Arsenal 1-1 Brentford Player rating and match reaction

[Mac76]

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.

TBH there's an argument that says, particularly in Saka's case, that he needs some minutes to get back to his best and I've some sympathy for that, despite being at the front of the queue of those saying that in general Arteta overplays him

Clearly the subs were lined up when we were 0-0 and he was bringing them on to get the breakthrough, but not for the first time this season (Brighton) he just carried on with planned subs even though the game state had changed.

As for Partey, I agree and thinking about it there was a lad called Josh Nicholls who played at RB pre-season and was, I thought, very good, maybe not quite as much as MLS but then that's an unfair comparison given how he's taken to first-team football like a duck to water

However Arteta's duly left him out all season, hence no minutes, hence him not being an option when he'd have been useful - so frustrating, I really get annoyed that Arteta doesn't bring younger players on more - if I was a manager I'd be rotating and using different combinations all the time and giving younger players minutes whenever I could, it's the only way to know what they can do