Arsenal Banter Archive August 14 2018

14 Aug 2018 16:43:44
Xhakas stats in the citeh game are so embarrassing, compared to torreira (who replaced him) and Gouendouzi. He had 55 touches, no key passes 8 misplaced passes and one tackle. Torreira had two tackles two key passes. Gouendouzi made four tackles, 2 blocks, 4 key passes and 88 touches of the ball, more than any other player. It begs the question, we were playing citeh that are going to have the ball more in midfield than you, where on earth was he hiding? . For me he left the young kid exposed and hung him out to dry. Disgraceful.

14 Aug 2018 17:23:09
Normally, i think stats can be misleading but in this case, they back up what i thought i was seeing. The guy is a disgrace to an arsenal shirt.

14 Aug 2018 19:49:43
His one tackle resulted in a yellow card. I think Gouendouzi had an excellent game, especially since he was covering for Xhaka as well.

14 Aug 2018 20:43:15
As I said when we got Xhaka, waste of space Steve more money wasted.

14 Aug 2018 20:56:01
I think Gouendouzi could be a special talent but he needs help and guidance from his team mates. During the game, i kept thinking, is this kid our only midfielder, he was a one man machine and got absolutely knackered but he kept going. I really hope with what i have seen, him and torreira can become a double act. I don't think torreira would leave him isolated.

14 Aug 2018 23:53:08
Guendouzi and Torreira could provide an outstanding balance of technical ability, vision and grit to the midfield for a long, long time. I was one of those who wanted to see Xhaka in a slightly more advanced midfield role playing with a disciplined, defensive-minded midfielder. But the sad truth is I just don’t think he’s cut out for the premier league. Far too much speed for him and he doesn’t make up for it with creativity and he’s not adept at breaking up the opposition’s attack. His spot in the starting XI is in serious jeopardy. That is if it’s not already been taken.

14 Aug 2018 23:58:55
Xhaka offers very little apart from the odd howler of a shot on him. He is kind of a nothing midfielder not good defensivly and contributes very little offensivly, you need to be good at one side or the other and he ain't. I am not a great fan of Ramsey either but at least with him he does make good intelligent runs offensivly. I hope given time Emery can see this and gets him replaced. N'zonzi has signed for Roma today so that opportunity has passed. Shame as I would have happy sold either Xakha or Ramsey to get him.

Guendouzi you can see has talent but don't forget he is a 19yr old that was only playing in the French 2nd tier last season so you can't expect too much too soon. Torreira you can see already that he will be a vital player for us this season. At present I would play Elneney alongside him in a DM role with Goudouzi getting game experience from the bench. Ramsey play further up with Ozil.

15 Aug 2018 05:43:43
Agree Ryan but if he's good enough, age isn't a problem, how old is mabappe,19. If he isn't ready, i'm afraid none of the ball winning midfielders we have are good enough to play with torreira. I appreciate he is young but i hope he is the player he looks like he can be.

15 Aug 2018 06:49:16
Should start with the team that finished game, all be it with a decent left back should we have one fit Ramsey and xhaka are done both looked slow lacking anything for the team torreira must start the young French lad was a breath of fresh air made 1 big mistake but cech covered him lacca and PEA look good together mikka is still not doing what he can but I’d give him 5-10 games to build confidence same for the other new players.

15 Aug 2018 08:55:39
Why didn’t the two start Steve - I can’t work that decision out. That or passing out the back against City. stupid.

15 Aug 2018 08:30:49
I agree with your Xhaka assessment Ryan which begs the question how is he a professional footballer in the fist place?
The occasional long shot and the occasional long pass, I played local park football with loads of people who could do that plus they could tackle head the ball and put in a shift despite the fact they were builders postman or office workers who paid £2 a week subs to play each week.
£34 million we paid for him so there has to be more to his game than we have ever seen, there has to be, personally I don't think we should hang around waiting for Xhaka to finally show us what he's really capable of as 2 years of doing nothing is too much time wasted already, we should off load him before the European window shuts.

15 Aug 2018 09:35:00
The problem there is we just renewed and gave him an improved contract which I don’t know how this happened, its not like he had an outstanding season last season and we are afraid to lose him for nothing.

I really hope Emery can see he was the weakest link in our midfield last sunday and that he is a waste of space.

I was really hoping he can prove us all wrong and be bossing the midfield.

15 Aug 2018 10:17:07
There has to be something about him somewhere Moe but I've looked and watched him closely and it's totally beyond my footballing knowledge to see what it is, he offers absolutely nothing other than the very occasional long shot goal which most full backs are more than capable of too from time to time.

15 Aug 2018 10:30:03
This summer was the most surreal thing regarding xhaka a large number of posters were praising him as though they had completely forgotten last season. He was then given a new contract to back them up, but nothing changed once he got back on the pitch.

15 Aug 2018 11:57:16
I'm totally with that Eden mate, as soon as the season ended Xhaka status seemed to soar amongst loads of Arsenal fans for some bizarre reason and like you say once he returned to the club and started playing all those Xhaka fans have disappeared back to where they were all last season again. Strange to say the least, he has to be the best close season Arsenal player of all time :-)

15 Aug 2018 11:46:02
Stupid question boys, but what exactly is a 'key pass'?
Is it a pass that creates an opportunity, so if the chance is scored then it would be an assist?

15 Aug 2018 12:09:44
I did say they must see something in him at the club that we don’t which was the reason behind his contract, but I’m still trying to find out the special thing he has and its alomst like finding woolly, even woolly was easier to find than xhakas quality.

15 Aug 2018 13:04:46
Just my opinion Macko but to me a key pass is one that splits a defence that leads to an attack that leads to clear just goal scoring opportunity.

15 Aug 2018 14:59:36
I think you are right gunner. I know one thing passing to your goalkeeper and defence in your own half definitely isn't a key pass. I jave watched him a while now and most of his passes anyway are just knock about passes to get his stats up.

15 Aug 2018 18:14:24
I'm not a big fan of stats Steve as they usually paint the picture the artist wishes you to see mate.
Mark Hughes said Eric Cantata taught United players the value of a 5 yard pass m, when no one is available on a good position for the player in possession to make a key pass to then 5 yard one two can be a good thing because within that 10 seconds of the one two taking place everyone on the pitch has moved and all of a sudden there are options available that weren't previously there.
But a 5 yard pass just for the sake of it is about as useful and exciting as a dried up cabbage leaf in tin of out of date spam.

14 Aug 2018 10:24:42
Apparently Toot's stadium opening has been delayed as they can't find the trophy room. Might be a long wait.

14 Aug 2018 11:23:07
I did read that it was going to be called the “Armitage Shanks Stadium” due to its unique toilet bowl shape and a major sponsor was going to be “Biffa” one of the largest waste disposal companies in the UK.

I know they slag of Levy but that is two great ideas right there. That man is genius.

#LEVYIN.

15 Aug 2018 08:43:59
Looks like poch has drove his Chevy to the levy but the levy was dry 😂.

14 Aug 2018 07:12:43
We must not judge Emery after only a few weeks at the club and after one match against the current PL Champions and favourites to win the league. There is much work to do in order to sort out the mess that was left. We signed 5 players, but only two started against City, one of which was a teenager.
We have another difficult match away to Chelsea, after which it would be good to see some progress, Clearly Emery will use untill Christmas to ascertain which players are good enough to retain, which players have improved and adapted under him.
My own gut feelings are that we need to sign another 2 or 3 players in January and the same again in the following window. Too many players had it way too easy under Wenger, when we had dropped to 6th and won nothing in the final season. We need more players with the type of character shown Lichtsteiner.
Against Chelsea, perhaps:
Leno
Lichtsteiner Holding Sokratis Monreal (if fit) or Bellerin at RB and Lichtsteiner at LB.
Torreira Maitland-Niles (if fit? ) or Guendouzi
Welbeck Ramsey Aubameyang
Lacazette

I was a fan of Xhaka, but I admit he was dire against City and perhaps we should move him on, as well as Mustafi. I also believe that Ozil and Mkhitaryan doesn't work in the same team. I wish we had signed Nzonzi, as he would have been the ideal partner for Torreira.

14 Aug 2018 07:24:09
On second thoughts Emery next to Torreira might be better.

14 Aug 2018 09:04:44
Totally agree mate judging Dick after 1 game is crazy, I'm really shocked at how upset some people are about Sundays game.
Change takes time to happen and If we are no further forward by October I will worry, I think most of those who have allowed themselves to become so upset by Sunday are also the same fans who think we should make top 4 this season.

14 Aug 2018 09:38:09
We might struggle if emery plays 😊.

14 Aug 2018 10:35:44
Agree you Emery needs time to stamp his methods and authority over
the team and a few transfer windows to get the personel he wants. He is still in the learning phase of finding out about the character and attributes of all the players, you can't just fully learn about players from training and Friendlies you need competitive games. So after about 10 games+ or so Emery will have a much better picture of what is needed who is good enough who is not, who fits in with his methods / formation etc.

We not that bad against City taking into account how far ahaed they are depth and cohesion with pep as it stands.

There were positive signs in terms of Emery approach in the game making early tactical changes and his activity on the sidelines.