“I saw it caused some commotion”: Reiss Nelson ‘spicy’ training comment clarified | OneFootball

Feyenoord’s head coach Arne Slot has moved to clarify his ‘spicy’ comments after some took them as a dig at Arsenal’s training methods.

Feyenoord coach Arne Slot during the UEFA Conference League match between Maccabi Haifa and Feyenoord at the Sammy Ofer Stadium on September 14, 2021 in Haifa, Israel. ANP TOM BODE MULTIMEDIA

Reiss Nelson was not included in Feyenoord’s Europa Conference League squad this week as he lacks match fitness.

Their coach, Arne Slot, tried to explain this ahead of the game, saying, “Nelson had participated in almost all training sessions at Arsenal, but he experiences the training sessions here as a bit more spicy.

“He ran into an overload injury and so he is not here.

“Whether he will make it to PSV remains to be seen.”

This was interpreted in some quarters as Slot ‘revealing’ that Arsenal training sessions are too easy, an accusation I don’t think logic allows you to make if you really pay attention to Mikel Arteta’s obsessive tendencies.

After the confusion, Slot seemingly felt the need to clear it all up.

“I’m glad you asked because I saw it caused some commotion,” Slot told ESPN, relayed by Voetbal Primeur, when asked to clarify what he meant.

“With that, I’m not saying anything about how Arsenal train; I’m saying something about how substitute player Reiss Nelson, who didn’t have much of a future there, trained.

“He was very often in the team that had to imitate the opponent. He didn’t actually play any matches.

“Now he is with a team that is busy and where he is seen as a player who has to play a lot, so that combination has caused him to have some overload problems.”

In other words, this isn’t a criticism of Arsenal’s training, but Reiss Nelson’s training at Arsenal, which could be the reason he didn’t have much of a future at the club.