Coach Mikel Arteta once admitted that he is still learning how to rotate the squad effectively, even though he has built one of Arsenal's strongest teams in many years. The hard-fought 2-1 victory over Mansfield Town in the 5th round of the FA Cup at One Call shows that this problem still has no perfect solution.
However, Arsenal still maintained hopes of winning the historic quadruple this season after winning a ticket to the next round thanks to a decisive goal by Eberechi Eze in the 66th minute, with a beautiful finish into the top corner of the goal.
In this match, Arteta attracted attention when he gave a starting opportunity to two 16-year-old players, Marli Salmon and Max Dowman. Dowman also set a record when he became the youngest player to start for Arsenal in the FA Cup at the age of 16 years and 66 days. This is also Arsenal's 35th victory in all competitions this season - the highest number under Arteta when the season is still 3 months away from closing.
However, with the possibility that the "Gunners" will have to play up to 19 more matches if they go deep in the arena, the question of rotating forces is still raised. Arteta has been criticized for using too many key players, and the strong change of squad this time is a understandable reaction when the break between the victory over Brighton and the away match to Mansfield's stadium is only a few days.
The difficulty became even greater when Arteta decided to switch to a 3-defender formation - a formation Arsenal had not used in 246 matches. The last time they played with this system was a 0-5 defeat to Manchester City in August 2021.
The new system caused Arsenal many problems with balance. After Leandro Trossard was injured and left the field in the 38th minute, Arteta was forced to make adjustments when he brought Piero Hincapie onto the field and returned to his familiar formation. Just 3 minutes later, Noni Madueke scored the opening goal - also Arsenal's 100th goal this season in all competitions.
After the match, Arteta explained: "The players who can now play force us to adapt. When you want to manage the match volume and solve the team's problems, sometimes you have to adjust. Just one day of preparation is clearly not ideal, but it is also a challenge for us to adapt.
When asked how many times Arsenal has trained with a 3-defender formation, Arteta frankly admitted: "Only once, in about 10 minutes".
However, individual quality still helped Arsenal overcome the challenge. Mansfield - the team that first reached the 5th round of the FA Cup since 1974 - played with determination against an opponent 59 places higher than them in the English football system.
The home team even equalized at the beginning of the second half when Will Evans took advantage of Arsenal's defense's mistake to defeat goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga with a dangerous low shot.
Faced with that situation, Arteta brought Jurrien Timber and Eberechi Eze onto the field. Eze immediately made a difference when he scored the decisive goal just 4 minutes after entering the field.
The use of Eze is also a topic of debate, as many people believe that this player deserves more opportunities to develop his creativity. The goal against Mansfield could help him open up opportunities to affirm his position in the squad.
Meanwhile, Max Dowman played 77 minutes before being substituted by Bukayo Saka. This young midfielder showed great potential with skillful ball handling and confidence despite playing on a difficult field.
Max played excellently. When the ball rebounded unstablely and was pressed by the opponent, the way he handled space and time was impressive. The speed in touching the ball shows his special talent" - Arteta commented.
Arteta's task at this time is to take advantage of young talents like Dowman to maintain Arsenal's momentum. However, the injuries of Leandro Trossard and Riccardo Calafiori will certainly make him worried before the away match to Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League in the middle of the week.
I think every player feels like they are part of the team. Match by match, we want to get closer to the big goals of the season" - Arteta added.
