04 May 2018 13:03:43
What a disappointing match last night. I was too angry to even post anything. Those are the most ungrateful bunch of over-paid prima donnas in football. This was the last season for a manager who fought for them, stood up for them, defended them and never criticized them in public and that is how they sent him away? Utter shame.
Bellerin can't defend and can't cross. Mustafi cannot defend. Monreal cannot cross. Ramsey was rubbish too last night as was ozil and welbeck. only wilshere, chambers and xhaka can hold their head high. The rest of the performances were terrible.
We need a massive squad clear out next season. The entire back line has to be replaced. Bellerin and mustafi to be sold. The entire midfield needs to go too apart from wilshere and xhaka. We need two proper wingers too. It is like we need a whole new team. our players are rubbish. No way we are getting back into the top four with that bunch. As a matter of priority, i'd like to fill the following positions:
1.Goalkeeper
2.right back
3.central defender
4.Defensive midfielder
5.box to box midfielder
6.right winger.
7.left winger.
I'd like to sell the following players;
1.Bellerin
2.mustafi
3.ramsey
4.iwobi
5.welbeck.
04 May 2018 14:05:02
XHAKA! He should be first out the door.
04 May 2018 14:27:09
Do you not think under a different Coach some of these players might come good mate?
I have long since written off Mustafi Xhaka and Iwobi but maybe even they could be better players than our disorganised undisciplined dispassionate traning and tactics have shown them to be.
If the new coach came in and got rid of the entire squad I'd back him 100% but also if he decided to give them all a season to work under him and save thier Arsenal careers I'd back him equally. Those who are as bad this time next year as they are now will be proven to be of no use to us but those who improve well maybe they just were made to look poor due to our system.
They are all Arsenes signings so what they produce is a direct reflection of Arsenes ability to spot sign motivate and develope players but maybe just maybe they have something Arsene couldn't get out of them still to offer us?
04 May 2018 15:07:37
Add Ozil. To that list.
04 May 2018 15:34:53
Sometimes gunner you can't make a silk purse out of a cows ear. Xhaka, mustaffi not mobile enough and don't think defence. Bellerin is just weak and hasn't got much to work with. Some players can be turned around but some just are not good enough.
04 May 2018 15:42:12
Steve, i would replace xhaka too but i think it will be hard replacing so many players at once so we will have to do with them for a couple of seasons and xhaka has also shown some flashes of brilliance albeit sporadically. He no longer gets into rash challenges, has reduced his red cards and is a bit young compared to the other squad members. i would keep him but not as a first choice. He would be a squad player but the rest need to be sold as soon as possible.
04 May 2018 16:09:27
Gunner mate, i think some may but most of them are terrible. Some like ozil have pure talent, there is no doubt about that so with a new manager who gives them a kick up their asses, maybe they may improve but there are many who are just simply not good enough. limited talent and limited fotballing brain.
I am talking about people like bellerin, iwobi, welbeck, ramsey, mustafi and i could even be missing a couple more, but the reality is most of them are not good enough for a top four side never mind a title winning one. So they have to be all shipped out. you can add ospina to the list too. They simply have to be gotten rid of.
04 May 2018 16:25:40
True Steve but Danny Simpson Robert Huth and Wes Morgan all prove that sometimes you can make the most unlikeliest of footballers into premier league champions and Champions league quater finalist.
I'm absolutely no fan of Mustafi and personally I would let him go on a free or even pay him to leave but that does not stop me accepting the fact there was once a reason he could command a 38 million price tag and maybe just maybe the new manager might be able to show us all.
04 May 2018 16:43:15
All the players you mentioned lacked quality for sure but they made up for it with fight, determination and application. Not something a lot of our players posses.
04 May 2018 17:06:44
I bet if they'd joined us instead of Leicester we'd class then all as lacking those the fight passion and commitment they showed in abundance for Leicester Steve mate.
I just don't think we should totally discount the effect Arsenes methods have had on all our players bar Sanchez and I think Morgan Simpson and Huth would probably gone the same way to under Arsenes coaching and organisation methods.
04 May 2018 18:19:51
Gunner mate i have to agree with steve here. No matter what manager you get in here, some players are just not good enough. Desire and determination may take you far but it really won't win titles most of the times. there are exceptions of course like in Leicesters case but they rarely happen. they are flukes. the probability of that happening is little so what you need is quality players with desire. we seem to have players who are lacking in both. Would welbeck, iwobi, xhaka, mustafi get in top six side? i don't think so.
04 May 2018 18:54:12
I agree 100% Punani in fact I don't think any of players would get in a top 5 side with the one possible exception of PEA who might.
This time next year who knows and who knows which ones might if any.
All I'm saying is I'm no longer convinced they are all as bad as they all look under Arsene and because they all look so really poor under Arsene it's a job to say who is and who isn't capable of vast improvement.
If we asked the same question this time last season how many people would have picked Ox as the player who would have by far the best 2017/ 18 season of all the 2016/ 17 Arsenal squad or that Debuchy would be runner up to Ox?
Makes you wonder! Well it does me any way.
04 May 2018 20:55:53
I don't think if xhaka had gone to leicester instead of kante or mustaffi instead pf morgan or iwobi instead of osaki, they would have won the league. They had a never say die attitude every game that season and played above their ability. I don't see many of ours doing that, or have the DNA.
04 May 2018 21:17:40
It's undeniable that Xhaka or anyone anywhere would have had the same effect as Kante Steve, I've never before in all my years of watching football seen a player like Kante who you have to keep reminding yourself there is only one of him in the pitch.
But a pre Arsenal Mustafi in place of Huth or Morgan? I'm not so sure is out of the question or pre Arsenal Lacasette for Vardy or pre Arsenal Mesut for Mahrez.
04 May 2018 21:31:53
Gunner, i still have nightmares about xhaka and kante. Kante is an unbelievable midfielder and we didn't persue him. i'm shaking now.
04 May 2018 22:12:41
I totally agree Steve we should have thrown the kitchen sink at making him ours and if we had? I'm pretty certain we wouldn't have ever been in this season's Europa league in the first place or in next seasons either plus Arsene would be seeing out his contract.
Huge mistake especially when you consider he cost just 30 million v the completely wasted 38 on Xhaka.
04 May 2018 22:32:58
Gunner mate, i do agree about your suggestion that some players may improve under a new manager partly.
I would say you can make a case for xhaka and iwobi i think but the rest i refuse to accept they can improve under a new manager.
Iwobi for instance has a big problem when it comes to his shooting and if a micro manager like a guardiola tuchel or a nagelsmann for example comes in, you can bet his shooting is very likely to improve because this kind of managers are micro managers. They work on a specific aspect of a player.
Xhaka's weakness is his concentration and tackling ability. He has exceptional long passing ability. He is technically good enough. He has stuff about him that you can work on.
guardiola for instance improved so many players, sterling for one. I don't know if you have seen a video of guardiola coaching sterling on how to position his body while receiving the ball it was interesting.
He instructs sterling to receive the ball at a degree less then ninety as if he is looking away so that as soon as he receives the ball, he knows which channel to run into. The next game sterling tries that and boom he runs into a channel and no one picks him up and he ends up scoring.
Arsenal could do with a coach like that. That is why i was always of the opinion that tuchel is the best bet for Arsenal. He would certainly improve some of the players but coaches like allegri are tacticians not micro managers and as much as they may get it right tactically, i doubt they would improve players much.
Needless to say, regardless of which coach comes in, you can certainly rule out a player like welbeck improving. He just can't improve. Doesn't have a football brain. Even if you give him to guardiola, he will amount to nothing. same with mustafi, ramsey and bellerin. They are just not good enough on a technical level.
Mustafi seems to lack even basic knowledge of defending. He goes to ground easily, makes ridiculous passes and puts himself under pressure and can't seem to mark his man properly. I can't see how that improves under a new coach. He simply isn't good enough and needs to be shipped out.
Ramsey is technically deficient. His saving grace is only his intelligent movement and goal scoring ability. Can't dribble, can't pass and can't get out of tight spaces. That is why he smashes the likes of westham but flops against the big boys. every time atletico pressed him last night he lost the ball. contrast that to wilshere who is a good dribbler and who evaded the atletico press quite a few times last night.
Bellerin on the other hand can't tackle, can't defend and is terrible going forward. ninety percent of his crosses are either over hit or go out of play. He is the most technically deficient right back i have ever watched in an arsenal shirt. we moved from lauren to eboue who as terrible as he may have been defensively, was great going forward. Then we had sagna who was good defensively and attack wise. Bellerin is the worst right back i have ever seen in an arsenal shirt.
05 May 2018 09:29:38
I not a fan of Mustafi at all Punani and for me both Iwobi and Xhaka are awful, to me none of the 3 are anywhere near good enough.
Personally I'd cash in on all 3 but because all our signings of the past 5 seasons bar Sanchez have gone downhill since joining us i am open to the idea they might not all be as bad as they appear to be but at this stage who's to say who is or isn't as bad as they have looked under Arsene?
We all have our own views but equally we can all get it wrong sometimes too, I thought Gary linker would be a one season wonder when he first appeared at Leicester and Rayes would be as good as Rooney.
Because there has been such an obvious weaknesses on the training field I'm now more open to the possibility that some of our players are capable of more than we've seen so if the next manager gave them a chance to prove themselves I'd see his point view.
05 May 2018 13:07:13
I think the new coach will decide who suits him and who doesn't can all have our opinions. Who knows welbeck might become the first choice striker, go on to win the golden boot and be in contention for the ballon d'or next year? :-D.
05 May 2018 14:53:59
It could happen mate :-) Jack could also break Frank Lampards consecutive appearance record and our defence could break the 13 goals conceeded over a season record too.
Someone somewhere wins the euro lotto every now and then and the odds on that are approximately 140 million to 1 so never say never mate:-)