Arsenal: Reiss Nelson has one key factor holding him back

Arsenal saw the best out of Reiss Nelson in the preseason, but he’s been a mixed bag since. It’s pretty clear what has changed with his situation.

There wasn’t a single Arsenal player who raised more excitement for the club over the preseason than Reiss Nelson. He was a man on fire. 17-years-old and doing tap dances around defenses. There was nothing holding him back.

He went to the U23s to start the season and more of the same – complete and utter magic.

Yet when he comes to the senior side, he has been a mixed bag of results. Sometimes he looks downright marvelous and sometimes his form is lacking and he seems a tad lethargic. So what has changed?

Well, at first you may want to say that it’s his positioning. With the U23s, he’s deployed as an attacker and not as a wingback. But then you look at the preseason, and he was being used as a wingback. So that can’t be it.

Against Norwich City, it was pretty clear what the problem was – as a wingback, he can’t take the risks he normally does. Even on the one memorable play, where he cut inside and split the defense into the box, he approached the situation hesitantly, then when it was too good to pass up, he burst through the gap.

So in part, it does have to do with positioning, because as a wingback, he can’t risk getting too far forward, because he has a responsibility to his team mates to get back. Yet, when he’s that close to the goal, he rarely ever leaves himself exposed. For whatever reason, he is far deadlier on the ball nearer the 18-yard box as opposed to driving up the field.

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That comes down to his supremacy in close quarters and his ability to make split second turns. Running in open space doesn’t afford him that luxury.

What this really comes down to though, that one big factor, is confidence. He needs to believe that when he drives into the box, he won’t lose the ball and be caught out. Again, his loss of possession occurred primarily in the middle third of the pitch against Norwich, not in the front third, where he is deadliest.

How do we get him that confidence? Well, time is one way. He will learn to trust himself and trust his abilities more. But if he is a wingback, there will always be that inherent risk when he pushes forward.

The easiest solution is to just use him as a damn attacker, like he wants. Then he doesn’t have to worry about losing the ball, which in turn leads to a more relaxed approach to his attacks, which is what he needs.

Next: 5 Things Learned Against Norwich

Nelson was relaxed in the preseason because it’s just the preseason. He’s relaxed with the U23s because he doesn’t have responsibilities behind him. For the senior team, it will be the same if he is permitted to relax.

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