Arsenal Banter Archive January 11 2017

11 Jan 2017 13:03:26
So with our season not going quite the way we all hoped and the attention being drawn to the rather bleak situation regarding the contracts of Ozil and Alexis I thought I'd bring you further misery in the form of: How in the hell do you replace Santi Cazorla?

An article from the 1st December showed our win rate with Cazorla is 65% and without him is just 39%!

So with that in mind who is capable of replacing someone as good as Santi?

The common names I see pop up are Thiago, Pjanic, Verratti, Saul, Kroos and Isco. Those all seem unrealistic for whatever reason.

Anyone have an opinion on any more realistic options?
Only 4 I can think of (and I have no idea if they're realistic or not) are Jorginho from Napoli, Manu Trigueros from Villarreal, Daniele Baselli from Torino and Geis from Schalke.

11 Jan 2017 15:08:53
Vidal would be immense but hey that will be add it to the unrealistic list

11 Jan 2017 14:26:31
Ed025 from Merseyside 😃

Payet for me.

{Ed025's Note - the payet without the attitude is great dags..

11 Jan 2017 17:40:45
Can I throw payet in there as a reasonable possibility. The rest are mostly none starters suggested, not because they aren't good but they aren't likely to come for the money required.

11 Jan 2017 20:48:50
Payet is great but I don't think he is the best replacement in santi's possition, not that I'm saying I wouldn't like seeing him at arsenal its just the possition. But thiago of Bayern would be great.

11 Jan 2017 20:50:52
Oh how about gotze?

11 Jan 2017 21:29:42
Gotze has never quite lived up to his reputation. I like matuidi from psg but he would be expensive, he's a central mid and psg keep playing him on the wing.

12 Jan 2017 09:03:21
Jack Wilshere.?

12 Jan 2017 09:56:28
Wilshere should have had a release clause in his loan deal. I agree that Payet would be a good replacement too, although at 29 and a high transfer fee and contract, I'm not too sure. I can't fathom out why Ramsey can't play in that role alongside Xhaka or Coquelin? I liked Elneny alongside Xhaka, as he makes more vertical runs, whereas Xhaka and Coquelin tend to use the ball from deep positions, opposed making driving runs which unsettle opponents.

12 Jan 2017 13:46:38
I think the main ingredient for santi replacement is player with great dribbling skills. Sometimes going passed that one player in the midfield can make the attack a lot more dangerous

14 Jan 2017 11:08:46
No-one does it quite like Santi because he's so skillful at drawing opposing players in while they attempt to win the ball, and then darting round them, meaning he creates so much space in the centre of the park. Ozil thrives on that space and Santi combines brilliantly with Coquelin because Coquelin just has to win the balls and play a simple pass to Santi to get things going from deep. The only players we have who've been able to do what Santi does in that position with regular impact are Wilshere on his day and Rosicky. Ramsey lacks that ability on the ball and is better at charging, meaning he makes surging runs forward that draw him out of the defensive, deep lying position. Hell, Ozil would probably do a better job of creating space from deep, but unfortunately he'd get clattered too much in the process.

11 Jan 2017 10:29:45
If Sanchez stall on signing the new contract and we had an option to sell to A. Madrid. Would you go for a straight swap with Griezmann? Would you be happy with this swap?

11 Jan 2017 12:43:37
Yes, Sanchez is better than Griezmann but Griezmann is as good as replacement as we could possibly get so it would be a case of making most of a bad deal IMO

11 Jan 2017 17:38:12
I don't rate griezman as good as sanchez. So no I wouldn't swap.

11 Jan 2017 19:45:41
Who is as good that we could possibly get Steve? If you leaves we will have to accept a down grade so it's a case of getting as close as we can get to Sanchez quality that is willing to come to us mate.

11 Jan 2017 20:45:05
How about rues, steve?
I don't see anyone with Sanchez work rate, but if we have to than for me either rues or griezmann are the better options out there

11 Jan 2017 20:58:46
The question was a swap or not, griezman is not good enough to swap. Now replacing sanchez is different.

11 Jan 2017 21:02:56
If sanchez leaves, it might be time to cash in on ozil and with the money let the new manager come in and build his own front line attack. Other teams don't have ozil and sanchez and do better than us.

{Ed025's Note - bloody hell steve..talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face mate!..

11 Jan 2017 21:16:57
Ed we might not have a choice anyway so the way I see it is, don't wallow get on with it. If they both want to stay great if they are messing us about, strike while we can and can get something out of it.

{Ed025's Note - i get the sentiment steve but you should never sell your best players mate, if you start again it will be another 10 years before you compete again and this team is only a couple of tweaks away imo..

11 Jan 2017 21:36:28
Ed my opinion is it is more than a couple of tweaks. How many leagues and champs leagues have we come even close to with ozil and sanchez. Its a lot more than two players and do they really want to stop? After this season if they don't sign we will loose them for sure, cash in while they have a value before they drift off into the sunset.

{Ed025's Note - i can see that steve and to lose them for nothing would be a tragedy, arsenal must improve the squad so that they want to stay and win things and i dont think you are far off that mate..

11 Jan 2017 22:07:05
We haven't been "far off" for years but that's our adopted motto "not far off"

12 Jan 2017 10:45:42
Steve how do you always end up talking about how bad Arsenal are.

The question wasn't just a swap or not, it was on the basis that Sanchez was stalling on a new contract. And you go on to say if they are messing us about then sell 'em - which is exactly what gunner62 was saying in the first place!

12 Jan 2017 14:36:22
Tpg, the word or phase saying arsenal are bad is never mentioned by me or anyone, and I was having a conversation with an ed in the post, which actually was two people having a view. Are you bored or just medling.