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Reiss Nelson: Lionelson

akhil

Well-Known Member
Watching him play, he seems so stiff when he moves. Not sure if he's put on a lot of muscle but he looks less agile than when he played for the youth teams. He looks quick when sprinting in a straight line but looks slow changing direction.

Hopefully he extends and goes back to Feyenoord for another year. Seems to be getting his confidence up again. Doubt he could challenge ESR or Martinelli for a spot now anyway.
 

Rasmi

Negative Nancy

Country: England
We'll be in Europe next season and Saka is going to burn out if we don't have some sort of cover for him. Pepe will most likely be going and Nelson would be a perfect squad replacement on either flank to fight it out with Saka and Martinelli. Pre-Season will be so so important for him. He MUST impress.
Perfect as hoped he doesn’t play because he is not good enough. Really doubt he is better than omari or Flores. We need to accept he will never play for Arsenal again
 

Maybe

You're wrong, no?
Watching him play, he seems so stiff when he moves. Not sure if he's put on a lot of muscle but he looks less agile than when he played for the youth teams. He looks quick when sprinting in a straight line but looks slow changing direction.
Wasn't he always like that? I don't see bigger changes on his body tbh
 

Geofranco

Would let Saka date his daughter

Player:Saka
Watching him play, he seems so stiff when he moves. Not sure if he's put on a lot of muscle but he looks less agile than when he played for the youth teams. He looks quick when sprinting in a straight line but looks slow changing direction.

Hopefully he extends and goes back to Feyenoord for another year. Seems to be getting his confidence up again. Doubt he could challenge ESR or Martinelli for a spot now anyway.
He has always looked a bit stiff in his movement. That is one reason I was unsure of him. He was clearly the most talented in his group, but I always preferred Chris Willock. He was just so fluid and graceful, but not as dynamic as Nelson. He def looks less agile than he did when he was 14-17 years old though.
 

el57

Well-Known Member
He's pretty inhibited when shooting and doesn't attack the goal like Sinisterra (his opposite on Feyenoord). It's obviously in part due to confidence since Reiss seems a bit of a shy and anxious guy. He is playing much better now though, both league and in Europe.

I work not far from Feyenoord's stadium and have asked some Feyenoord mates about him over the season... Until about January they couldn't really be bothered about him, then seemed they thought he had a bit of promise but still disappointing it took 6 months to see. I also noticed he'd get really unnecessary criticism in the media, little digs making fun of his Arsenal chances like "oh did they teach him to finish this poorly in that fancy Arsenal academy? Or maybe he missed those classes that Saka had..." Like fair play that the kid may not make it at the top end of the Premier League, but he's on loan, it's not like he's a record transfer.

Tunes all changed past month. He's starting and contributing every single match: movement, final ball and chemistry all much better. Fans and manager have warmed a bit. Don't think Feyenoord would buy him though, at least not a price Arsenal would care about.

Judging from how he's talked in interviews the last couple months, I think the best option would be for us to extend his contract and his Feyenoord loan. The lad really really wants to make it at Arsenal, however improbable, but he seems to have buckled down and grown under the Feyenoord manager, Arne Slot. He's also tapping the badge and waving to the fans etc so his confidence is returned. Would be win-win-win for him to have another year on loan with them.
 

Tir Na Nog

Changes Opinion Every 5 Minutes

Country: Ireland

Basically, Feyenoord say it's impossible to keep him because we want him back and want to take a look in pre season.

Smart decision because he's far better than fatty kills flow and the Brazilian Dirk Kuyt
 

Macho

In search of Pure Profit 💸
Dusted 🔻

Country: England

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By Art de Roché
May 25, 2022

As the Zoom call starts, Reiss Nelson is greeted by a simple, “How are you?” and something he has missed.

“I’m good, man. It’s nice to hear an English accent,” he chuckles.

The 22-year-old has benefited from having a sense of familiarity blended into new experiences across the year while on loan at Feyenoord. He is still able to speak English in the Netherlands, of course, but is met with the Dutch twang when he does so — a constant reminder of the distance from his South London roots.

Things are looking up after Nelson was unable to nail down a first-team spot at Arsenal before picking up a groin injury in September, soon after making the move to Rotterdam. He has gone on to become a consistent performer for Arne Slot’s side, helping them reach the Europa Conference League final against Roma tonight (Wednesday). Part of his recent success is down to how he looks after his body better.

“Coming through the ranks (at Arsenal), I was — not fearless — but I just didn’t care how many training sessions I would do outside of Arsenal,” Nelson tells The Athletic. “I didn’t really care what I was eating. I was maybe staying up too late and I was just doing a lot of different stuff. But now, I actually need those extra hours to recover.

“At the start, I hated going to the gym just to do little stretches. Now I literally have to come in earlier to do 15 minutes of stretching, then come back in after training to do extra bits on my groin or my hamstrings.

“Those extra little bits are probably the main factor of why my season went from not really playing, being on the bench, getting injured, to now being in the team and striving for more in the (Conference League) final. Just because of that little bit extra I’ve been putting in behind the scenes, which is a blessing. I need to just keep doing that and hopefully just keep elevating.”

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Nelson prepares ahead of the UEFA Conference League final (Photo: Matteo Ciambelli/vi/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)
Consistency is key. At Arsenal last year, Nelson managed just 69 Premier League minutes in two substitute appearances, with a mix of minor injuries and the emergence of other players holding him back.

His longest run of league starts in north London is three games, which came under caretaker manager Freddie Ljungberg and the newly-appointed Mikel Arteta in December 2019 when he was preferred to Nicolas Pepe against Everton, Bournemouth and Chelsea.

Expectation has followed the winger for much of his young career as one of Hale End’s more high-profile graduates of the late 2010s. That was the case once again when his loan to Feyenoord was announced, especially after the heights he hit on loan at German club Hoffenheim in 2018-19, scoring seven Bundesliga goals as a teenager. His first week with the Rotterdam side showed that not everything goes exactly to plan.

“It (the groin injury) was annoying because I came to Feyenoord wanting to play every single game as soon as I got there,” says Nelson, who has been capped at every England age group from under-16s to under-21s.

“At the first training session, I was buzzing, I was really happy, positive on the pitch.

“Then, the next session, I had a shot and felt something on my right groin. I was thinking to myself, ‘Please god, this can’t (happen). Not this early’. So I kept playing and didn’t really tell anyone, but then it got to a point where I couldn’t even shoot with my right foot. I was just doing everything with my left foot. Then I told the physio, ‘I feel something on my groin’.”

Nelson was out for just over a month. He made his debut as a substitute in mid-October but did not start in Feyenoord colours until December, in what was a crucial period of personal reflection.

“Everyone is different,” he says. “Some players start one game and fly straight away. Maybe (from age) 18 all the way up to 22, they’re really good, playing every game and then they might dip, or some players might be up and down, which is normal as a young player.

“In my case, I made my debut pretty young, then went on loan to Hoffenheim when I was 18, 19. It was the same thing — I’d play three or four games and have a little niggle. As I’ve gotten older and actually learned my body, it’s taken me a bit longer just to be more robust, stronger and actually know my body to play men’s football week in, week out.

“I flicked a switch of not rushing back (after the groin injury this season), but just to come back strong. As a young player, you just want to rush in and skip certain parts when normally, you’ve just got to wait, do everything professionally and then be strong and ready (so) when a manager counts on you, you can be robust and play throughout.”

Nelson is still getting used to one recovery method in particular — which Feyenoord have been keen on since the day he arrived.

“I still hate ice baths but it’s one of the things that you’ve just got to do,” he says. “The benefit from it is amazing. I did ice baths today. I literally hate it, but I had to just jump in, stay for a few minutes and leave.”

Nelson has credited rehab physio Tim Janssen and fellow head of performance Leigh Egger, alongside Peeters, for helping build his confidence around this aspect of football, but there has also been development on the pitch.

Slot has shown faith in the 22-year-old, starting him in 10 of the 13 league games he was available after December, as well in all six Conference League knockout games ahead of tonight’s final in Tirana, Albania. While Slot and most of his staff were new faces, one person at the club was easy for Nelson to pick out: Robin van Persie.

The former Arsenal and Netherlands striker returned to boyhood club Feyenoord for his final season as a player in 2018-19. Aged 38, Van Persie is now a coach with Feyenoord Under-16s and, despite not having an official title with the first team, occasionally assists with their training.

“Yeah, I speak with him,” Nelson admits. “Sometimes he comes over on a Wednesday, before Europa Conference League games on a Thursday. I ask him about what positions I need to be getting in. Certain movements I need to be doing, certain finishes.

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Van Persie and Nelson after Feyenoord’s 3-1 Conference League last-16 first leg win over Partizan Belgrade (Photo: ANP via Getty Images)
“He’s amazing. He makes it so much simpler for you to understand. Sometimes the ball will come inside, and you go to smash it. He’s just like, ‘Look, make sure you get (good) contact, make sure your body is this way, make sure you just want to hit it into the corner’.”

While he managed 132 goals for Arsenal, 50 in 102 senior caps and 58 at Manchester United, things did not always go Van Persie’s way. It is easy to forget that, despite his talent, injuries and competition for places meant it took years before he became one of Arsenal’s first-choice strikers after joining from Feyenoord in the summer of 2004.

“He said Arsène Wenger put him on the wing to start and (he) didn’t like it, but someone got injured and he played up front,” adds Nelson. “He was like, ‘Oh, I never played up front. Why do you want me to play up front (now)?’

“He said that he just started working on all these different movements, to be that extra bit sharper than a lot of the defenders. He just worked on it all the time, every day, and it took time, but then he really got the hang of it. It made him into the guy he is today. So he said, ‘Just keep going and keep persisting in everything you do and you can make it to that level’.”

So, did Van Persie actually show Nelson those movements, so he could start incorporating them in his game?

“Yeah, he does all the time. The little drop of the shoulder or coming short to go long or going long to come short. Little, simple stuff, but it gives you an extra yard or two to get in the box and finish.”

Coming short to go long worked particularly well in the Conference League semi-final first leg against Marseille. Nelson got in behind the French visitors’ defence three times in the first 20 minutes by doing this and beat the offside trap to assist the impressive Luis Sinisterra on the third occasion.

As Nelson gears up for his last chance to impress in a Feyenoord shirt, there has likely been a healthy balance of non-football related activities to keep his mind occupied.

As the season has progressed and pandemic restrictions eased, there have been more opportunities for family visits on the short flight to Rotterdam and there always appears to be time to jump on the PlayStation to connect with those still in England.

That downtime also provides opportunity for exploration, with a recent trip to an art gallery sticking out among football posts on Nelson’s Instagram.

“I feel like I’m a creative. Coming from south London, there’s so many different directions you can go. There’s people in so many different industries that can help and educate you. For me, I like to do photography, art, I like fashion. I need different things to do, outside of football.

“We just had a couple of days off and I went to see one artist, and funny enough, she lives in Lewisham too. She has a big project coming up in Los Angeles I think, in July. It was just nice to go see her work.

“A lot of players don’t really do that. Of course, some people say, ‘Oh, you should just be focused 100 per cent on football, you can’t be doing this or that.’ But I like to just keep my mind in all different aspects. Because there’s life after football as well.”

Reminders of London life have flashed by Nelson in Rotterdam. From seeing urban football cages similar to the ones he grew up in on his drive to the local shops, to Feyenoord team-mates pestering him about whether Netflix drama Top Boy is an accurate depiction of what happens in the UK capital. Those familiar themes sprinkling through his new, fresh experiences have helped him find a home away from home — though south London is never far from his thoughts.

Towards the end of the interview, a police siren blares through our microphone into his headphones.

An apology comes from The Athletic, only for him to laugh and reply: “That’s south, man. Don’t worry. I miss them.”
 

MutableEarth

Reiss' Dad
Trusted ⭐

How much is @MutableEarth paying the club?
Don't blame me, I think he should leave :lol: :lol:.

Everything indicates he actually still wants to make it at Arsenal which seems incongruent seeing as he did his customary "play like a coward" display in an Arsenal shirt again last Friday. He might actually be more disappointing to me than JET smh.

Nonetheless, I read Art De Roche's article re Nelson and it doesn't seem like there's as much substance - that said, I wouldn't be surprised, particularly if some of the kids on the comeup end up on loan instead and Reiss is still there. Feyenoord can't afford him even with Sinisterra money so he can't go back there unless it's another loan. I have a hunch he signs a new deal tbh. If he was smart, he'd drop down a level and go boss up at a **** team. Grind his way up.
 

Yousif Arsenal

On Vinai's payroll & misses 4th place trophy 🏆
Trusted ⭐
This not good for him and us he won't be moving this window and we want a winger. I think we'll end up not registering him for either europa or PL squad.

These injures becoming really sad story him everytime he goes to good form injures hit him again.
 
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