Lee Dixon says it’s not necessarily a bad thing for Myles Lewis-Skelly that he’s lost his place with Arsenal and England, as it gives him a break and the chance to continue to learn.
Myles Lewis-Skelly has faced a little bit of a setback in recent months, after his initial explosion into the Arsenal starting lineup.
Following the teenager’s first-team debut last season, Lewis-Skelly went on to make 26 starts for Mikel Arteta’s side, most notably starting every single knockout game of Arsenal’s Champions League run to the semi-finals.
Yet more than three months into the new season, the left-back has only made four starts in all competitions, none in the Premier League, and he’s lost his spot in Thomas Tuchel’s England squad.
Reflecting on Lewis-Skelly’s recent step back in an interview with Daily Cannon, former Arsenal defender Lee Dixon claims it’s not necessarily a bad thing for the player.
“I wasn’t too disappointed that he lost his place,” Dixon insisted. “I only say that because I’m trying to feel how he’s going through this period of time and what he can learn from it. He hit the ground absolutely sprinting and his performances at such a tender age were exceptional.
“When you’re a young kid like that and you’re playing, you get your break and you play so well and everything comes so quickly. He scored in his England debut. Everyone was talking about him. There’s only really one way to go. You can’t keep going like that.
“You have to plateau at some point and normally youngsters just have a drop off.
“I’m not saying necessarily he had that drop-off, but think maybe it was just brilliant management. He lost his place, but the best place for him then, I believe, was to sit on the bench and then watch the team, particularly Calafiori.”
“When you’re on the bench, you can learn so much if you watch the game and the player who is playing in your position, good and bad,” Dixon added.
“If you specifically watch the player – and he will get a good view when he’s playing on the side of the dugout – Calafiori, he’s 10/15 yards away from you and you can watch the game peripherally as it’s going on, but you can also just stare at him and watch him.
“Watch his position, watch when he changes his position, where’s the ball, has the ball moved, is he gambling, is he taking a chance? To go tight on his winger in case the ball goes to him. Is that a good thing or is that a bad thing? All of that sort of stuff, your distances.
“When you’re playing fullback, it’s all about your distance from the man you’re marking and where’s the ball. Has he got the ball? How far away from you? What you’re leaving behind when you close down? All of that stuff.
“And it’s instinctive for him because he’s a brilliant young kid. [But] instinct sometimes lets you down.
“If you can watch somebody else doing it and go, no, he didn’t go until the guy got the ball to feet. And when he got there, he closed him down and he shuffled him a certain way, won the ball. That was good play. So you log that in your head.”
When asked if Dixon had any advice for the Arsenal youngster, the four-time English league title winner suggested Lewis-Skelly shouldn’t waste this time on the sidelines.
“My advice to him would be make the most of sitting down because sooner or later you’re to be standing up and required to go and perform,” Dixon said. “You’ve got to be ready and you’ve got to have learned something while you’re sitting on the bench.”
Thanks to OLBG for facilitating this interview between Daily Cannon and Lee Dixon.