent.
That is the argument that follows a first heavy defeat. The manager talks about relationships that need time. Pundits talk about the player who was left out.
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Paul Merson has warned Mikel Arteta that Bruno Guimaraes may not be the right starter against certain Premier League sides after Arsenal’s 3-0 loss at Brighton. The Brazil midfielder made his first league start since a £75million move from Newcastle and was singled out after the game.
Merson had already called him “a million miles off it” on Saturday. In his Sky Sports column he went further and asked why Myles Lewis-Skelly was left out.
“I’d like to ask Mikel Arteta what his thinking was behind playing Bruno Guimaraes over Myles Lewis-Skelly at Brighton,” Merson wrote.
“I don’t know if he thought it would be a nice football match, that Brighton would be tired after coming from 2-0 down against Manchester United on Wednesday?
“It just didn’t work. Arsenal got outrun, they got overpowered in midfield, they got ripped to shreds.”
Merson did not say Guimaraes cannot play for Arsenal. He drew a line between a low block and a press.
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“Bruno’s a good footballer,” he added. “If you’re playing a low block, I don’t see the problem in playing him.
“When you’re going to dominate the ball, there’s no-one like him when you have time. He’s a good player and passer – and he’s very intelligent.
“I just wonder if Arteta was sitting on the coach on the way back thinking: ‘I’ve got that one wrong.’
“When Bruno came on as a sub against Aston Villa a few weeks ago, he was outstanding. He could just keep the ball, pop it around, play one-twos and play the game at his tempo. That would have been a better idea.
“I’m not blaming Bruno for Arsenal losing, absolutely not. I just didn’t know why Arteta had to change the team in a very difficult game.
“But it doesn’t matter how good you are. You can be an international footballer and have all the accolades around you but if people get close to you and make you have to put your head down, it’s a completely and utterly different football match.”
Arteta has already said the Rice–Guimaraes pairing worked at Sunderland and “didn’t work so well” at the Amex. Arsenal host Leeds on 10 October after the international break.
Merson’s point is selection, not the fee. Start Guimaraes when there is time to play. Think again when the opponent is going to hunt the first touch.