As we're unlikely to see terraces again at football, this is the virtual equivalent where you can chat to your hearts content about all football matters and, obviously, Arsenal in particular. This forum encourages all Gooners to visit and contribute so please keep it respectful, clean and topical.
augie wrote:Btw re my comments about elneny, can I just say that I didn't suggest that people on here were claiming him to be brilliant, but I did refer to the fact that so many seem to have him pencilled into their starting line up and that for me is elevating him above the level that he has shown up to this point. IF xhaka is to be the quality DM that I have been waiting for, then we don't know how that will impact the other midfielders - someone like ramsey or elneny might be allowed more freedom to push on if there is a proper DM covering for them, and someone like wilshere could really reap the benefits if the clown could stay fit for the season.
Anyway the point that I am making is that elneny wouldn't be in my starting 11 and I would probably give ramsey the edge in the battle for the position at this moment in time
Really??!! Am I reading that right or did you mistype it?
For me Ramsey has become an absolute liability, and one of the reasons I have praised Elneny is because he is almost the antithesis of Ramsey. Ramsey dawdles on the ball, slows the attack to a standstill, over-elaborates, loses possession like his name was Song or Denilson, whereas Elneny keeps it simple and quietly effective by just taking the ball to feet, passing it and moving into space to receive it back if needed. Neither Elneny nor Ramsey are world class, but the difference is that Elneny seems to have accepted that he isn't world class and plays accordingly.
I'd have Elneny in ahead of Ramsey every day and twice on Sunday. But then, I'd have my dead granny in ahead of Ramsey.
Nos89 wrote:Sounds like a Petit type signing. I wish him well and hope he brings with him the sort of success Petit did.
Now we need a Wright type signing and a Steve Bould type signing. (not the assistant manger version but the player that joined us in 1988.)
petit was a fairly cheap converted defender! nothing like the petit signing at all!
hopefully has as good an impact as petit though
Petit was £2.5m back in 1997. Which is nothing nowadays but a good sum for CB back then. To qualify what I mean is he is a petit type midfielder.
augie wrote:Btw re my comments about elneny, can I just say that I didn't suggest that people on here were claiming him to be brilliant, but I did refer to the fact that so many seem to have him pencilled into their starting line up and that for me is elevating him above the level that he has shown up to this point. IF xhaka is to be the quality DM that I have been waiting for, then we don't know how that will impact the other midfielders - someone like ramsey or elneny might be allowed more freedom to push on if there is a proper DM covering for them, and someone like wilshere could really reap the benefits if the clown could stay fit for the season.
Anyway the point that I am making is that elneny wouldn't be in my starting 11 and I would probably give ramsey the edge in the battle for the position at this moment in time
Really??!! Am I reading that right or did you mistype it?
For me Ramsey has become an absolute liability, and one of the reasons I have praised Elneny is because he is almost the antithesis of Ramsey. Ramsey dawdles on the ball, slows the attack to a standstill, over-elaborates, loses possession like his name was Song or Denilson, whereas Elneny keeps it simple and quietly effective by just taking the ball to feet, passing it and moving into space to receive it back if needed. Neither Elneny nor Ramsey are world class, but the difference is that Elneny seems to have accepted that he isn't world class and plays accordingly.
I'd have Elneny in ahead of Ramsey every day and twice on Sunday. But then, I'd have my dead granny in ahead of Ramsey.
My thought process is that up to this point we haven't had a proper quality DM for a few years now, and IF xhaka proves to be the man for the job, then to have the correct balance we will need a more attacking player alongside him for MOST of the games. Elneny for me is a nuts and bolts player in that he can do a few things well, but isn't anywhere near top quality in any one aspect - again I will quantify that by saying that he hasn't been at the club long enough to make a definitive judgement and he might step up a level next season after being amongst the team for a number of months by then.
Coquelin for me was always the best DM we had purely cos he was the ONLY DM we had He hasn't shown positional discipline, has never been able to stand up physically to the matic's and Fernando's of this league, and in the last few months he became infected with a bout of alex songitis - in other words he started trying 40 yard Hollywood passes and generally thought that he was better than he is
I know most wont agree, but I would be quite comfortable letting santi return to spain if he expressed any interest in doing so - I am factoring in his age, the likelihood of more injuries plus I have never been comfortable with him in centre midfield as he is too lightweight and I have always felt that ozil and santi in the same team leaves the team unbalanced
augie wrote:I still fail to see why so many seem to be convinced by elneny - I'm not saying that he isn't good enough, but I haven't seen enough to suggest that he should be a starter for us
Re the signing of xhaka, I too am hoping that at 6ft 3" he is the powerful physically dominant midfielder that I have been crying out for since PV4 left. I would prefer a more established and proven top quality DM, but as long as he is strong in the tackles and intelligent and disciplined enough to play the position
El Neny is bang average but because he's doing the simple things well enough he's being praised as the MF hero we've been missing. Don't see it at all. There is nothing about him that shows any type of elite quality.
Where do you lads read this stuff?
It's funny, because I struggle to recall anyone claiming Elneny is anything more than average. What I do recall is people saying he does the simple things well, takes the ball, passes and moves into space without the need to dribble in circles, backheel or flick it about pointlessly - so a definite upgrade on Messi-Lite Ramsey, but not an elite player or "MF hero" by any standards - but then no one said he was.
Augie, ONE MORE TIME - height does not equal power or strength, build does. Look at the Big German Vagina for the perfect example of a tall cowardly bitch. Nice to see your height obsession has even added 2 inches to Xhaka - he's 6'1".
Hopefully he will be more like a Petit or Vieira rather than a Big German Coward. But then, of all leagues, the PL is still the toughest physically, and not all players can adapt to that. Also, this signing, whilst it may turn out to be great, STILL doesn't address two very important areas where we are light - striker and CH. We will win fuck all until we sign a top striker and a top CH.
A joking exaggeration, obviously, but you will be surprised how much praise he gets on here and on social media for doing elementary things like pass a ball well enough. Because Ramsey has fucked about all season it's more of a relief that ElNeny is someone who doesn't try to be flashy and just keeps it simple. A squad player and nothing more.
augie wrote:I still fail to see why so many seem to be convinced by elneny - I'm not saying that he isn't good enough, but I haven't seen enough to suggest that he should be a starter for us
Re the signing of xhaka, I too am hoping that at 6ft 3" he is the powerful physically dominant midfielder that I have been crying out for since PV4 left. I would prefer a more established and proven top quality DM, but as long as he is strong in the tackles and intelligent and disciplined enough to play the position
El Neny is bang average but because he's doing the simple things well enough he's being praised as the MF hero we've been missing. Don't see it at all. There is nothing about him that shows any type of elite quality.
Where do you lads read this stuff?
It's funny, because I struggle to recall anyone claiming Elneny is anything more than average. What I do recall is people saying he does the simple things well, takes the ball, passes and moves into space without the need to dribble in circles, backheel or flick it about pointlessly - so a definite upgrade on Messi-Lite Ramsey, but not an elite player or "MF hero" by any standards - but then no one said he was.
Augie, ONE MORE TIME - height does not equal power or strength, build does. Look at the Big German Vagina for the perfect example of a tall cowardly bitch. Nice to see your height obsession has even added 2 inches to Xhaka - he's 6'1".
Hopefully he will be more like a Petit or Vieira rather than a Big German Coward. But then, of all leagues, the PL is still the toughest physically, and not all players can adapt to that. Also, this signing, whilst it may turn out to be great, STILL doesn't address two very important areas where we are light - striker and CH. We will win fuck all until we sign a top striker and a top CH.
A joking exaggeration, obviously, but you will be surprised how much praise he gets on here and on social media for doing elementary things like pass a ball well enough. Because Ramsey has fucked about all season it's more of a relief that ElNeny is someone who doesn't try to be flashy and just keeps it simple. A squad player and nothing more.
Honestly, I'd agree with you mostly on that. Elneny has done ok, maybe even done well, but that is mostly as you say because we are comparing him to Ramsey and anything that doesn't involve losing the ball through stupid backheels, twirls and flicks is technically an improvement on Ramsey.
I reckon ozil carz will be off along with flamoney ! So in comes xhaka another so so midfielder who will shine against mid table mediocrity but wilt against quality and so destined to disappoint!
Sorry to be so negative but lets face it we have been here before! So i dont give a fuck who wenker signs ! Dear fucking lord holy jesus christ the blessed virgin and all the saints in heaven ! Im already dreading next season!
I'd pair him up with Cazorla - potentially an excellent partnership.
Here he is sports fans
Cazorla can't be a starter for me though - I like him and definitely a role to play but he's too slow and just too much of a possession-focused playing style which just doesn't pay dividends for us for him to be a CM. We simply don't move the ball through midfield at enough pace and need to move away from getting bogged down there.
Plus Cazorla and Ozil in the side is asking for trouble in most away games.
Who would you have him playing alongside then mate?
Elneny doesn't offer enough for me. Coquelin would be too defensive. Wilshere would be perfect if he can keep himself fit for a change. Ramsey shouldn't be considered for a CM role again as far as I'm concerned.
Nice to be back. I see Augie has learned to use paragraphs these days.
Out of the current crop would be either Elneny or Cazorla, depending on how the partnerships worked and opposition. Don't think that either are really good enough to be starting every mind which was my point about Cazorla - for me he would get found out in that CM role over a season.
Agree that Ramsey shouldn't be in the picture now. Or ever - unless he learns that he is not good enough to play the midfield maestro Fabregas-type role and stops fucking flicking the ball at every opportunity.
Hopefully a spell on the side will teach Coq some humility - at the moment whenever we play against weaker opposition (especially at home) he acts like he is too good to have to do the defensive dirty work and just maraudes around the place instead.
augie wrote:I still fail to see why so many seem to be convinced by elneny - I'm not saying that he isn't good enough, but I haven't seen enough to suggest that he should be a starter for us
Re the signing of xhaka, I too am hoping that at 6ft 3" he is the powerful physically dominant midfielder that I have been crying out for since PV4 left. I would prefer a more established and proven top quality DM, but as long as he is strong in the tackles and intelligent and disciplined enough to play the position
El Neny is bang average but because he's doing the simple things well enough he's being praised as the MF hero we've been missing. Don't see it at all. There is nothing about him that shows any type of elite quality.
Where do you lads read this stuff?
It's funny, because I struggle to recall anyone claiming Elneny is anything more than average. What I do recall is people saying he does the simple things well, takes the ball, passes and moves into space without the need to dribble in circles, backheel or flick it about pointlessly - so a definite upgrade on Messi-Lite Ramsey, but not an elite player or "MF hero" by any standards - but then no one said he was.
Augie, ONE MORE TIME - height does not equal power or strength, build does. Look at the Big German Vagina for the perfect example of a tall cowardly bitch. Nice to see your height obsession has even added 2 inches to Xhaka - he's 6'1".
Hopefully he will be more like a Petit or Vieira rather than a Big German Coward. But then, of all leagues, the PL is still the toughest physically, and not all players can adapt to that. Also, this signing, whilst it may turn out to be great, STILL doesn't address two very important areas where we are light - striker and CH. We will win fuck all until we sign a top striker and a top CH.
A joking exaggeration, obviously, but you will be surprised how much praise he gets on here and on social media for doing elementary things like pass a ball well enough. Because Ramsey has fucked about all season it's more of a relief that ElNeny is someone who doesn't try to be flashy and just keeps it simple. A squad player and nothing more.
I was thinking about this too and it is mad that our midfield quality has been so low that now we have someone who plays just basic stuff and he looks like world class. Elneny has been solid I'll give him that but nothing special really.
Am I reading that right or did you mistype it? 
He hasn't shown positional discipline, has never been able to stand up physically to the matic's and Fernando's of this league, and in the last few months he became infected with a bout of alex songitis - in other words he started trying 40 yard Hollywood passes and generally thought that he was better than he is 
