Tag Archives: She Wore

Who’s Arsenal career is Granit Xhaka about to end?

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132News on the Arsenal grapevine is that a deal for Swiss midfielder Granit Xhaka is only a few days from being completed.

Now before we all get too excited, it is season ticket renewal time soon. We expect the renewal Emails to be sent out over the next couple of days.

Usually, and rightly so, such a heavy link a few days before renewal day can be put down as a bit of hyperboil. A leak by the club to make fans think this year could be different. It usually isn’t.

Counteracting that, the Bundesliga has a habit of doing business early. Bayern Munich have already spent big on two players.

In the last 10 years, Arsenal have made 3 big signings from Germany. Lukas Podolski, Per Mertesacker & Tomas Rosicky.

Mertesacker was signed on the last day of the transfer window on that day of madness in 2012. Podolski & Rosicky were deals completed in April and May respectively. Deals done early. I think the Xhaka rumour has legs.

So if Xhaka is coming in, where does it leave Arsenal’s other central midfielders?arsenal21jan16-636666

From what I have read of the Swiss midfielder. He is a bit of an all rounder. Defensive but can pass and get forward. I see him being the sides primary defensive midfielder if he signs, replacing Francis Coquelin. He is a good place to start.

Francis Coquelin

He has been a revelation since he broke through at the back end of 2014. Full of energy, works hard for the team, gets around the pitch, a crunching tackle, enthusiasm, heart (and to the most part) discipline.

His main weakness however is his distribution. He is not the best passer. And with him at the back, it has restricted Arsenal’s ability to launch attacks from deep. Our defensive midfielder see’s more of the ball than any other player. We need someone who can pass. Xhaka can. Coquelin can not.

Coquelin flourished when playing next to Santi Cazorla. As he could win the ball, play a short pass to Cazorla, who would launch the attack.

Xhaka will not mean the end of Coquelin. But Coquelin will find himself as a bench player.

Recently he has been demoted as Wenger has gone with the Elneny/Ramsey axis. This will continue into next season with Xhaka playing ahead of him.

Where Coquelin will excel is in the bigger games when we need extra defensive protection from the midfield. Coquelin will come in alongside Xhaka providing a solid defensive duo.

My bet for next season? Ozil for Coquelin will be the most common substation made.

Mohamed Elneny

Over the last few games, Elneny has replaced Coquelin as Wenger realised that we were struggling to transition the ball from defence into midfielder. His partnership with Aaron Ramsey seems to work a lot better than Coquelin / Ramsey.

With Xhaka coming in, the future of Elneny has to be bought into question. Does he have a future?

Xhaka will replace him in the starting 11. And with Coquelin a better option on the bench for a defensive substitution, I can see Elneny being a peripheral squad player.

Such a cheap signing, it could be that he was always a short term option.

Of course, I do not want to write him off, and he could continue his progress, but I see him as no more than a back up player. Being back up for Xhaka if he is out, or a replacement for Aaron Ramsey and/or Jack Wilshere when they get their usually injury.

He will stay another year, but will not get much game time if everyone is fit.

Jack Wilshere

This time last year, Wenger drew his line in the sand. Jack Wilshere would be our new defensive midfielder. We would not be buying anyone else. And we didn’t. It did not work out well.

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Xhaka will not be ending Wilshere’s Arsenal career. Merely changing it.

Wilshere has shown he is incapable of staying fit. When he is fit, he is a class player. But the same could be said of Diaby.

His future at Arsenal is surely now as a squad player. Someone who can not be relied upon to be a consistent starter, but can be used as a back up player for any of the 3 central midfield positions, and a good opinion off the bench.

A brilliant player, but there is no point being brilliant if you are always in the medical room.

Aaron Ramsey

A consistent starter this season, despite being in poor form, the signing of Xhaka will add competition to his place in midfield.

Whilst Xhaka will not directly be in competition with Ramsey, an extra quality player in midfield will add pressure to Ramsey.

It would mean that the manager would have the option to play Coquelin alongside in the back games. And then add Wilshere and Elneny into the mix, any loss of form for Ramsey would result in him surely losing his place in the side?

Santi Cazorla

The Coquelin / Cazorla axis worked so well during the early part of the season. But the signing of Xhaka will put an end to that.

Most likely, Arsenal will start the majority of games with Xhaka and Ramsey. Ozil ahead of them. Xhaka’s natural replacements are Coquelin & Elneny, Ramsey’s will be Wilshere. So where does that leave Santi Cazorla?

The only place I can see him fitting in is Ozil’s understudy.

Like Ramsey, this would then see Ozil get a kick up the arse. Having someone quality to back him up and put pressure on him.

If everyone is fit, it could also see Ozil play wide right, drifting inside.

 

Taking into account the injuries in the middle of the park we get year after year, Xhaka will be a quality signing. A leader. A general. It is certainly one to be excited about.

The domino effect however may see Mohamed Elneny’s Arsenal career being over before it has really begun.

I guess to be a success you must be ruthless.

Keenos

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RESULTS: How Arsenal fans see the squad looking for 2016/17

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So over the last week or so, over on twitter, we held a very simple poll.

Should Arsenal keep or get rid for 2016/17? Should they stay or should they go?

It was an opportunity for you the fans to have your say on the make up of the Arsenal squad for the 2015/16 season. Yes, we understand that our opinions count for very little, and the club are not going to make changes based on 1,000 votes on Twitter, but it is interesting to get the view point of fans on where they think the squad currently site.

We have split the results into 4 categories:

Stay – Players who polled over 70%. The vast majority want them to stay.

Go – Players who polled under 50%. the majority want them gone.

Maybe – Players who polled between 50% – 70%. Whilst the majority want them in, it is not a big majority. Enough want them out to question their future place.

Management – Steve Bould & Arsene Wenger

STAY

Just 15 players polled over 70%. The two surprises for me were Gabriel polling so high – I expected him to be in the maybe list, and Joel Campbell polling so low – he is the least popular player on the list.

Note: Francis Coquelin was forgotten about on the pictures. He polled 92%.

The rest are the names you would expect to be there.GOPretty much as expected this list. The bottom 6 are almost certain to leave, whether due to their contract expiring of them being pushed out. whilst I knew Giroud would be on the list, I think it is unfair on him, and he has taken a lot of the brunt of the criticism for the clubs loss in form, which has coincided with his loss in form.MAYBEAgain, everyone here was as expected. Players who have come under recent pressure for under performance, but certainly deserve another season.MANAGEMENTThe Arsene Wenger result has not surprised me. The Steve Bould one does.

Overall, 35,110 votes were cast.

Most Popular Player – Alexis Sanchez (tied with Cazorla, Iwobi & Eleneny on 96%, but gained more votes.

Least Popular Player – Mathieu Flamini (95% of people want him gone).

Overall, we have 22 players who polled over 50%. This is the basis of what the squad should be built on next season.

Goalkeeper – Petr Cech, David Ospina

Right Back – Hector Bellerin, Carl Jenkinson

Centre Back – Laurent Koscielny, Per Mertesacker, Gabriel, Calum Chambers

Left Back – Nacho Monreal, Kieran Gibbs

Central Midfield – Francis Coquelin, Mohamed Elneny, Jack Wilshere, Aaron Ramsey

Attacking Midfield – Mesut Ozil, Santi Cazorla, Alex Iwobi

Winger – Alexis Sanchez, Joel Campbell, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain

Striker – Danny Welbeck, Chuba Akpom

Keenos

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Arsenal do not need to splash the cash

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A few years ago, the message from The Arsenal crowd was loud clear;

“Spend some f*king money”

It was on the terraces, throughout social media, in the pubs around the ground. Arsenal needed to spend, and spend big.

And then this season happened which proved many of the naysayers wrong.

For a long time, I have been of the opinion that it is not how much you spend, but who you spend it on. There have been many an example over the years of players who cost very little out performing players who cost a lot. It is about spending right.

This season has created 2 scenarios which prove that being successful is not about spending money.

Firstly we have the champions, Leicester City. The stats are for all to see. They have taken a bunch of journeymen, a load of at the time seemed average players, a few cheap imports, and won the league.

Two of their key players, N’Golo Kante & Riyad Mahrez cost them a packet of chocolate buttons and an A3 poster of One Direction’s Harry Styles.

Earlier this season, they put out a side that cost £200m less than their opponents. The result was Leicester winning 2-1. The opponents were oil rich Chelsea.

What Leicester have done, either by luck or judgement, or probably a bit of both, is buy the correct players for the game plan. And fit the tactics to the strengths of the players they have.

In N’Golo Kante, they got a player who takes Harry Redknapp’s run around a little bit comment to the extreme. A player who covers so much ground defensively and offensively. The stats were their for every club. But Leicester took the plunge.

Christian Fuchs cost them nothing. But here was a player who had played over 220 games in Germany and had 74 caps for Austria. A full back who knew his main job was to defend. He was a free transfer, yet the right player for Leicester.

Then we have Shinji Okazaki. He might not have had the impact on the pitch as the likes of Mahrez and Jamie Vardy have had, but an international with 48 goals in 100 games would have provided an inexperienced squad a wealth of international experience.

Leicester signed the right players, and were successful.

The second scenario is the other side of the coin. Manchester City.

This is a side who have outspent every time in the Premier League in both salaries and transfers fees over the last 5/6 years. And yet here they are, in 2016, at risk of finishing 5th.

Two of the positions people have wanted Arsenal to spend money on are centre back and defensive midfield.

Since signing Vincent Kompany in 2008, they have spent nearly £150,000,000 on a partner. When I look at their defence at the weekend, Nicolas Otamendi & Eliaquim Mangala were no better than Gabriel and Laurent Koscielny.

You look around the Premier League and the stand out defender this season has been Toby Alderweireld. He cost Spurs just £11.5m. Had City (or Arsenal) have signed him last summer, they would have won the league. Yet City have spunked a big chunk of cash on average players.

It is the same story in central midfield. Arsenal have not had a top defensive midfielder for a decade. Since Gilberto was at the peak of his powers. Gilberto left Arsenal in 2008. Since that time, City have spent well over £120,000,000 on defensive midfielders. Where are the likes of Jack Rodwell and Javi Garcia now?

And it is a similar story upfront. Sergio Aguero is a world class talent. But how much money have they spanked on finding back up for his dodgy hamstrings. Negrado, Jovetic, Bony. £100m spent, yet it is a freebie(ish) from their youth system in Kelechi Iheanacho that looks to be set to provide the best competition.

And this does not take into account the dross they got through before securing Aguero. Santa Cruz, Adebayor, Dzeko, Bellamy, Balotelli & Robinho.

Only Carlos Tevez has ever got near to being a consistent goal scorer for them.

We come back to Leicester to compare and contrast.

Are any of the central midfielders bought by City better than N’Gole Kante? Bar Yaya Toure, it is a no. Upfront, the none of the dross they have bought has scored more goals in a single campaign than Jamie Vardy.

Out wide, Riyad Mahrez has outperformed the likes of Raheem Sterling & Jesus Navas.

Even within City’s squad itself, the key players did not cost a ridiculous amount. Hart, Kompany, Toure, Silva & Aguero, their spine for so long, cost less than Pantilimon, Mangala, Fernandinho, Sterling and Bony.

Bringing it back round to Arsenal. We messed up by not buying in the summer. To fail to buy a single outfield player has cost us the league. We needed to spend some money. We needed to strengthen the squad. We needed to buy better players than what we have. But we did not need to go out and splash A LOT of money.

With the right scouting system, and playing the right tactics to fight the players, you can compete, you can win, within spending silly money.

Just chucking a lot of money at a player does not automatically make him a top player. Likewise spending big, then not playing a system that suits will never work.

Our only recent outfield signing is Mohamed Elneny. And he has slotted in perfectly. The right kind of player as to what was needed with the right skills and attributes. Yet he cost less than £10million.

I would rather Arsenal this summer spent £50m on the right 4 players, than £100m on the wrong 4. It is not about the price tag, it is about right player.

It is not what you spend but it is how your spend it.

Keenos

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