Arsenal beat Brighton 2-0 in the Carabao Cup this week, and Alan Shearer and Gary Lineker discuss Max Dauman’s performance and how Mikel Arteta should handle his involvement with the first team.
After playing for Arsenal in the Carabao Cup fourth round tie against Brighton, Alan Shearer revealed his feelings towards Max Dauman. The 15-year-old was given his first senior start for the Gunners on Wednesday night and impressed with his 71 minutes on the pitch.
Two other Hale End Academy graduates scored, with Ethan Nwaneri and Bukayo Saka scoring in the second half. The other big story of the night was Andre Harriman-Annus named in the starting XI alongside Dauman, with Pierrot Hincapie making his first start since joining the club this summer.
After the 2-0 win, all the talk was about Dowman, with Gary Lineker full of praise for the teenager in his latest Rest is Football podcast with Alan Shearer and Micah Richards, but also wary of putting too much pressure on him.
read more: Mikel Arteta singles out two Arsenal youngsters after Brighton’s ‘special’ winread more: Arsenal’s Martin Zvimendi at the center of tense altercation – ‘The relationship is very bad’
“Max Dauman made the most dribbles and won the most fouls and duels at the age of 15. That’s true,” he said.
“It’s unbelievable. He (Arteta) obviously has to get the balance right between playing and defending, but to go out on that stage at 15 and play and just look the right way is amazing. He looks like he belongs there.”
Lineker went on to directly quote Arteta’s comments about the teenager in his post-match press conference, saying: “I think people think they have a generational talent. Maybe England have found a talent. But we have to be a little hesitant. We don’t want to develop him too much…”
Then Shearer interjected: “But I can’t stop talking about him, Gaz. I have to.”
Lineker added: “Yeah, you can’t do that. It’s like Ramin Yamal, we were talking about him when he was 15, 16 years old. If you have someone as exciting and talented as Max Dauman, let’s talk about him. Ultimately how well he does will be determined by how he handles the situation and he seems like a mature person beyond his years.”
“He has to face fame at a very early age, which is not easy, but we have experienced that with young talents. It will be very interesting to follow his career and see how Arteta deals with him. As with anything, if he is that good, he will find a way to play him.”
The trio also discussed Arsenal’s overall performance against Brighton, saying that the win and clean sheet were even more impressive in their eyes given that 10 changes were made.
Lineker said: “He (Arteta) rotated quite a bit, which shows the depth Arsenal have now. I thought Brighton showed a good fist, especially in the first half. Kepa came on and made one or two great saves, but they won again.”
Richards said: “They’ve changed the whole back four too. Look at this. The second defender, Ben White, Mosquera, Hincapie, Miles Lewis-Skelly. That’s second choice in the back four. That’s ridiculous. Arsenal are really on to something right now.”
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