Heavy Duty Rom
Outdated Tweets Merchant
Dunno he seems to use certain players for a while and he persisted with Vieira a lot and then sometimes just freezes them out. Similar to Eddie who he played so much even when he wasn't performing then all of a sudden doesn't trust him at all. Think it's a different case here as we've got more options at CF than in midfield especially when it comes to creative midfielders.
For Vieira specifically probably just sees him as too erratic and doesn't do enough of the things he likes off the ball justify persisting with him because of what he could potentially do off the ball. The reason he persisted with someone like Havertz is because of his off the ball stuff and duel winning ability which Arteta values really highly above all else. I think in general Arteta doesn't want to change the dynamics of the team too much. Currently the model is set with Rice-Jorginho and Ødegaard more advanced with Saka right, Havertz usually CF and Lw currently a toss up between Martinelli, Jesus and Trossard. Then he's got the immediate backup option of Rice lone 6 with Zinchenko coming back into the side at LB so he can invert and then Havertz back into midfield at left 8. Vieira doesn't really fit into these two setups unless it's a straight swap for Ødegaard and there's a serious drop off with so many things.
In the first setup to play left 8 he'd have to replace Rice's role and obvious there's a huge difference there and it's just not viable in Arteta's eyes. The 2nd setup he'd replace Havertz but Havertz has this weird specific role which Vieira wouldn't fill like for like anyways.
This is a long winded way of basically saying there's no specific place for Vieira and Arteta doesn't like changing the dynamics of his setups too much which would come with playing Vieira. Last season although Xhaka offered different things it was more of a straight swap.
I would like to see him start in a first 11 environment. Generally his starts have come with the second string in cups. He came on for a cameo a month or so ago and looked lively, and then we've not seen him since, other than the 1 minute vs Brighton.
I feel we should have used him more to give Ødegaard a rest, especially when leading by 2 goals. This will be almost 2 seasons with him now, surely you have to throw him in at some point, adaptation period is over. I think he's had some lively cameos off the bench, i want to see more, especially if we play with Tomi or Kiwior LB.