COMMENT: He's warned us. He's prepared us. But when he makes the call - and he will - it's all going to break loose. As sure as night follows day, Mikel Arteta will hook his goalkeeper this season...
You take him at his word. You have to. For Arsenal's manager, the goalkeeper is no protected class. He's one of XI. And if David Raya or Aaron Ramsdale has him nervous, Arteta will call them in.
"Someone is going to do it," warned Arteta a fortnight ago, "and it'll be strange and you'll ask why, but tell me why not? If you have all the qualities in another goalkeeper to do something, or if something is happening and you want to change the momentum, then do it. It is a regret that I have and now my feeling is to get everybody engaged in the team that they have to play, regardless of the competition - this is my message."
Many inside the game claim Arteta is running interference for Raya. That the Spaniard, fresh from his late window move via Brentford, will be his No1. All this talk of rotations and substitutions is just fluff.
But again, you have to take the manager at his word. He's not really one for media games, is Arteta. He won't say something unless he means it. If tactics or form demands it, Arteta will substitute his keeper.
To be fair, Arteta has never been comfortable with his goalkeepers. Matt Turner, Alex Runarsson and Mat Ryan have come and gone. Bernd Leno was inherited before being sold. As was Argentina's World Cup winner Emiliano Martinez. Throw in youth and U21 keepers and the turnover has been massive for Arteta's three years in charge. It's clear the manager remains unsure of what he wants in his goalkeeper. The question is, will Ramsdale be next? Or is his manager genuine when he says he wants two keepers fighting for the same position? Either way, given Arteta's approach, the England international cannot say he wasn't warned.
"My two goalkeepers at Barcelona were Victor Valdes and Pepe Reina," Arteta said just today. "And we were so safe. I looked back with Pepe Reina and Victor Valdes and I thought we have a big chance to win the game."
Many of the keepers' guild are already bemoaning it. Predicting disaster. But is it really so bad? Or is Arteta simply moving the game forward with this approach? Is there really a difference, when considering a back three combination, between rotating your centre-halves and doing the same with your goalkeeper?
What this does mean, at least at London Colney, is the need for a switch in mentality from the club's shot-stoppers. Indeed, for the sake of continuity, could U21 coach Mehmet Ali and his U18s counterpart Jack Wilshere be soon instructed to follow suit?
As we say, they've long been a protected class. A senior keeper and his understudy. An understudy good enough to step in when needed, but not quite at the level to threaten the senior's place permanently. Then, of course, you also have your two keepers of similar ability. But again, the pecking order remained. Rotations may happen. But the approach was never game to game. However, Arteta intends to take that to a new level. Never mind week-to-week, it's now more minute-to-minute. As mentioned, Ramsdale and Raya have entered new waters here. Nothing in their career will have prepared them for this.
And that's before the actual hook is made. For now, whomever it is between the posts, they enter the game knowing they could be substituted at anytime. This is all new, particularly at the level of the Premier League. Both men will have to adjust on the run. It's a real test of mental strength - and agility.
And then when the hook comes, it'll really hit the fan. Arteta will cop it, of course. But this will be more about the keeper in question. The scrutiny will be unlike anything we've seen. And the opposition fans will have a field day.
Raya and Ramsdale need only ask one of their Premier League peers about living with such a moment. They still call Wes Foderingham, Sheffield United's No1, "League One Wes" after he was hooked by Paolo di Canio on 21 minutes as a young keeper at Swindon Town. That was 11 years ago and Wes is still being asked about it today.
But it could work. Indeed for this column, it will work. Arteta, as he says, is prepared to be the first. But as they see the benefits, more and more managers will adopt it. And changing the keeper, soon enough, will become the norm. In football, as with so many things, coaches are slaves to trends.
With the extra substitutions. With keepers now effectively becoming sweepers. It's inevitable this was going to happen. It's tough on Ramsdale and Raya. But as their manager says, "Someone is going to do it..."
