MIkel Arteta’s reaction said it all. As Max Dowman trudged to the touchline after becoming the youngest player sent off in a League Cup match at 16 years and 300 days, the Arsenal manager couldn’t help himself.
Arms crossed across his chest like an angry father who has caught his teenage son sneaking out after midnight, Arteta leaned over and threw a few choice words in Dowman’s direction before the striker sheepishly headed down the tunnel. What he said remains unknown, although that hasn’t stopped amateur lip readers from speculating on social media. “Come into the locker room. Now,” seems the most likely guess.
There is no doubt that Arteta had made up his mind about the incident which ended with Dowman seeing red for reacting to an overly aggressive sliding tackle from Fleetwood’s Harrison Neal. Although Arsenal intend to appeal and Arteta told Sky after the shock penalty shootout defeat to the League Two side 84 places below them in the pyramid that he wanted to see him again before “assessing the situation”, the Spaniard made no apologies for Dowman in his post-match press conference.
“It’s something we discussed before the game,” he said when asked about their touchline exchange. “We knew that when we prepared the context of the match, we were very clear about the things to expect, the things we had to dominate emotionally.”
Whether Dowman’s reaction warranted a red card remains open for debate given that there was minimal force when he raised his right knee towards Neal. The referee, Michael Salisbury, could easily have decided to give both players a yellow and defuse the situation, especially as Cole Palmer was booked for barging into Tottenham’s Matheus Fernandes on Saturday, in what appeared to be a much more aggressive act. But, as Wayne Rooney and David Beckham sadly discovered to their cost while playing for England at the World Cup, angry acts are generally not tolerated by officials. Dowman was considered to have overstepped the bounds.
It’s pressure Arteta warned the record-breaking teenager would face as Dowman’s reputation grew. Last month, Dowman was sent off for England Under-19s against the United States after a poorly timed tackle that most present at the behind-closed-doors match considered a difficult decision. He is said to have been the target of many significant challenges during this match. Last year, Arteta urged Dowman to follow Bukayo Saka’s example after revealing Dowman was fouled nine times in the first half of an England Under-19s match against Spain.
“It’s going to happen, he’s going to have to learn when to let go of the ball and when to attract his starting position,” Arteta said. “Very similar to Bukayo at the start as well. These players are going to get the players, the contact, the attention and they have to be very smart about when you want that contact and when you don’t want it, and what you need to do to avoid it.”
When asked how Dowman tends to react, he responded: “He just stands up…it’s very rare! Sometimes I’m surprised emotionally how cool he can be. I think it’s a matter of repetition. He’s so used to it that now he knows he has to let the referee take care of it and my teammates probably defend me, and I’ll keep playing.”
When the dust settles after a seismic defeat that ranks alongside Arsenal’s League Cup setbacks against Swindon, Birmingham and Bradford, Arteta may come to regret such a public reprimand of a 16-year-old. His actions were criticized by Paul Merson, who questioned whether Areta would “do things differently” if given another chance. But part of Arteta’s frustration will be that Dowman took the bait. He also knows that opponents will now target Dowman even more to see if they can provoke a reaction.
after newsletter promotion
If Arsenal’s appeal fails, Dowman’s immediate sanction will be a three-match domestic ban, causing him to miss Sunday’s trip to Liverpool and the matches against Hull and Newcastle. The timing is far from helpful: Saka’s thigh injury, which is expected to keep him out for several weeks, had opened up the possibility of playing longer in the Premier League, and Noni Madueke did not travel to Fleetwood due to an ankle problem.
Dowman burst onto the scene last year by becoming the first 15-year-old to play in the Champions League, then broke the record for youngest Premier League goalscorer against Everton in March, the first major setback of his young career.
He has been training with the first team since the age of 14 and Arsenal have been extremely careful not to overexpose one of the most high-profile players to come out of their Hale End academy. Arteta resisted the temptation to give him many more minutes in the Premier League after Dowman scored twice against Ipswich in the previous round of the Carabao Cup last month. The challenge will be how Dowman responds to the added scrutiny – on and off the field – that will inevitably be thrown his way.
Gn sports
