Arsenal: Alex Iwobi has clearly overcome his biggest criticism

Alex Iwobi’s progression is a bugaboo for most Arsenal supporters, but at the very least, it’s clear that he has overcome his biggest aversion of his earlier days.

There was a time when Arsenal fans thought they had solved everything by way of Alex Iwobi. Finally we had a young creative threat that could carry the team into the next era. He was superb as a teenager, taking over for Theo Walcott.

That confidence has derailed a bit. The young Nigerian has not progressed as we would have hoped and he’s now gone over a year now since he was a relevant force in the starting XI, let alone even the first team.

The growing pains are still there. He clearly still has a ton of talent. Just watch his better moments against West Ham. There were times where his footwork was so fancy I wasn’t even sure how he’d done it. It was like on FIFA 18 when you hold L2 and spin the right analog and next thing you know you’ve dribbled through three defenders.

Only with Iwobi, it was clear he knew what he was doing. And it wasn’t the type of over-the-ball finesse I’m used to seeing with him. Mostly because it was a consistent threat. He was dribbling fantastically from the base of the midfield and tied Jack Wilshere with four completed dribbles.

Aside from his dribbling, there is also one big area that Iwobi has clearly aimed to improve on, and this isn’t just based off of the West Ham match, but based off of his past few performances. He is shooting like crazy now. I mean that in a good and bad way.

More from Pain in the Arsenal

• 3 standout players from 1-0 victory over Everton
• 3 positives & negatives from Goodison Park victory
• Arsenal vs PSV preview: Prediction, team news & lineups
• 3 talking points from Arsenal’s victory at Goodison Park
• Mikel Arteta provides Gabriel Martinelli injury update after Everton win

The biggest criticism of Iwobi when he first came up was that he was too hesitant to cut loose on net. It was a fair criticism, because it was at a time when Mesut Ozil was finally learning that it’s okay to shoot.

So to see Iwobi having the same problem that Ozil had just overcome, it was a clear diagnosis.

Since then, Iwobi has prioritized this adjustment to his game and has been firing off shots whenever there is an opening. However, there is a difference between shooting and finishing, and that’s where the “it’s good and bad” comes into it.

While he is shooting more, and he is less reluctant in front of net, he is also not really getting any closer to scoring as he was before. Although he did glance the post at the Olympic Stadium.

Next: 5 Things Learned Against West Ham

Still though, it may be a small step in the grand scheme, but a bunch of small steps can equate to en entire journey. And that’s an overly-poetic way of saying he’s getting somewhere.