Mikel Arteta vows to continue rotating Arsenal keepers after Everton win
LEANDRO Trossard, with just the second Premier League goal of his Arsenal career, secured an ultimately routine victory for Mikel Arteta’s team although it was a win accompanied by drama, thanks to the manager’s team selection.
Arteta dropped England goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale for a fixture which has long presented his side with problems - four defeats and one draw at Goodison since a last Gunners’ win here in 2017.
In came on-loan Brentford goalkeeper David Raya although, perhaps predictably, the Spanish international had little to do in terms of saves as Everton maintained their dismal start to the campaign, no wins and no home point to date.
The decision was a bold one from Arteta and could well be explained away simply by the need to rotate the position, as the season gathers momentum with the Champions League campaign opening this week.
But still, the optics of dropping his England goalkeeper - currently vying with the man at the opposite end of the field at Goodison for the prize of being Gareth Southgate’s undisputed number one in the national team - were controversial.
Not that Arteta was prepared to be second guessed about the selection. In fact, in a fascinating insight into his coaching mindset, the Gunners manager revealed that he will not hesitate to change his keepers even during a game should the situation arise in future.
“I am a really young manager and I have only been in the job for three and a half years and I have few regrets in what we have done,” he explained.
“One of them is that on two occasions, I felt after 60 minutes and 85 minutes in two games in this period, (I wanted) to change the keeper in that moment and I didn’t do it. I didn’t have the courage to do it.
“But I am able to take a winger,
Read on irishexaminer.com
