It's been a decent start to life for Matt Turner at Arsenal. He has quickly established himself as a popular member of the dressing room and kept his first clean sheet in a Gunners shirt in Saturday night's 2-0 victory over Everton at the M&T Bank Stadium prompting rave reviews from Mikel Arteta.
"Really happy with him and the way he’s settled in," the Spaniard said in his post-match press conference. "He’s an extraordinary character, a lot of personality and he’s great at what we want. Obviously it was a big moment for him to come with an Arsenal shirt, in the States, in front of the crowd and he did really well."
Turner has faced the unusual quirk of uprooting his entire life to move to the UK, only to have found himself back in America a few weeks later. Despite the constant changes in time zone though for him the biggest adaptation has been to Arsenal's tactics.
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Arteta is very clear that he wants his goalkeepers to be able to play out from the back and start attacks from deep with incisive possession. It was this that saw Aaron Ramsdale usurp Bernd Leno as the Gunners' number one last season. Having conceded 8.6 fewer goals than expected in the MLS Turner's shot stopping credentials have already been established, but he is willing to admit that he is still learning when it comes to ball playing aspect of his game.
"Playing out from the back has been very different but I feel I’ve adapted quite well," he told football.london . "When I’m on the pitch everyone wants the ball and that makes it a bit easier for me. I can identify a pass and make it happen.
"The biggest change is the start positions are a lot higher. They want me closer to the centre backs to keep the ball circulating faster. It’s a little more running, which is a good thing to keep me in shape."
Goalkeeping coach Inaki Cana has been working hard with Turner to get him up to speed with Arteta's demands and regularly called him while he was still playing for the New England Revolution to discuss aspects of his game to work on. The adaptation process for Turner will continue throughout the US tour where he is likely to get more minutes under his belt. With Europa League and Carabao Cup matches to come this season, he will be keen to stake his claim not just for the Arsenal number one shirt, but USA's starting spot at the World Cup in November too.
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