Picking players on reputation is a recipe for disaster.
Not only does it fail to garner the best performances from players who get lazy from a lack of competition for their place – but it also stifles the fringe players and youth products who are giving their all to get on the pitch and show what they can do.
This season has seen certain players fall way below their expected standards. Players who have not performed and then repeated this fall in level the next week and the week after. Repeated displays that may well include plenty of effort – but a dip in form when you have a squad that can rotate in every position?
That is when changes are needed.
It is time to give the youth not just a chance – which they get. It is time for them to have an extended run in the side.
Eddie Nketiah, Folarin Balogun, Emile Smith-Rowe, Joe Willock, Reiss Nelson. These players need continuous games to show what they can do and also to gain that valuable match sharpness that drags the best from players.
Youngsters make mistakes, but mistakes are necessary for learning. These players are on the cusp of something truly special but without regular gametime, they wil either hit a glass ceiling – or they will leave.
And we will be forced to watch them flourish in another club’s jersey.
Let us be honest too, these kids haven’t made many errors in the matches they have played – or at least they have shown far more than the players in need of dropping.
This isn’t to say the players that have not been at their peak have no future.
This is just a suggestion that our brilliant bunch of kids have earned their shot at an established place in the side.
And the ones who have let us down, need a stark reminder of what it takes to play for Arsenal Football Club.