Arsenal: Joe Willock, Reiss Nelson ready, and not ready

Unai Emery started fellow 19-year-olds Joe Willock and Reiss Nelson in Arsenal’s 1-0 win over Newcastle United on Sunday afternoon. Their respective performances showed that they are both ready and not ready for regular Premier League football.

Arsenal commenced their Premier League campaign on Sunday afternoon with a hard-earned 1-0 victory. Prior to kick-off, head coach Unai Emery had a slew of selection dilemmas to solve. With several absences due to injuries, safety concerns and a lack of match fitness ravaging the starting XI, Emery had to find some solutions.

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And that is precisely what he did, dipping into the sea of vastly talented young players that currently preside at the club. Emery started Joe Willock in central midfield and Reiss Nelson on the left wing to fill out his team.

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After the match, he was asked about their respective performances. This is what he had to say:

"“Good. They are young, they need to get confidence, to get experience. But we need to be winning. We are helping them but pushing them and our demand is a very big demand. They need to do one process and sometimes it’s playing like today and sometimes it’s maybe starting in the bench. But above all, they are going to be with us.”"

It was certainly encouraging to see two young players start the opening match of the season, a crucial game, away from home, but how did both actually perform and did they prove that they are ready for regular first-team football? Well, the answer is slightly unusual: they played well, at times, and not so well at others, subsequently looking ready at times and not ready at others.

Both performed in a very similar manner: there were individual moments in which their individual quality came to the fore, but these were interspersed with inconsistent first touches, misplaced passes, and poor decision-making. Neither played poorly, they were simply a little up and down throughout the 90 minutes.

This is not to demean their talent. It is undeniable in both. Rather, they do not quite understand the intricacies of top-level football and are not quite ready to contribute in a reliable manner, and executing these little things, over and over again, is something that takes great practise and experience. It would be surprising if they had mastered these elements of the game already.

What is so important to remember, however, is that they will never learn these aspects without being given the opportunity to play, make mistakes, and develop as a result. Willock and Nelson will learn a great deal from Sunday afternoon, no doubt, and they need to be handed more starts to continue their progression.

However, they are not quite ready to a reliable contributor from the off just yet. But in the same vein, they are good enough to play. Those instances of magic are proof enough of that. They just need time and opportunity. Hopefully, then, Emery will continue to provide them with precisely that as the season progresses.