It hurts me to say it, but Ryo Miyaichi hasn't produced enough. However, it's not necessarily his fault. Playing in front of the still inexperienced Carl Jenkinson is not the best way to get a top performance from the Japan international winger. Jenkinson's a talented trier. He might even become England's number one right back one day. But that won't happen until he's ousted Bacary Sagna from the team. No time soon then.
This policy of playing youth with youth typifies what Arsene Wenger seems to stand for: lack of balance. Fill the midfield with creative midfielders. That will solve all. The only problem is, it doesn't. No Flamini means no result. No Arteta means the same. Those 2 midfielders are the only 2 that offer anything different.
Apart from the wingers, if you call them 'midfielders'. Right now, the pecking order is: 1) Theo, 2) Ox, 3) Gnabry and 4) Ryo.
Now we've been knocked out of the Capital One Cup I expect to see our 4th choice winger exit. Otherwise, he'll have to wait until January to stake a claim in the FA Cup. Ryo may have the patience of a saint, but he needs playing time to develop. He won't get it at Arsenal for a while, so it may be time to move again on loan, or possibly even permanently.
It could have been so different if he'd scored around the 20th minute, when he beat Schwarzer to the ball. As the ball rolled netwards, it was cleared. It may have been a cruel twist of fate: so near and yet so far.
No comments:
Post a Comment