Folarin Balogun’s brother, Royce, has criticized Mikel Arteta’s tactics.
According to him, that is why Arsenal struggled in their 2-0 defeat to Brentford in their first Premier League fixture of this season.
The Gunners’ campaign got off to a poor start as they were beaten by the newly promoted club.
Balogun was handed his league debut for the match, as both Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette were ruled out.
But the 20-year-old failed to make an impact and was substituted after just 59 minutes.
However, Balogun’s brother believes Arsenal’s ‘system’ made it difficult for the striker to flourish.
‘It was his time, it was really deserved, it wasn’t by luck or by chance, he fully deserved that chance,’ Royce Balogun said on What The Footie Podcast.
‘It was a good game for him, it was a baptism of fire, I think it was something he needed, he needed to see that this is the level.
‘I think him going through that really showed he’s just started, it’s just the beginning, there’s always the next step, to me you’ve never made it until you retire, until you’re finished and you can sign off and say, ‘this is my career, my stats, my numbers’, that’s when you can see you’ve made it, you’ve done your career.
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‘I think the tactics and the system… I’m not going to say much, but to see him on the pitch I was really proud of him.
‘It was a baptism, he really learnt it was not Under-23s, these are people who are really going for it, they want your head, even the way they were dragging him about you could tell.
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‘After the game you could really tell he was angry. He wasn’t panicking, it was more, ‘I need to step up’, the next day he was angry but he was like, ‘we go again, we go to the training ground and we keep going’.
