Morning. We can see finally some light at the end of the tunnel. Arsenal play again on Saturday, and Mikel Arteta will be hoping the rest of his players with international commitments come through their final games unscathed. Last night Martin Odegaard played the full 90 as Norway lost to Portugal again, a result which leaves them bottom of their table. The Arsenal skipper was credited with an assist on the night, but I think it’s fair to say that the strike from Kristoffer Ajer was pretty much the goalscorer’s own work – watch here. However, in the four games Norway played Odegaard has four assists to his name, and given his end product for us so far this season has been about goals, hopefully this Interlull got his creative juices flowing, so to speak. Then it’s about whether or not there’s any ongoing damage from the Bernardo Silva kick, but I’m going to assume that playing 180 minutes for his country since then suggests he’s all right. There didn’t appear to be any further flashpoint last night, the Portuguese midfielder – whose medals he won at industrial cheats Man City are now rendered worthless – only came on as a late sub, and he probably didn’t have time to get into the rhythm of the game. Which is important, even if you just want to kick someone from behind like a cowardly little gimp. Elsewhere, Jurrien Timber was on the bench as Netherlands beat Serbia 2-1. In this break he played in two of their four games, mustering 88 minutes of playing time, which will hopefully be useful. In an ideal world he has been managed sensibly, increasing his load after such a long period out is absolutely vital, and hopefully that’s what has happened. In the back of my mind, however, is a worry that the injury he’s been dealing with tends to resurface as he pushes himself. That’s based on no inside info, by the way, but until we see him get a run of games under his belt, it’s hard to feel reassured even if things appear to be going in the right direction. As for what the rest of the week holds for the Arsenal players, Riccardo Calafiori could play for Italy against Turkey later, while Viktor Gyokeres will be looking to make it a full house in goalscoring terms as Sweden play Romania. He’s scored in the three previous games during this break, and will be looking to make it four out of four. Tomorrow, the England and Spain lads will be in action too, after which they’ll return home and preparation for Leeds can begin in earnest. Beyond the players who were away, we’ll wait and see if there are positive updates on the fitness of players like Ben White, Cristhian Mosquera and Piero Hincapie, all of whom stayed at home. With all the football we have to play, and with the aforementioned worry over Timber, it would be very useful to have those first two back in contention and available. I really feel like the injury gods have had it in for us when it comes to the right back position. When White is fit, Timber is not, and vice versa, and that means they get pushed beyond their fitness boundaries too often. The best way of keeping them both fit is to ensure that we manage their minutes correctly. I still think rotation is a challenge for this manager, and it’s not just because of injury. He does have a tendency to stick with what is working, and while we can all probably understand that, I feel like he’s got to be a bit more flexible in some of his team selections. I suppose it is easier to say it from behind a keyboard than actually implement it. My job, such as it is, is about an opinion. His job is to win football matches, which is far more important. Will those of us who look for him to use to the full depth of his squad more often also allow for the fact that without certain players, you’re not as strong as you could be? Critiquing team selection after the fact is quite easy. He should have done this. He should have done that. Still, it’s not as if he has a bench full of chumps. These are high quality international players assembled at great expense, more or less, and between our two upcoming Premier League games there’s a Champions League fixture that lends itself to decent rotation, so let’s see. Right, I’ll leave it there for this morning. We recorded the Arsecast Extra yesterday, so if you haven’t had a chance to listen yet, kick off your week with some audio goodness. Till tomorrow. Download – iTunes – Spotify – Acast – RSS The post Odegaard’s creative Interlull, Timber, rotation appeared first on Arseblog ... an Arsenal blog.