Tag Archives: Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain

Delighted in Arsenal’s CENTRAL position

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132Up to this point, Arsenal’s transfer window has been a little under-whelming. Some might say that is not strong enough.

The team so clearly needs strengthening in the same, obvious places that it has needed strengthening for the last decade.

However, one place where I am happy with the make up of the squad is the middle of the park.

During the discussion about why Arsenal did not go for N’Golo Kante, my eyes were really opened up to the strength in depth we have in midfield moving forward into the 2016/17 Premier League season.

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In Granit Xhaka, we have the man to make the team tick. A defensive leader who has the all round game to dominate the middle of the park whilst starting attacks. His ability will allow Aaron Ramsey to move further forward up the pitch, relinquish him of much his defensive duties, allow him to continue the great form he showed for Wales.

And then we have Mesut Ozil. A truly world class performer.

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Imagine a side where Santi Cazorla and Jack Wilshere are not in the first team. They would start in the middle of the park for almost every side in the Premier League. A case could be made for both to start in Arsenal’s first team ahead of Ramsey.

When fit (and for Jack that is a big when they are both top players.

Then in behind them we have a new-ish boy. Mohamad Elneny, who performed well at the back end of last season. He will be a good understudy for Granit Xhaka.

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This time last year, Francis Coquelin was our undisputed 1st choice defensive midfield. It sent shivers down a fans spine when the names Flamini or Arteta on the team sheet. The fact that he is now 3rd choice shows the improvements we have made in the area.

Oxlade-Chamberlain has a big season coming up for him. Make or break (although the same was said last year). And Iwobi has shown enough in 6 months that he deserves a place in the first team squad.

It is all very exciting.

There has been some very light talk that we might play a diamond. Even then, with a 4 man midfield, we look very strong.

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This summer, we might have lost 3 midfielder in Flamini, Arteta & Tomas Rosicky, and replaced them with just one, Granti Xhaka, but we go into this year stronger, not weaker.

Last season, Rosicky and Arteta played less than 200 minutes of Premier League football between them. Those minutes do not exactly need replacing.

Another way to look at it is last year, we started the season with our defensive midfield options being:

Coquelin, Flamini, Arteta

This year, they are:

Xhaka, Elneny, Coquelin

The centre of the park is strong. Now Arsene Wenger needs to be focusing on the forward line and defence.

Keenos

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Arsenal to sell English gems

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article-2250578-16954B0B000005DC-586_964x50219th December 2012. With not much to cheers about in recent years, Arsenal announced, to great fanfair, that “Five young internationals sign new contracts”.

Kieran Gibbs (then 23), Carl Jenkinson (20), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (19), Aaron Ramsey (21) and Jack Wilshere (20). The future of Arsenal. A bunch of young British lads. At least if we did not have trophies to cheer about, we knew we had home grown lads on the field, progressing, knowing what it means to play for The Arsenal.

At the time, Arsene Wenger said “I’m a strong believer in stability and I believe when you have a core of British players, it’s always easier to keep them together and that’s what we’ll try to achieve going forward.”

Fast forward 6 months to the unveiling of the final Nike shirt.20130709-3

Nike knew how to market a product, and they decided that they would use the British core to promote their final shirt.

To the 5 players who had announced a new contract, Theo Walcott was added in making it a magnificent 6.

A British core. Something that had been levelled at Arsenal for so long. Not enough English players. Well the future of Arsenal was bright. And the future of England seemed in Arsenal hands.

We are now in 2016. Over 3 years on from the announcement of the new contracts. In that time, Arsenal have won 2 FA Cups and got the trophy drought monkey off the back. Things are a bit brighter at the club, even if this years bottling of the title race has put a bit of a downer on the last 24 months. Arsenal are back on the up.

But then you look at the line ups of our last two games. A 2-0 away victory at Everton, a 4-0 home win against Watford. Two excellent performances. And yet just one Englishman started. Danny Welbeck. Who in 2012 was at Manchester United.

What has happened to Arsenal’s British core? And are we now in a situation where the 6 players at the 2013/14 shirt unveiling could all be sold and improved on?

Jack Wilshere – In 2012, Wenger clearly had Wilshere pegged as the next Arsenal captain. “Jack is certainly the best known, the leader of this group.” Just 20 years old, He was an extreme talent, showing his potential in 2011 with a world class performance against Barcelona, Xavi and Iniesta.

In 2012, there were already warning signs about his future. He had missed the entirety of the previous season injured. And had already been involved in numerous off the field incidents. Arrested in 2010 after a fracas outside a bar. Given a police warning in 2011 for spitting on a taxi driver.

Roll on 3 years and history is repeating himself. He has once more missed an entire season injured. And news yesterday breaks of him again being involved in a night club brawl were police had to intervene.

Clearly a good player, but he is now 24.

I am not massively concerned about his off the field antics. He should be making headlines for his on the pitch performances, but we have had worse at the club. I am concerned about his injury record.

It was at 24 we gave Abou Diaby a new 5 year deal. He had played 76 games in his previous two years. It is a contract offer which 3 years down the line caused a lot of fans to attack Wenger. In the last 5 years, Wilshere has played just 91 games.

Do we continue giving him a chance, or do we learn from the mistakes we made with Diaby and cut our losses?

Verdict: Sell

Aaron Ramsey – Ramsey is certainly the ying to Wilshere’s yang. 3 years ago it looked so bright for the pair. They could become our Scholes and Keane. The new Vieira and Petit.

Wilshere had the silkiness, Ramsey the engine. Wilshere the nastiness. Ramsey the calmness. They would have complimented each other brilliantly.

In 2013, it seemed like Ramsey had finally arrived. After recovering from that leg breaking assault by Ryan Shawcross, he was our player of the season in 2013/14, cumulating in scoring the winning goal in the FA Cup Final. Since then, he has digressed.

He stopped playing his simple game that saw him become so successful in 2013/14, returning to back heels and Hollywood passes.

Over the last 2 seasons, he has had many minor injuries, resulting in him struggling to put a run of games together.

He has gone backwards in the last 2 years. But is still an important player. Into next season, he needs someone to get hold of him and say these 3 words. Keep it simple.

Verdict: Keep

Theo Walcott – In 2013 when that shirt was unveiled. Walcott was the father figure of the group. Despite only being 24 himself, he had already played nearly 200 Premier League games.

The year leading up to the shirt unveiling, he was exceptional. Scoring 21 goals in 43 games, adding many assists as well. He had finally arrived as a player.

Then the injuries returned. And now, 3 years later, he is a shadow of his former self. He looks scarred. He hides. He does not want the ball.

His time is up.

Verdict: Sell

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain – The most overly hyped up player of the magnificent 6. People used to say Walcott did not have a footballing brain. Oxlade-Chamberlain is no better.

Another who’s recent years have been hampered by niggling injuries (seeing a theme here!). He is a player who has never impressed me. Plenty of talent, but no end product. That might be good enough for someone like Crystal Palace. But not Arsenal.

Cash in before the rest of the Premier League realise he is a myth.

Verdict: Sell

Kieran Gibbs – Another who just has not pushed on over the years. I remember him playing for England under 21s many a moon ago and he looked a class above. The issue with him is he was always older than we thought. When he was put forward alongside the others as the future in 2012, he was already 23. People were going on about his potential, but he should have already been established.

At the time of signing that contract, he had played barely 50 Premier League games. OK for a 19 year old. Not OK for a 23 year old.

At the start of next season, he will be 27. He has not yet made 100 Premier League starts.

His career is disappearing before it has even gotten going.

No longer can he be considered as the future long term solution at left back. The heir to Ashley Cole’s throne. Nacho Monreal is comfortably ahead of him. And there is a point when we will have to start thinking about giving a younger option a chance.

For now, Gibbs is worth keeping as back up to Monreal. But as soon as the next youngster shows any promise, it is time to move him on.

Verdict: Keep

Carl Jenkinson – The least known of the 6. At the time, you felt he was just an add on. A spare part. Like the bloke in the boyband who is always at the end but never has a solo.

And with the rise of Hector Bellerin this has been the case.

Jenkinson however was never bought to be an Arsenal regular. He was always destined to be a squad player. And with Debuchy likely to leave at the end of the season, Jenkinson will be 2nd choice behind Bellerin.

Worth keeping around as he is a Premier League standard player. Would surely rather be sitting on the bench of Arsenal, the club he loves, then playing week in week out for someone like West Ham or Crystal Palace.

He could become a Wes Brown type player at Arsenal.

Verdict: Keep

 

3 years ago Arsenal were the future of England. Now it is natural to glance at Spurs with a hint of jealousy. Harry Kane, Eric Dier, Dele Alli, all performing for their country. It is time now for Arsenal to be ruthless. If the British core are not good enough, not reliable enough, cut them loose and replace them with the quality that is needed to win the league.

Keenos

Freshness the key for Arsenal’s new boys

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I am going to start by saying something a little bit controversial. A little bit OTT. A little bit extreme.

Francis Coquelin, Joel Campbell, Mohamed Elneny and Alex Iwobi are not good enough to be regular starters for Arsenal.

Now before you spit your coffee out, start writing angry Tweets, or stop reading, please suppress your thoughts that I am stupid and read on. Listen to my rational. Understand the point of the blog.

I am not saying that they are poor players. Nor am I ignoring their contribution to Arsenal over the last 18 months or so. But let us be honest, they are not top players. They are not going to win you the league.

But they have all at some point over the last 18 months become fan favourites. Putting in some exceptional performances. Playing well. Cheered on by the fans with everything they do.

And that is where they have become important to the side. All 4 have bought a freshness to the squad that was lacking after a transfer policy which has seen us sign just 2 outfield senior players in 3 transfer windows.

The squad always needs to remain fresh. When staleness creeps in, it creates apathy in the terraces. Fans get on players backs more. They turn nasty as they become bored of seeing the same old errors.

Yesterday Theo Walcott came on. His first pass was misplaced. And the groans that followed were to be expected. I thought of this blog at that point.

Had it been Alex Iwobi miss placing that pass, it would not have got the reaction from the crowd that Walcott’s error did. As he is fresh. He has the backing of the fans.

Let’s start with Francis Coquelin.

He has become an important player in the side. In 18 months he has gone from Charlton loanee to potential future captain. Amazing progress. They should make a film about him.

But what Coquelin gave us 18 months ago was a freshness. Since 2013 we had been screaming out for a midfield enforcer. We went and signed Mathieu Flamini on a free. He screams a lot, he shouts a lot, he runs around a lot, but frankly, he is a poor player.

And Mikel Arteta. He did a job when he came to the club, but his lack of mobility had become frustrating for many. He has been past his sell by date for 2 years.

And then Coquelin broke through 18 months ago. He has performed well. But the biggest thing in his favour was that he was not Flamini or Arteta.

He could miss place passes like Flamini, or let players run away from him like Arteta. But he was not Flamini or Arteta. He showed what Arsenal had been missing since Flamini left on a free to AC Milan a few years earlier. A defensive midfielder who knew his role.

The rise of Coquelin just further highlights the error in judgement of not having a decent defensive midfielder. And personally, I believe we can improve further on Coquelin.

We then come to Joel Campbell. Get out whilst you can Joel seems to long away now. He is another who in a short period of time has become a fans favourite. Even though his actually contribution has been not much. 4 goals in 28 games this season.

But Joel Campbell has something in his favour. He is neither Theo Walcott or Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

We had become bored of Theo Walcott going missing in games. Of Oxlade-Chamberlain running down a blind alley. It had become boring. It had become predictable. Campbell is not as good as either of these two players, and does not contribute too much more, but he is different to them, as fans are not yet bored of him.

Campbell runs down as many blind alleys as Oxlade-Chamberlain. He go’s missing for periods of the game like Walcott. But due to not being either of them, his efforts are applauded. Rather than a groan as the Ox gets tackled after trying to take on a 4th man rather than pass, Campbell is applauded for trying.

And over the years, how bored have we become of the ever so predictable Aaron Ramsey. The back heels. The miss placed passes. Even before Elneny’s recent game time, the likes of Jack Wilshere and Santi Cazorla were favoured by fans for bringing the freshness to the staleness of Aaron Ramsey.

Elneny is not as good as Ramsey. But he is fresh. As a fan, you accept his miss placed pass. Or the odd poor back heel. As he has not done it 100s of times previously in an Arsenal shirt.

Finally we come to Alex Iwobi. A breath of fresh air. 2 goals in his last 2 games. He is in the same bracket as Joel Campbell. His success if further exageratted due to not being Oxlade-Chamberlain or Theo Walcott.

Think about yesterday. He scored and he assisted. Many would have him as man of the match. Theo Walcott also scored (albeit a lesser important 4th goal rather than Iwobi’s 2nd). A Walcott goal gets less of an excitable reaction than an Iwobi one.

Iwobi is benefiting, like Coquelin, Elneny and Campbell before him due to being fresh.

Keeping the squad fresh is important. not just to stop training going stale, and keep everyone on their toes, but for the fans too.

The excitement that the fans generate when a new player is about to be substituted on is transmitted to the players. Seeing Iwobi or Campbell coming off the bench provides that excitment. Even Danny Welbeck coming in still does.

You compare that to the groans when the likes of Walcott or Giroud comes on. It is groans. Half hearted applauding. And people very quick to get on their back. Giroud had been on the pitch for 30 seconds yesterday when the bloke behind me was already on his back with his usual “You’re fat lazy and useless Giroud. Chase the ball”. Whilst it is unjustifiable abuse yesterday, it comes from weeks, months and years of apathy. Of seeing the same players making the same mistakes, putting in the same sort of tepid performances time and again.

A key part of our unbeaten season in 2004 was a January signing.

Arsenal spent £10.5m (then reported as £17m+) on a 20 year old Spaniard. Jose Antonio-Reyes.

I remember the excitement when he joined. The excitement in the crowd when he was warming up. The cheering blowing the roof of the old North Bank when he would come on.

Reyes was a breath of fresh air in 2004. Helped by his two goals against Chelsea to knock them out of the FA Cup, he became a key part of the unbeaten run, even if he did not actually contribute that much in his 13 league games (7 starts, 2 goals). Reyes was fresh, and enabled us to remain excited about the season, rather than things going stale.

And this is what Coquelin, Elneny, Iwobi & Campbell has provided recently. Bar Coquelin, none of them are better than the players they have replaced, but they are fresher than said players. The crowd give them a bit more time, allowing them to express themselves without that fear.

I remember many years ago when England were rubbish at cricket. In 2005 England had not won an Ashes series for 18 years. And then we went and won against Australia.

One of the key reasons often stated for the success of England that series is the lack of players who had Ashes experience. Only 5 of the 13 men who played had ever previously played against Australia. That meant that only 5 were mentally scarred from previous Ashes defeats. The 8 that had come into the squad were fresh. They were fearless. And England went on to win.

Teams need to be continually freshened up. Arsenal’s lack of transfer activity over the last 3 windows meant that the squad was stale. Everyone was bored of the mistakes from the likes of Giroud, Ramsey, Walcott & Flamini. There has been apathy a plenty.

Whilst I do not think Coquelin, Elneny, Campbell or Iwobi are top draw players, they are fresh players. And that is what is important.

To be successful, you need to keep things fresh.

Keenos