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Arsenal are still waiting to see the best of Lucas Torreira, and he admitted to similar, but that’s okay, there is plenty of time. We will happily wait.
Unai Emery is having some fun experimenting with Arsenal. He is shifting players around, testing different partnerships and, best of all, he is showing to have a quick hook for players that aren’t performing well in matches.
Still, Lucas Torreira has appeared in every single game for the Gunners as a sub, despite his late start to the season. After seeing Torreira ransack the World Cup, I think we were all expecting the world out of him. Like, the whole world.
He was supposed to be a mainstay from the start of the season. That hasn’t happened. And even in his substitute appearances, he has been pretty one-dimensional.
He’s been great at winning the ball back and sniffing out passes, but he’s been a bit disengaged, like he’s nervous to make a mistake or something. That shown through horribly when he failed to track Marcos Alonso’s run against Chelsea in what would end up being the winning goal.
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Torreira also hasn’t been getting forward very well. His passing is all over the place and he looks rather timid, really, as opposed to the fearless warrior we saw in the World Cup.
None of this is worrying. Torreira has to learn a new language in a new league (and the most difficult league, mind you) and it is perfectly acceptable that it is taking some time for him to find his footing. Even he had to admit that he is still getting to grips with this league. This league that has entirely different focal points than the Serie A that he was used to, which emphasis passing and precision over hard-nosedness and grit.
Torreira is a better fit for the English game, though, and that will come with time and with ‘getting to grips’ with the league. He just needs to settle down a bit, is all. He’s still doing the defensive work adequately, and the passing will come too, he just needs time.
Thankfully, no one is prematurely sounding the alarm over Torreira just yet. But if you happen to have any friends who are losing hope in him, you can tell them to bugger right off.