Arsenal: When can we start judging Denis Suarez?

Arsenal gave Denis Suare a prime chance to make something happen against BATE Borisov, but again, nothing happened. How soon is too soon?

I’ve spent the last three weeks hyping up the impact that Denis Suarez is going to have at Arsenal in my own head. Since he hasn’t been getting on the pitch much, and since an acclimation period has to be assumed, I’ve been doing my best to figure out, in my mind where he will fit in to all of this and their lack of chance creation.

I set very specific goals for him – 2.0 created chances per match, which would lead the team (assuming Sead Kolasinac doesn’t kick it into second gear again) and 1.5 dribbles completed per match (first or second on the team).

Now that he has an hour of play under his belt though, I’m over here, teetering on the edge of my belief. When he was thwarted against Manchester City and left frustrated by their tenacity, I dismissed it – it’s Manchester City after all.

But seeing him frustrated to the toon of two dispossessions and two poor touches in the span of sixteen minutes, I felt a jarring push towards the edge.

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In his 54 minutes of play now, he has given up possession six times and created all of one chance. Now, again, it’s 54 minutes, and I’m trying really hard not to be too hard on the guy before he’s even been given a chance to start a match, but we’ve seen a wide helping of opponents – City, Huddersfield and now BATE Borisov, and he didn’t look up for any of it.

It’s a rough start. Make of that what you will. Personally, the more I see him, the more I question if he’s actually going to be able to provide much of anything beyond another option that can’t hit the necessary marks.

And see, here I go, criticizing him and it’s been just 54 minutes of substitute appearances. I’ve just seen so little in that time that I feel unsteady.

So when can we start judging his performance? Well, you can start whenever you want. And I’m sure a lot of fans are already questioning him (thankfully, it’s a loan).

I, however, will do my best to wait until he gets his first start. And even then, it’s just the first. Still, he is here to do a job, and the longer he doesn’t do it, the longer we will wonder if he even can.