Yeah, as things stand I don't think Wenger is necessarily our best guy if we do need the CL money. IMO we already clearly have a top 4 squad (though apparently there may be some disagreement on that), so we've already got what Wenger could get us. If we miss out on the top 4 it's because we underperform the quality of the squad and that's definitely a risk with Wenger above another manager.
And even if this is likely to be true, I think you also gotta factor in what a new manager will want. Say it's Tuchel or Simeone or whoever, it's very possible that he'll want Ramsey, Wilshere, maybe Cazorla, etc. Certainly it's hard to think that Victor Moses should be playing major minutes for a title winning team, but a new manager has found the circumstances to get the best out of him.
LOL schoolboy sh*t here undressed by a 1/2 like did they not watch this? 828666852700217345 is not a valid tweet id
Nah Victor Moses was always dope, English managers tend to be garbage pail juice so what they think and how they do things is like Number 135060876504575947547 on my list of "Who Should I Look to for Football Knowledge"
i like wilshere more than dutch does but i cannot agree that he has anywhere near the intelligence of rosicky. if played from the back as the holder, i think he has the passing range and vision to do what arteta did and what we hope xhaka can/would do. in addition, unlike those two, he can bring the ball forward. i don't know if he can develop the necessary discipline to divert opposition attacks to protect the back four. the problem is he will not be playing there as long as wenger remains manager. wenger has seen him as a 10 for forever, even though wilshere's tendency to run too far, lose control, and lunge for the ball inevitably gets him injured and his lack of composure (more than intelligence, maybe) does not serve him well in the final third. wenger's vision is to have someone more athletic - like ramsey or oxlade-chamberlain - deep so they can come forward and overload as well as to attack the ball higher up to regain possession then have the nominal "holder" be higher up. the fact that it does not suit the people we have at all seems to matter none.
I'm mentally past Wenger already, which is why I'm thinking in terms of Wilshere working with a new Arsenal manager. Among other things, I think the fact that Ozil and Alexis are going to force themselves out of the club is going to make it very difficult to stay, because all the usual talking points are eroding. Do we really think that Wenger will have unique access to world class players in that circumstance? And without them do we really expect to be consistently finishing in the top 4? If Wenger does stay, tbh I'm not sure what I'm hoping for. I know that I'm hoping for Arsenal to win. I don't think the bankshot ideas of tanking a season to get rid of Wenger is as clever as some people seem to think. Beyond that, I'm kind of at a loss. I think Wenger will probably do ok in the transfer market but I'm not sure how much that will buy us. The quality we have is enough. I guess we can hope that somehow he'll find a new reserve of competence in terms of training, execution and gameplanning, but from here that looks like a completely forlorn hope.
http://lastwordonfootball.com/2017/02/06/francis-coquelin-arsenal-starting-xi/ Coquelin article I agree
Well, he's rope-a-doped Pep's Barça and Bayern sides a couple times and played long against Klopp's BvB with some success. And every single one of those successes were in significant fixtures, in which those two managers tend to ask their teams to more physically (witness Klopp's teams repeated failures in matches following 'big' games). Look, I would like Wenger to be replaced (with the requisite caveats about a suitable successor/team of successors), but so much of the criticism of him is such hysterical bullshit it almost makes me want to keep him out of spite.
This is epic revisionism but yeah let's keep Wenger cause the fans are "overreacting" is that you Gazidis? It's always the fans isn't it? With their overreaction. LMAOOOO incredible
not to defend coquelin overly much - i agree the assessment that he is, in fact, short on quality - but the article's premise that he "failed to fulfill his duties as a defensive midfielder" is a bit flawed. he does not play as the "defensive midfielder" for wenger. he is, for whatever value, sort of a box-to-box whose role is to attack the ball higher up the pitch and win it back before the ball gets to the midfield line. his offensive (lack of) capabilities continues to puzzle me because he was, in my opinion, somewhat decent before his loan/resurgence. he's not quite the level of flamini/gabriel but he's firmly in the (post-everton) denilson-territory at this point.
But this is the problem with him in a nutshell - you have to play 2 players to do the job of one. He can't play as the deep lying player because he does not show for his defence and has no positional awareness. So then if you play him as a CM, he is bobbins because he lacks quality on the ball, so you need a 3rd CM to cover for him. In other words he lacks the quality to play as CM or DM or DLP
Interesting concept, but the article loses ALL credibility when it says this: Coquelin and Elneny together are a disaster.
Agree with about half of this. Coquelin can play as a DM, and play well, when Arsenal defend deep. He can press well as an advanced CM. And his passing has gotten a lot better in attack, when Arsenal are in possession. Where he fails is in terms of quick decisionmaking, especially on the counter, and there has to be protection behind him when he is the most advanced midfielder. Yes, he made mistakes against Chelsea, but it also wasn't his fault. I wouldn't want him to be first choice, but he's a very useful backup to have.
yeah, i checked out when i saw that passage. nothing is wrong with having Coquelin in the squad. The issue is that our midfield should not be built around him. It kind of is.
Prince that was what I was getting at el nenny and coquelin arent center pieces theyre support players
I wouldnt even go that far. They are squad players, yet the fans and Wenger believe that Coquelin should start. For me, Coquelin only comes in when we are holding a lead against a superior side and need to pack the midfield. Thats it. Unfortunately he is a vital player despite the fact that he is not a fully functional midfielder.
I'm not sure how true that is (but agree about the squad players). I think Wenger wants to play Xhaka alongside either another playmaker (like a Cazorla), or someone who plays a more B2B role (like a Ramsey). But Cazorla and Ramsey haven't been healthy enough for it to work, and Xhaka keeps getting sent off. Coquelin with Cazorla works, but that's because Cazorla's a wizard (which I'm only now coming to realize).
A handful of big games in the last 14 years lmao Hes shit and our squad is (in terms of competing) hes a top 4 at best gaffa
Mebe Cazorla is a wizard but he's old and can be pressed to smithereens. Another way Wenger deluded himself
i dont think Wenger has any idea what he wants to do with Xhaka. Cazorla didnt really work well with any other player other than Coquelin because Coquelin runs more than everyone else.
Did we ever play him next to anyone else? I didn't think we did, other than one game with Xhaka. Also: Cazorla is really, really good at build up play.