Arsenal: Lucas Torreira caution well taken, but ends now

Arsenal have been slow to work Lucas Torreira into the starting XI, and that actually makes sense, but that all stops now.

Unai Emery is finding his footing at Arsenal, and that is going to take time. He is dabbling with some experimentation with the squad as he figures out how best to deploy the wealth of talent that he has.

Some people find this frustrating. With the main point of frustration being that Lucas Torreira has not started a match yet. He came on for about half an hour against Manchester City an was subbed on at half against Chelsea.

It makes sense why they’re frustrated. Anytime the Gunners lose, there is an immediate call for what wasn’t done. In this instance, some feel that starting Torreira would have made all the difference and we would have won both games.

But that isn’t the truth. Of all the things that I think Emery can be criticized for, not starting Lucas Torreira is not one of them. First of all, he has been inching him in, and that’s the next best thing to starting.

More than that, when Torreira has been on the pitch, in his limited capacity, he has done a couple things really well – he has had a tremendous work rate and he knows how to win the ball back. That has all been fantastic.

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However, thus far, he has shown very little capacity for passing or dribbling. He looks like a deer in headlights when he has the ball at his feet and, more times than not, he ends the counter attack as quickly as he snuffed out the opponents counter.

This is fine. It will come. He needs to get used to the Premier League and how to keep his composure with the ball. But in the meantime, he really doesn’t do much for the attack, which is the No. 1 thing that Unai Emery is focusing on right now. We already have Matteo Guendouzi running all over the place, winning the ball back, but he then has ideas what to do when he wins it.

Torreira isn’t there yet.

Now, that all said, the caution should end now. Two tough games are out of the way and it’s time to let Torreira find his bearings against teams that we really should be beating anyway. Which looks like the plan, given how much he’s been weened into the club.

Once he learns how to string a pass, having him next to Guendouzi is going to be a dream come true.