Quote Originally Posted by Mac76 View Post
Part of the problem lies with Arteta's historial reluctance to widen the overall experience of the squad, hence in this type of scenario he can't turn to, for example, Kabia or Butler-Oyedeji instead of Saka et al because he wouldn't even give them minutes when we were 7 goals to the good against PSV, so if he wants to change a game he's stuck with the usual suspects.

But I'm surprised you complain at his bringing them on given you also express disappointment at not winning the game.

I didn't like Partey at RB (for it was there that he was played, not LB...) but we're slightly stuck for alternatives given the above plus injuries.

That's why for me it's playing Martinelli that stands out - we have an obvious alternative in Sterling yet he wasn't used to rest Martinelli, who instead nearly had his leg broken in what should have been a red-card tackle (and would no doubt have been if it had been the other way round).
My point about Partey (yes - at RB sorry) was that it was a risk rather than anything else. Not going to be over critical of Arteta's decision to start him given our lack of options here, and the fact that he scored our only goal.

My disappointment at the result derives from the fact that we were playing fine with our starters, and the multiple subs disrupted the team's rhythm. Also for me it seemed as though even with the subs we were playing (understandably perhaps) more with a mind on tomorrow's game and not fully committed to getting the win, so better to have rested MLS, Odegard and Saka. Plus the fact that we didn't defend particularly well for Brentford's goal.

Agreed re Martinelli though. We are fortunate that he wasn't injured badly.