Wenger said something about players becoming a lot better in front of goal around the time they turn 23. Iwobi has time. He needs to stop shooting from stupid locations
We will see He isn't afraid to shoot and gets in the positions but I'm not worried about him yet He's only just a level 1 roadman at this age
@alexiwobi of @thenff and @Arsenal named Youth Player of the Year #GloCAFAwards2016 pic.twitter.com/12oqLHLuLz— CAF (@CAF_Online) January 5, 2017
It doesn't work like that. You don't magically figure out how to score goals as you age. Those who are good at scoring learned that skill in their youth. You can get slightly better at it with practice, but you either have it, or you don't. Obviously, you can get worse at it as competition gets better, but the opposite just doesn't happen. Iwobi is 22. Nothing is going to change a year from now. Plus, he has more flaws than just shooting. His assets are that he is aggressive and that he can dribble. But his decision making is not great at all. My hope is that he can turn into a decent midfielder. He doesn't have a skillset to play up front for a team like Arsenal.
Fair enough. But that stat feels like a cherry-pick to me. It doesn't capture the complete player, i.e. the things he doesn't do well. As you know I'm not someone who lives and breathes stats. My gut still tells me that he needs another year to develop (preferably on loan), and with a little bit of luck, the 23YO Iwobi will be a more reliable, net positive asset than the 22YO Iwobi.
Actually it does seem to work like that, if you look at the records of the top goal scorers, quite a few of them show a big jump in production at 22 or 23. TH14 went from 4 goals in 38 games in the two years before he turned 22 to 48 goals in 100 games in the two years after he turned 22. Alan Shearer scored 23 goals in 118 games in the four years before he turned 22 followed by 112 goals in 138 games in the four years after he turned 22. Renaldo made the jump the season he turned 22, going from 21 goals in 97 games in the two seasons before he turned 22 to 65 goals in 102 games the following two seasons. Lacazette scored 16 goals in 92 games before he turned 22 and 53 goals in in 94 games the following two seasons. Aubameyang's best season before he turned 22 was 10 goals in 39 games while on loan to Dijon in League 2. In the two seasons after turning 22, he scored 39 goals in 93 games. I certainly don't expect Iwobi to follow their path, but it's possible he develop into a 10 to 15 goals a year scorer on the wing.
No, it doesn’t. I am not going to go through every player who played and cherry pick a few over the last few decades. I mean Alan Shearer...really? Henry scored goals during his youth. Same with Aubameyang (according to Wiki). Same with Lacazette. I suspect Shearer was the same. Iwobi, yeah...not so much. Ronaldo and Henry also switched positions. Think that might have had something to do with it? I suspect so.
I like Iwobi. I want him to do well. He's good enough to start for us. If you don't believe that, you're deluding yourself about the quality of our squad, and Iwobi. Can he improve. Of course, and I hope he does. But he gives defenders fits right now.
I'm not cherry picking. I've looked at this before with more than this group and you find a surprising number that increase their goal scoring when they reach 22 or 23. I'll give you another example of much maligned player, at 23 Theo Walcott scored 21 goals in 43 games, then blew his knee out the following year and hasn't been the same player since. I suspect that part of this jump is related to the age at which they become physically mature. I fully expect Guendouzi to become a much better player when he fills out, but.that's two or three years in the future. By no means was I suggesting that Iwobi will become an elite goal scorer, but their records at the youth level are not necessarily a good predicter for their senior careers. There are a lot of phenoms that never live up to the promise they showed in the youth ranks. Arsenal have had quite a few of them. Conversely there are young players that get cut from one academy, keep plugging away and eventually become good senior players.
It will be interesting to see where and when Suarez fits into our squad. He could very well take minutes away from Iwobi. As for Mkhi, 7 of his 9 starts in the league this season have been alongside Alex, not instead of.
I think my point got away from you. You learn how to score as a kid. Everyone you have named including Theo was known to score in their youth. It’s not a skill that you really pick up as you age. I don’t think that there is some magical thing that happens when a player turns 23 that makes them develop that skill. It’s more than likely that those players just came into their physical primes or, in many cases, that their teams played differently (formation, personnel, etc.) Wenger, himself, states that you develop all of your technical skills by the age of 14. If you don’t have it by then, you won’t have it. Those are his words. After 14, you can develop physically, mentally, and tactically, but you pretty much have what you have skill-wise. This has been my experience as well, hence my original comment. I don’t think Iwobi will become a goalscorer because he doesn’t have that skill set. It’s not a knock per se. It’s a hard thing to develop. It takes a combination of awareness, skill and composure that many players don’t get. Anyway, I could go more into it, but I am on my phone, and it’s not worth it to make a point. Plus, neither of us expects Iwobi to go on a goal scoring streak next year despite him turning 22/23, so it’s a moot point.
He’s more like hleb imo Dribbling and creating space to pass But scores more than hleb 10-15 a year eventually ?
As in today's match. +1 It'll be interesting to see if Suarez comes in after halftime, who he replaces. Edit: AND... Iwobi bags our first goal today. Good for him!
I always think it's poor judgment for anyone to even logon to BS during a match if they don't want to learn about results. But technically, anything match related like this should only be posted in match threads, especially if it's while the match is ongoing.