Alex Iwobi: Big 17 No Safety

[scytheavatar]

Chamberlain's problem is that he keeps getting injured, and his injuries are having a massive impact on his performances when he's fit. You see Wilshere being more of an injury problem than Chamberlain, yet whenever Wilshere is fit and got to play he has actually played well and shown progress. Chamberlain on the other hand has lost a lot of the confidence and energy he has earlier in his career and has actually looked more raw and lacking over time. I don't know what to do about Chamberlain really because the bottom line is that we are stacked with wingers and will need to clear out the trash we have to add in new ones. And I am not sure Chamberlain has shown enough to make gambling on him worth it.

 

[4R5Emaniac]

Interesting posts regarding Ox and I tend to agree. Sort of feel the same for Ramsey that with more guidance and fine tuning he could be really good. And also, Wilshere as well. From the highlights of his reserve games you can't help but think he'd could be a superb deeplying playmaker. Then again Wenga wants him to find his acceleration and dribble whenever possible to create chaos in the final third when he could be so much more from the back of midfield. I have a hard time accepting Woy Hodg can see this but Wagner can't.

 

[alboots101]

Iwobi. I even like the name, I hope he starts all the games for the rest of the season.

 

[Trilly]

Interesting posts regarding Ox and I tend to agree. Sort of feel the same for Ramsey that with more guidance and fine tuning he could be really good. And also, Wilshere as well. From the highlights of his reserve games you can't help but think he'd could be a superb deeplying playmaker. Then again Wenga wants him to find his acceleration and dribble whenever possible to create chaos in the final third when he could be so much more from the back of midfield. I have a hard time accepting Woy Hodg can see this but Wagner can't.

You've spelt Wenger's name wrong twice in two different ways. Are you alright?

 

[MutableEarth]

Interesting posts regarding Ox and I tend to agree. Sort of feel the same for Ramsey that with more guidance and fine tuning he could be really good. And also, Wilshere as well. From the highlights of his reserve games you can't help but think he'd could be a superb deeplying playmaker. Then again Wenga wants him to find his acceleration and dribble whenever possible to create chaos in the final third when he could be so much more from the back of midfield. I have a hard time accepting Woy Hodg can see this but Wagner can't.

Wilshere has shown potential in both areas. During his initial years on the fringes of the first team at age 16, he was played in the attacking positions - particularly on the right wing, which is why he still shows a good aptitude when he plays there. Wilshere has potential both as a final third player and as a middle third playmaker. So much so that Wenger has flip-flopped many times on what to do with him - he's previously described him as a potential Bergkamp successor in the number 10 role, then backtracked and said Wilshere is at his best facing the game from a deeper position, then came full circle recently by labelling Wilshere a player who thrives in the final third.

Personally, I think Wenger has contributed to Wilshere not finding his role fully, but it's also mainly because of how Wilshere's play style and skillset seem constantly at odds, especially since his breakthrough season. To put it simply, Wilshere could be a Pirlo-style DLP or an Iniesta-style midfielder-cum-attacker - but deep down, he wants to be Steven Gerrard like every other British midfielder

 

[4R5Emaniac]

You've spelt Wenger's name wrong twice in two different ways. Are you alright?

Sorta

 

[4R5Emaniac]

but deep down, he wants to be Steven Gerrard like every other British midfielder

Tbf to him, Gerrard was a total hero and when much younger I thought he was a superhero or something. Not the greatest football player in terms of having a defined position(and staying there) but damn, he could inspire. I was gutted he didn't win the league with that slip. Man is a legend. Not many players you could claim who stayed at one club till his legs gave in and departed at the right time to a retirement league. Having had my hurt burnt so many times over the years....

Anyway, can't Wenger control or teach the players? Sometimes, I feel his job description says make money, buy and sell players, play them and imagine they're gonna be great on their own then be in denial when it doesn't work out instead of finding a solution.

 

[Rimaal]

Give Iwobi another couple of years under Wenger and he'll turn into Chamberlain or Walcott.

 

[Giroud]

Definitely, I look at what Pep has done with Coman and Ox has all the raw attributes to do the same thing.

I definitely wouldn't sell him to City.

Costa would be a better comparison. Both are electric and beat players with ease but are limited in other areas. Pep has simplified the game for Costa to the point where all he has to focus on is beating a single man. If you watch Bayern play they drag the opposition to the opposite side of the field before Alonso plays a a quick cross field ball to Costa who can take on an isolated fullback. He then often beats his man and an opposition defender has to come across to cover leaving gaps in the middle which they can exploit. Simple but effective with the right players.

Unfortunately our midfield is so poor on the ball that they can't find Ox in space and when he does isolate a defender he too often makes a wrong decision.

Coman looks a much more rounded than Costa and Ox.

 

[Trilly]

Costa would be a better comparison. Both are electric and beat players with ease but are limited in other areas. Pep has simplified the game for Costa to the point where all he has to focus on is beating a single man. If you watch Bayern play they drag the opposition to the opposite side of the field before Alonso plays a a quick cross field ball to Costa who can take on an isolated fullback. He then often beats his man and an opposition defender has to come across to cover leaving gaps in the middle which they can exploit. Simple but effective with the right players.

Unfortunately our midfield is so poor on the ball that they can't find Ox in space and when he does isolate a defender he too often makes a wrong decision.

Coman looks a much more rounded than Costa and Ox.

Much better comparison, I agree. Pep would focus on getting the Ox to use his best attributes to devastating effect.

Wenger likes to grow his players into complete footballers which is considerably more difficult.

 

[Lancelot]

My minute-by-minute contextual summary of his performance against Crystal Palace April 17, 2016:

Iwobi

Positive:

• Tracked back as Bolasie got the ball just below the half-way line and proceeded to charge forward with it (right flank). He eventually took control of a loose ball that resulted from Monreal's excellent challenge against Bolasie (61:47)

Negative:

• Asked for the ball from Monreal inside of their box (towards the left flank) and got it. The lad just couldn't control a nice pass to his body with his first touch and another good opportunity went down the drain (judging by the looks of it, I think he was too busy thinking about what to do with it next) (23:20)

• Tried to do a quick one-touch pass for Welbeck's give-n-go but the weight of the pass was pretty off. There was acre of space to attack the goal if it were completed (27:45)

• Had just received the ball from Bellerin near the top of the penalty arc; he tried to control the ball with his left and pass it swiftly with his right to Welbeck. It went too far to the right side of Welbeck's reach and the pass was intercepted (31:13)

• Surrounded by 3 CRY's players and tried to squeeze a pass to Alexis 4-6 yards ahead of the penalty arc and went straight to one of the CRY's players' leg. Bellerin was available out wide on the right flank and Elneny was also free near by (31:38)

• Got the ball about 10 yards from the left corner of their box, he spotted Alexis unmarked on the far side inside of the box and tried to hit a direct ball to him. It was too heavy and the ball went out of bounds (43:01)

 

[samshere]

My minute-by-minute contextual summary of his performance against Crystal Palace April 17, 2016:

Iwobi

Positive:

• Tracked back as Bolasie got the ball just below the half-way line and proceeded to charge forward with it (right flank). He eventually took control of a loose ball that resulted from Monreal's excellent challenge against Bolasie (61:47)

Negative:

• Asked for the ball from Monreal inside of their box (towards the left flank) and got it. The lad just couldn't control a nice pass to his body with his first touch and another good opportunity went down the drain (judging by the looks of it, I think he was too busy thinking about what to do with it next) (23:20)

• Tried to do a quick one-touch pass for Welbeck's give-n-go but the weight of the pass was pretty off. There was acre of space to attack the goal if it were completed (27:45)

• Had just received the ball from Bellerin near the top of the penalty arc; he tried to control the ball with his left and pass it swiftly with his right to Welbeck. It went too far to the right side of Welbeck's reach and the pass was intercepted (31:13)

• Surrounded by 3 CRY's players and tried to squeeze a pass to Alexis 4-6 yards ahead of the penalty arc and went straight to one of the CRY's players' leg. Bellerin was available out wide on the right flank and Elneny was also free near by (31:38)

• Got the ball about 10 yards from the left corner of their box, he spotted Alexis unmarked on the far side inside of the box and tried to hit a direct ball to him. It was too heavy and the ball went out of bounds (43:01)

Wow, I didn't realise Iwobi had such a poor game. But guess thats got to be expected from youth, and it shows that at least he's trying stuff(which might have come off on a better day).

 

[Fallout]

Much better comparison, I agree. Pep would focus on getting the Ox to use his best attributes to devastating effect.

Wenger likes to grow his players into complete footballers which is considerably more difficult.

great post. for me, this is the biggest reason why our goals have dried up in the last few years.

we abandoned the technicians who could act as "complete" footballers when given creative freedom under wenger's system. we replaced them with less technical attackers who had more defined physical attributes (e.g. lots of strength or pace), and then we expected these players to learn the technical side of the game and attack in the same manner as the old generation.

that process has left us in an interesting predicament where we can go several games banging on the door yet failing to score because our underlying lack of technique means we struggle to make the final ball or finish. our wingers have pace, our strikers have strength, yet we rarely use these attributes to devastating effect because we're still trying to attack as if we had rosicky, hleb, fabregas, nasri, and van persie in our team.

and this is where wenger is getting exposed. we dont have "complete footballers" in the team and wenger hasnt adapted yet to use physical attributes effectively.

defensively, i really like the improvements we've made since steve bould took over, and yes, this is another area in which wenger has been exposed tactically. were it not for bould, i'm fairly sure we would be just as porous as before.

edit: back on topic, iwobi is succeeding here because he seems to be one of the few "complete footballers" we have in the squad. long may it continue.

 

[Lancelot]

Wow, I didn't realise Iwobi had such a poor game. But guess thats got to be expected from youth, and it shows that at least he's trying stuff(which might have come off on a better day).

I had the same thought while I was finalizing my summary and I agree with you, mate.

Alexis also had a rather poor game and Özil kind of fell below his usual standard. I'm a bit worried about the fact that all of 3 of them seemed to have a bad game at the same time instead of maybe just one so that the other two would manage to carry the onus of our attacking efficiency.

Considering that we were effectively playing against a parking school bus, I thought that we pushed too hard for the second goal in the second half when it was clear from the first half that we weren't sharp enough on the day.

As Pardew began to make his substitutions to try to get an equalizer, we should have focused on having more men in our half, played our possession football there and waited for them to come at us for the ball; once they did that, the spaces all over their half would start opening up and, without committing too many men forward, our 'off-form' players would have been able to create more clear-cut chances as opposed to forcing our way against 10 men behind ball, with no room for less than perfect passes and greater chances for them to hit us on counter-attack.

 

[Fallout]

Considering that we were effectively playing against a parking school bus, I thought that we pushed too hard for the second goal in the second half when it was clear from the first half that we weren't sharp enough on the day.

As Pardew began to make his substitutions to try to get an equalizer, we should have focused on having more men in our half, played our possession football there and waited for them to come at us for the ball; once they did that, the spaces all over their half would start opening up and, without committing too many men forward, our 'off-form' players would have been able to create more clear-cut chances as opposed to forcing our way against 10 men behind ball, with no room for less than perfect passes and greater chances for them to hit us on counter-attack.

so true! at 1-0 up in the 70th minute, we were the ones pushing for a goal and getting countered. hilarious in a perverse way.

 

[nicky47]

Alexander Iwobi ‏@alexiwobi 3m3 minutes ago
Disappointing Performance On My Behalf

 

[Hunta]

He's been poor for a while, cost us two goals against West Ham, average against WBA, crap today.

He's had a taste, leave him out now for a bit.

 

[fabo]

Agreed. Possibly a half-season loan next year.

 

[Tourbillion]

Was he bad today? Seemed like he had half a clue at least, unlike SEVERAL other players.

Campbell should definitely be getting gametime as well though, should be rotating the two until we sign a worldie this summer (yeah right).

 

[dysphoria]

a 19 year old is starting in our team because the alternatives are useless and/or injured. Perfect management.