After a frantic contest had drawn to a close and various officials from both Arsenal and Norwich City gathered around to complete their post-match duties, one man still stood out as the calmest in the Emirates Stadium.
Surprisingly that man was a 19-year-old, who months ago was known to very few but suddenly has been catapulted into global recognition on the international stage and in the Premier League.
“It’s been a great week,” said Andrew Omobamidele, the composed teenager in question. “A week that I dreamt of since I started playing football, obviously with the international stage and then here (at the Emirates). Hopefully, I’ll get more moments like this.
“This is the level that I want to play at. These are the type of opposition that I want to be playing week in, week out, throughout my whole career hopefully. To be playing them at a young age is a valuable experience.”
Saturday may have been dreamy for the Irishman in one way, but he was speaking following a 1-0 loss, his pointless side’s fourth defeat of the season. Individual milestones may be satisfying but success is the priority, as Omobamidele highlighted:
“It was a disappointing end. Some parts of the game we dominated and the boys at the back defended well on crosses, there’s a lot of positives. I know it’s early on and it’s a fresh defeat but I think there’s a lot of positives that we can take.”
While disappointed, the centre-back was clearly keen to view the loss with optimism and in doing so will surely take note of his own performance, an excellent display and arguably the best of any Norwich centre-back this campaign.
Club captain Grant Hanley, previously consistently solid, has endured a difficult start to the season as he adapts his aggressive ball-winning game to smarter Premier League forwards, and while the Scotland international looks crude and reactive, Omobamidele’s composure has been a breath of fresh air for the Canaries.
Never did City’s number 44 look flustered or rushed and dealt with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s direct style very well. No performance is entirely unblemished in football, but Omobamidele did well to learn from his mistakes.
In the early stages, Aubameyang did come close to catching Tim Krul out after his marker was caught far too high up the pitch, but more cautious positioning from the Norwich defender ensured that such a situation was not repeated.
Omobamidele held firm as Arsenal pressure increased, and looked more comfortable in a set shape than on the run; after a hectic start the game had calmed down and he was part of a deep backline in a 10-strong block rather than a two-on-one battle with the Gambian.
Also impressive was Omobamidele’s ability on the ball. With the Irishman in the side, City looked far more capable and assured when bringing the ball out from the back than they had in the prior three league games, and the Gunners’ clear ploy to direct all traffic towards Hanley highlighted their knowledge of his defensive partner’s strengths.
However, football is a results business and because the ball bounced fortuitously off a stricken Nicolas Pepe and into Aubameyang’s path, Omobamidele’s excellent performance will largely be forgotten.
Thankfully for the youngster, his head coach’s eye for detail won’t allow the same attitude to creep into team selection, and just as well given the competition.
Potential record signing and Ozan Kabak is yet to appear in a yellow shirt while Omobamidele has already eased out half of the greatest City defensive duo in a number of years. It’s a testament to both the Irishman’s quality and Stuart Webber’s transfer dealings that two weeks ago Hanley and Ben Gibson appeared the clear top two in the starting stakes.
Rotation may also work in Omobamidele’s favour as he looks to gain top-level experience. It’s a tool Daniel Farke is aware he’ll have to use, despite not being entirely keen on heavy tinkering.
“It won’t be that we have 11 changes between each and every game because that wouldn’t be healthy for the group if we changed too much, especially in central positions,” Farke said following the Arsenal defeat, “but we have to be a bit more pragmatic and a bit more flexible perhaps than last season when we were dominating game after game.”
Omobamidele will hope that his performances earn him exemption from that rotation – in the same way that Teemu Pukki and Emi Buendia’s performances have earned them automatic starting places – when previously it had looked like his best chance at some Premier League minutes.
There’s still a long way to go and the Irish international will have to step his performances up another level to achieve that status, but after a slow start from his in-house competitors, City’s latest teenage superstar has more than taken the initiative.
Thought this was a good balanced article with food for thought apart from what appears to be a cheap shot at Hanley.
Hi Samuel
You seem to be writing off both Hanley and Gibson so soon in a long season.
Arthur O is proving to be a gem but building him up so early in his first team career as with Gilmour can come with a nasty bump of reality later down the road.
Yesterday after all the analysis had disected the Arse-nal goal an ex footballer said why did Norwich stop playing after the hand ball waiting for the Ref to blow maybe if they continued instead of standing and looking for a foul the goal could have been prevented.
Being old enough to remember organised interschool games the first thing we were told play to the whistle, it seems that has changed in that a player draws the Ref’s attention to anything that might gain them an advantage instead of seeing they are giving the other side the advantage but their actions.
The big defencive questions will be can or will city go to a back 3 or will Kabak become a permanent fixture this term all are the clubs loaning players will expect them to get meaningful game time otherwise there could be a recall leaving city short in numbers.
Keeping Gibson happy could be a tough call after just getting his mojo back last season he will be expecting to kick on after another big money move and a poor time at Burnley and the other who might not be happy is Dimi after a reputed offer from Roma could we see others test the water prior to the January window.
DF has a problem that most manager will dread poor results and keeping everyone happy and then there is the home crowd how long before a few dissenting supporters turn into a louder voice
Nothing wrong with Hanley, Gibson, or Zimbo, Samuel, and with the advent of Kabak and the rise of Omobamidele, we appear to have five solid centre backs affording us pretty good and wide defensive cover, each one contributing their own range of technical abilities.
Pretty much an entire back line ‘for all seasons’, with five full backs including Byram when he gets fit, and the under-utilised midfield talents of Sorensen could also be shunted backwards to add to the equation.
This season rotation may come second to ‘horses for courses’ and we may see all five centre backs being utilised through specific games to stop specific threats.
The missing of Saka’s accidental handball by the referee and linesmen, and the omission of checking it by VAR were unfortunate, but were certainly not unheard of! However, it should really have come into the investigation for VAR, it was in their remit, if the same VAR blanket checks are used in all games for all teams.
But for that, we might well have scraped a lucky draw and got our first point of the season, but there you go!
Omobamidele is an absolute bonus – and so are the other four centre backs. Thats what squad football is about. Whether he joins the nucleus is yet to be seen and it will be exciting watching this season play out.
Next up, Watford, who will no doubt come at us full-on. we have to match them, and beat them, and we are due a game where it all comes together!
COYY !!
It seems that we have an emerging battle for the starting slots in the centre of our defence, a situation that we would all have loved to have had in seasons past. Gibson, Hanley are the old and wise heads and will see game time, but I can see a situation in which Kabak and Omobamidele will be the first choice pairing before the end of this season. Zimbo will provide good cover against injuries a decent enough player to have in that role.
Like others, I enjoyed the article apart from the cheap shot at Hanley. He is a more than decent option at this level and has the pace to keep up with fast stickers as he so ably demonstrated on more than one occasion on Saturday. In any case, I do not agree with that part of your analysis – that Arsenal targeted Hanley, I think that you might be guilty of seeing what you wanted to see.
I think the most prudent move would be a back 3 regardless but its a hell of a blow to Gibson to say he’s dropped in the blink of an eye after only 4 games on account of his ‘speed’ against Arsenal’s front line. A concept apparently not relevant to the poor guy defending against Salah and Mane, Gabriel Jesus or the tortoise Jamie Vardy. What a load of bollocks to drop him for ‘pace’. How about, DF, you sort out the mess in front of the defenders? The midfield mess that neither protects the back or creates for the attack.
This article does raise an eyebrow though….. the anger and negativity I received in the summer when I said teams would isolate Gibson for his lack of pace, at a time when he was considered a golden boy. And when I said City didn’t suffer without him when Andy O stepped in, and that City looked better defensively with Sorensen and better in attack with Quintilla, than Gianoullis…. i was considered to just be moaning at thin air.
What nobody is prepared to say is that because of DF’s 4-3-3 insistence, with inappropriate players available to him, that defensive line is getting exposed just like it was 2 years ago. It is a matter of organisation and accountability to the coaches as much as there are individual errors.
People hope Andy O and Kabak finish the season together but those analysts have no idea about the long term implications when Kabak is returned to sender, Andy O goes to Everton for another £25m and you’ve alienated the players left. It’s a similar mentality to building a team dependent on Skipp and Buendia and in my mind, this is when the self funding model judders on without ever gaining traction…. and only until the youth supply runs out.
I think Andy O is a brilliant defender but I saw schoolboy errors in his game against Arsenal as much as I saw his usual competent self… he will cost us more goals learning his trade than he will save goals through his potential. It is a very fine balance. Ben Godfrey and Zimbo had a season to learn mistakes before being wrung out in the Prem. Andy O certainly has the ability, but if it comes at a cost of leadership in a relegation fight, I know what id choose.. Personally, I see more in Hanley and Kabak as a pair than any others, but if its a 3…. if i were the coach…. Id have Hanley and Kabak wide of Gibson for a LOT of reasons.