Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain: Less Ox, More Snake

[Gooner Zig]

Bellerin, Kos, Alexis...
No surprise though...They are the only genuine top players we have.
TBF, I think Xhaka has it as well and Santi back in his days.
Özil is a quandary....Love him but not sure how he fits.

Honestly think we should look into playing Mesut as a striker

 

[Lookin' for a new Baby]

Get rid of 'em all and start again! 'cept Alexis of course, there is my user name to consider and all.

 

[Kwaku]

At best he is a squad player, it is fairly obvious that he is not good enough to be a starting player if Arsenal want to win the big honours. His time so far at Arsenal has ranged between mediocre to average and has been like that for years now.

Ideally I would sell him and sign a starting wide player of real quality.

 

[Jury]

Honestly think we should look into playing Mesut as a striker

Yes, we ought to make much better use of his instinctive, clinical finishing and fabulous shooting power.

 

[Gooner Zig]

Yes, we ought to make much better use of his instinctive, clinical finishing and fabulous shooting power.

I agree

 

[Lookin' for a new Baby]

I agree

That was class!!!

 

[Taylor Gang Gunners]

I agree

Ahh, what a goal.

 

[Trilly]

Ahh, what a goal.

Feels like a different player these days.

Tbf he could turn around and do that next week, he's still as technically gifted as ever.

Need to sort out the midfield.

 

[Impact]

Honestly, very excited to see him under a manager that focuses on positional play. One of a small group of players that can hold their heads up during this dire run.

 

[Gervais]

He's plays like a butter knife trying to cut through a rump steak.

 

[Hunta]

Honestly, very excited to see him under a manager that focuses on positional play. One of a small group of players that can hold their heads up during this dire run.

He's done nothing. Honestly, he's been no better than the rest of them.

 

[Impact]

Compared to his midfield peers, he's the one player who doesn't continually go missing in games. It's a very low standard I'm holding him to, but he's been the one midfielder than has been less than embarrassing over the past few big games.

 

[Aevi]

As a winger, I'm a slightly annoyed at how little he makes runs into the box to tap in an incoming cross or link up with a player. He always hangs around the edges of the box to do a little dribble or move the ball from side to side, which makes him a lot less dangerous.

 

[Cudareli]

As a winger, I'm a slightly annoyed at how little he makes runs into the box to tap in an incoming cross or link up with a player. He always hangs around the edges of the box to do a little dribble or move the ball from side to side, which makes him a lot less dangerous.

Probably because he's not a winger? Wenger has an obsession with throwing players out there, really don't blame Ox for it even if we all seem to think he technically should be able to do a job there. Diaby, Wilshere, Özil, Ox, Arshavin, the list goes on.

 

[Impact]

Think it also has to do with Wenger's insistence on creative freedom and not positional play. His movement follows his natural instincts as a midfielder by trade. If he was coached to play as a winger, he'd learn to do the role required with all the expected movements.

 

[Big Poppa]

Think it also has to do with Wenger's insistence on creative freedom and not positional play. His movement follows his natural instincts as a midfielder by trade. If he was coached to play as a winger, he'd learn to do the role required with all the expected movements.

Excellent point and I fully agree. For what it's worth I feel Wenger's flippant approach towards the wide positions since he last won the title has been a fundamental reason for our lack of progressiveness. Even a player like Willian who is a bench player at Chelsea is better than any winger used by Arsène since 2005 because he understand that role and is a specialist at it - he would improve us exponentially and be starting there every week. Wenger uses it as an auxiliary role to compensate for our lack of presence in midfield, which would not be necessary if he had physically self-sufficient CMs like he did with Edu, Gilberto and Vieira.

 

[MutableEarth]

Excellent point and I fully agree. For what it's worth I feel Wenger's flippant approach towards the wide positions since he last won the title has been a fundamental reason for our lack of progressiveness. Even a player like Willian who is a bench player at Chelsea is better than any winger used by Arsène since 2005 because he understand that role and is a specialist at it - he would improve us exponentially and be starting there every week. Wenger uses it as an auxiliary role to compensate for our lack of presence in midfield, which would not be necessary if he had physically self-sufficient CMs like he did with Edu, Gilberto and Vieira.

Willian actually was an AM traditionally with the ability to play wide. It helps if you have a defined role within a defined strategy.

 

[Big Poppa]

Willian actually was an AM traditionally with the ability to play wide. It helps if you have a defined role within a defined strategy.

Re Willian - I'm pretty sure he played across the attack at Shakhtar - even moreso on the left side cutting in. He always had blistering pace, guile and an incredibly high football IQ, which is unusual for relatively young attacking players who are quick (see Martial), but since moving to the Premier League, Mourinho did what he normally does and gave a player a fixed position with fixed instructions, and look how he has mastered it.

With that said I could not agree more with your sentence in bold.

 

[Penn_]

Best player today?

Frustrating that we will never play that formation again, nor will he even play CM until there's no option.

 

[Jury]

Better than Xhaka