Do Arsenal really have two first-choice left-backs? (Opinion) | OneFootball

Kieran Tierney was given a rare start of late in the loss to Everton last night, but should the Arsenal man not be ahead of Nuno Tavares? Guest post by Sarah Rohan

Well what a big disappointment last night was. So many talking points regarding the game but I’m going to have my take on the Tierney vs Tavares situation.

I was so happy to see the Scottish left back in the starting line up and he didn’t fail to prove why he was missed. He was a constant problem for Everton with his pace and his passing.

Straight away I felt more confident in his ability to defend and after a while his crosses into the opposition’s box proved to be our biggest strength.

He made four crosses into the box, with two corners and one assist for Odegard’s goal that came of it. His crossing is lethal and always causes teams problems. As well as the attacking, he was also on the ball at the other end of the field.

Unfortunately he was taken off, whether that’s down to him not being fully fit or Arteta’s wrong choice of substitution but the game changed completely.

Once Tavares was on I no longer had confidence in us leaving Goodison Park with all three points. He simply kept giving the ball away and it proved costly. Everton’s first goal was down to his throw in error. I think he is so focused on trying to create chances that his defensive mindset goes out the window.

He did the same against Manchester Utd too. He had so much possession of the ball, but lost it just as much and was also caught out of position on a few occasions, once again leading to a goal for the Red Devils. At some points I had to cover my eyes in dread that he was going to lose the ball once again!

You’d forgive him for his mistakes against Liverpool. It was a huge game for him against one of the best teams so was probably partly nerves, but he redeemed himself somewhat against Newcastle. Can you really compare the two teams? No!

So I thought maybe he just isn’t a big game player and is more suited to playing teams lower down the league. Last night proved that I think he needs to be Tierney’s standi-in or play him in Cup games until he gains more experience.

We have a congested December coming up where Kieran will be key to our first-team. Let’s hope by the end of December it will be Christmas cheers rather than a Xmas hangover.

I think it should be a no-brainer that Mikel Arteta would start who would be my next captain, the vocal Scotsman.

What’s everybody’s thoughts? Should Arteta rotate the two or have Tierney as the main man?

Take care Gooner family!