Goalkeeper's Show Stuns Liverpool as Reds Triumph Over Stalemate
[EPA] It felt like a pivotal moment for the season but also a moment for the ages. Max Dowman, 16, came on at the Emirates on Saturday evening and transformed the game and the title race. This isn't the fuzzy romanticising of a youngster's lucky moment; this was the official announcement of what should be a generational talent.
Mikel Arteta sunk Everton with his substitutions, but the fact that he went to a kid when he was desperate tells you all you need to know about what Arsenal already know. If Dowman steers clear of serious injury and seriously bad advice, he has the football world at his feet. He has super confidence, exceptional technique and already possesses the physical prowess needed at the elite level.
His vision and game awareness is already better than most Premier League players of any age, and he has a grace and balance to boot. The list of talents goes on, but it is the fact that he doesn't look over-coached, that he looks natural and able to do things effortlessly under pressure, that is so refreshing. When most would overthink the situation, he has the talent, ability or just an inborn natural gift to cope using his own ideas.
Just when Arsenal were being questioned about the prescriptive style of their set-piece dependency, they brought on a player who creates and scores goals that are not the result of mind-numbing micro-coaching. Last week, I pondered whether Arsenal will be loved for winning the title. Well, they just retrieved some of that love, because who doesn't love a fairy-tale ending?
I hope no-one attempts to coach the initiative out of Dowman by getting him to do the "right" thing more often. It is that ability to think in a way unlike others that gives him the chance to be extra special. [Getty Images] Sign up to read more from Pat Nevin in his Football Extra newsletter