Max Dowman's performance at Fleetwood showed he's not quite ready for Arsenal yet

Max Dowman was sent off in Arsenal's embarrasing defeat to Fleetwood Town as he was given his marching orders in the final minutes of a 1-1 draw that ended in the hosts conquering the Premier League champions in a penalty shootout.

The 16-year-old's dismissal was one of the key talking points as the Gunners suffered one of the biggest cup upsets of all time, and arguably the worst to ever happen in the League Cup.

Many quickly came to his defence, especially after Mikel Arteta appeared to angrily shout at Dowman on his way to the dressing room and the red card was deemed harsh by most fans and pundits. However, Dowman's sending off and his overall performance at Fleetwood showed that he's not quite ready for the Arsenal first team just yet.

Max Dowman's Fleetwood performance showed he's not fully ready

Dowman started his side's trip to League Two Fleetwood to be given another chance to impress Arteta in an ongoing battle for Arsenal's starting right wing spot following the confirmation of Bukayo Saka's reported absence until December.

However, he failed to capitalise as he put in arguably his worst performance for the first team so far. He failed to complete any of his four dribbles, was dispossessed two times and lost seven of his nine ground duels. The youngster's delivieres from set piece situations were his only real positive spark in an otherwise subpar showing.

His night was brought to a cruel end when he was controversially sent off after 85 minutes after he slightly lashed out at Harrison Neal after the Fleetwood midfielder put in an unnecessary challenge on the touchline. Many claimed after the game that it was a poor decision by Michael Salisbury.

Regardless, the accuracy in the decision does not change the fact that Dowman should not have kicked out at his opponent, no matter how hard or soft the challenge was, and that highlighted the long way he still has to go to being a starting star for his first team.

As a creative midfielder and winger, the 16-year-old finds himself in a position that regularly draws fouls, some of which are usually cynical and not particularly needed, but his lashout at Neal showed he might not be prepared to deal with that.

Added to the fact he has previously shown a tendency to battle at youth level, Dowman seems to have an anger that has a tendency to creep out on the pitch at times, as every footballer does, but the important thing is to be able to control it.

Fleetwood were always going to treat Arsenal differently to how a Premier League team would, but there are still similar challenges at the top level at times, and there would be absolutely no room for the youngster to react in that way in a different competition.

His counterparts in midfield and winger have been subject to plenty of fouls already this season, showing that it's a standard part of the game first team regular have to deal with week in, week out.

Bukayo Saka has drawn 22 fouls in 11 appearances this season while Noni Madueke has been brought down twice in his 10 matches. Eberechi Eze has found himself on the end of 16 fouls in 12 games with Christos Tzolis being fouled 11 times in eight appearances. Captain Martin Ødegaard has also been a regular target, drawing 12 fouls in 14 games.

Despite those five players being fouled a collective 63 times, not a single one of those have reacted in the way Dowman did to be given their marching orders in a game. That is the key difference between those playing regularly for the first team, and the Hale End star, who is still relying on occasional minutes to show his potential.

There is absolutely no question about Dowman's ability and he is more than capable of performing for the first team when called upon, but his performance at Fleetwood shows he's not quite ready for a starting role just yet.

With Saka out injured and Madueke's performances still inconsistent, there have been talks of Dowman starting in the Premier League, but he's probably not at that point in his career yet and he needs to learn how to compose himself better before being given that chance.

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