Mohamed Elneny: What is he good 4?

[Lidl_Reed]

For what we paid this was a serious bargain. He isn't going to tear the EPL apart but he does a job and is a model professional to play with the youngsters.

Oh totally agree with this. Him at striker is needed though.

Had 100% pass completion rate yesterday as well

 

[Beksl]

I like him as he epitomizes what a squad player should be. He always puts a shift in regardless of opposition or how much he has played before. He never complains and has a certain level of quality that benefits the team (stamina, always open for a quick recycle pass can play multiple positions etc).

He's also a full international, experienced for his age and still young enough to develop further.

 

[<<reed>>]

I like him as he epitomizes what a squad player should be. He always puts a shift in regardless of opposition or how much he has played before. He never complains and has a certain level of quality that benefits the team (stamina, always open for a quick recycle pass can play multiple positions etc).

He's also a full international, experienced for his age and still young enough to develop further.

 

[Maybe]

I like him as he epitomizes what a squad player should be. He always puts a shift in regardless of opposition or how much he has played before. He never complains and has a certain level of quality that benefits the team (stamina, always open for a quick recycle pass can play multiple positions etc).

He's also a full international, experienced for his age and still young enough to develop further.

Just putting a shift is Everton level tbh. Squad players with that kind of description don't really exist at top clubs, they are usually specialized in one area and are only used if that skill is needed in a certain situation. Giroud would be an example of a squad player, he can be used when his team dominates the game but they lack one big guy in the box against the parked buss. Elneny offers nothing, just running around and making easy passes is not enough for what we need from the bench.

And the full international stuff is some lame term I would expect from Wenger, just to cover up his awful business mistakes he was doing for the last 10 years. He plays for Egypt, not France

 

[razörist]

Just putting a shift is Everton level tbh. Squad players with that kind of description don't really exist at top clubs, they are usually specialized in one area and are only used if that skill is needed in a certain situation. Giroud would be an example of a squad player, he can be used when his team dominates the game but they lack one big guy in the box against the parked buss. Elneny offers nothing, just running around and making easy passes is not enough for what we need from the bench.

And the full international stuff is some lame term I would expect from Wenger, just to cover up his awful business mistakes he was doing for the last 10 years. He plays for Egypt, not France

Funny you say that squad players are usually specialized in one area, that’s obviously not true. Most clubs only have squad players that can play in different ways and positions, they need to be able to do that, can’t have 20 specialists on the bench. Giroud is not even a squad player btw. Let’s look at the evidence here instead of your obvious opinion that has nothing to do with the argument. We have Danny Welbeck, who this season alone played on the left, right, striker and who we also know can play as a pure left midfielder. Than we have young Alex Iwobi, who right now is a squad player, regularly used as a centre midfielder, attacking midfielder and left and right wing. We have Lichtsteiner who has been used as a left and right back and can play right midfielder. We have Elneny who can play centre back (preferably not), right back, en al the different roles in centre midfield.

To have squad players like this is a dream come true, I love every single one of them. They come in, do their job, never complain, are good members of the squad. You absolutely need guys like Elneny and for years now I’m absolutely baffled at the negative attention he gets. He does exactly what he has been bought to do, no less, no more. Yet he’s judged like he’s supossed to be a world-class midfielder.

 

[Gursha]

If thats the guy we accept to be in our second team, it only shows our ambition... look at other top team s bench, so many game changers, what we have? El Neny... the guy that cant pass forward... he is useless... why would people try to justify him if all he is doing is pass backwards and run a little bit more than others... i just dont get how low our standards have become.
I rather have Niles and Smith at the coming on instead of him, at least they can be exciting, he is an anti exciting footballer.

Sokratis made more passes to our front 3 than him... embarrassing... I actually feel more excited when Sokratis gets the ball than him... pretty much says it all..

 

[Gursha]

Funny you say that squad players are usually specialized in one area, that’s obviously not true. Most clubs only have squad players that can play in different ways and positions, they need to be able to do that, can’t have 20 specialists on the bench. Giroud is not even a squad player btw. Let’s look at the evidence here instead of your obvious opinion that has nothing to do with the argument. We have Danny Welbeck, who this season alone played on the left, right, striker and who we also know can play as a pure left midfielder. Than we have young Alex Iwobi, who right now is a squad player, regularly used as a centre midfielder, attacking midfielder and left and right wing. We have Lichtsteiner who has been used as a left and right back and can play right midfielder. We have Elneny who can play centre back (preferably not), right back, en al the different roles in centre midfield.

To have squad players like this is a dream come true, I love every single one of them. They come in, do their job, never complain, are good members of the squad. You absolutely need guys like Elneny and for years now I’m absolutely baffled at the negative attention he gets. He does exactly what he has been bought to do, no less, no more. Yet he’s judged like he’s supossed to be a world-class midfielder.

Your standards are so low...

 

[ThlRama]

so many game changers

Sp**s and United comfortably have a worse bench than us fwiw, and with fewer injuries (or recent returns from injury, which mean lack of form, like in the case of Kolasinac) to key players too currently. The three clubs in England that have a better bench than ours have spend gazillions more, they have both net and gross spend far bigger than ours for over a decade now.

Our bench is fine, if not great. We need slight improvements and better specialists in our starting eleven, not bench. Elneny and Welbeck are great to have.

 

[Lidl_Reed]

Different strokes for different situations btw. Would I want Elneny on instead of Niles or ESR if we were 1-0 down? No

But if we were 1-0 up, with 25 minutes to go, I would much rather have Elneny on with his safe passing and positioning, compared to Niles, because Niles makes mistakes.

 

[krackpot]

Different strokes for different situations btw. Would I want Elneny on instead of Niles or ESR if we were 1-0 down? No

But if we were 1-0 up, with 25 minutes to go, I would much rather have Elneny on with his safe passing and positioning, compared to Niles, because Niles makes mistakes.

great post. I would still want to give El-Nenny's time to others.

Pretty sure Willock or even Zelalem would have flowered if given the same amount of minutes.

You have teams like Valencia of the 2000s or current Monaco who don't (need to) challenge for the title, and rely on their youngsters and they pull through more often than not.

If he is a squad player, he should be firmly behind our own youngsters.

 

[Maybe]

Funny you say that squad players are usually specialized in one area, that’s obviously not true. Most clubs only have squad players that can play in different ways and positions, they need to be able to do that, can’t have 20 specialists on the bench. Giroud is not even a squad player btw. Let’s look at the evidence here instead of your obvious opinion that has nothing to do with the argument. We have Danny Welbeck, who this season alone played on the left, right, striker and who we also know can play as a pure left midfielder. Than we have young Alex Iwobi, who right now is a squad player, regularly used as a centre midfielder, attacking midfielder and left and right wing. We have Lichtsteiner who has been used as a left and right back and can play right midfielder. We have Elneny who can play centre back (preferably not), right back, en al the different roles in centre midfield.

To have squad players like this is a dream come true, I love every single one of them. They come in, do their job, never complain, are good members of the squad. You absolutely need guys like Elneny and for years now I’m absolutely baffled at the negative attention he gets. He does exactly what he has been bought to do, no less, no more. Yet he’s judged like he’s supossed to be a world-class midfielder.

I'm not saying what most clubs do, I'm saying what top clubs do. When did you see Elneny at right back? He doesn't have a single attribute that would make him a decent right back. This was tested by Wenger when he tried to play Eboue on the right wing. yes he was playing it but he was horrible at it, and one could argue that Eboue would be a better fit for RW than Elneny would ever be at CB or RB.
So if I look at Elneny as a squad player, he would be a cover for DM position, and what are his strengths there? He is not a ball winner, very average passer, can't change tempo of the game and that is a sign of a player that just doesn't belong to a top club.
And why are you bringing Iwobi and Welbeck into this? They are squad players who can change the game and add some value to the team when they are needed. Your argument that they can play multiple positions doesn't prove anything because they are still specialized players, and no matter what position they play they bring same qualities and flaws to it. It's not like Welbeck will suddenly start to be a good passer just because he would maybe play CM position.

 

[razörist]

I'm not saying what most clubs do, I'm saying what top clubs do. When did you see Elneny at right back? He doesn't have a single attribute that would make him a decent right back. This was tested by Wenger when he tried to play Eboue on the right wing. yes he was playing it but he was horrible at it, and one could argue that Eboue would be a better fit for RW than Elneny would ever be at CB or RB.

Really nitpicking here, I remember him vaguely playing there once and doing an ok job there. What you're trying with the Eboue comparison is beyond me.

So if I look at Elneny as a squad player, he would be a cover for DM position, and what are his strengths there? He is not a ball winner, very average passer, can't change tempo of the game and that is a sign of a player that just doesn't belong to a top club.

Elneny is cover for CM & DM, and to play the smaller opposition when our key players need a rest. His strenghts are his work-rate, pressing, his assured pass completion, his movement to create space, relieve pressure of his teammates when he doesn't have the ball. In fact he's one of our best players at the club at that, perhaps behind Mesut.

What you describe of not being a ball winner, average passer and can't change the tempo of the game is:
1) Not as black and white as you say, he can do it, just don't expect him to shine against top clubs, that's not what he was bought for.
2) Untill recently we did not have midfielders that could do that in our starting 11, let alone on the bench. You must learn how to walk before you can run.

And why are you bringing Iwobi and Welbeck into this? They are squad players who can change the game and add some value to the team when they are needed. Your argument that they can play multiple positions doesn't prove anything because they are still specialized players, and no matter what position they play they bring same qualities and flaws to it. It's not like Welbeck will suddenly start to be a good passer just because he would maybe play CM position.

I'm bringing Iwobi and Welbeck into this because you used a really bad example of Giroud as a squad player, which he isn't, to compare with Elneny. I just gave you some better ones, the ones right under our noses.

Overall I'm telling you one day we will hopefully improve on Elneny, it is what striving for the best ultimately will make us do. However, improving on Elneny is way down the pecking order. We have way more urgent problems like finding our #1 goalkeeper for the next 10 years (hopefully Leno), having a more steady centre defense, without Mustafi. A left back situation where Kolasinac hasn't shown he can be our first choice there and Monreal getting older and older. We have no pure wingers in our squad, you can half count Iwobi. That is why I don't see the value in even discussing Elneny at this club. He's here, he's doing his job, and we can focus on the urgent matters of our squad balance. Thank you very much.

 

[ThlRama]

What you describe of not being a ball winner, average passer and can't change the tempo of the game is:
1) Not as black and white as you say, he can do it, just don't expect him to shine against top clubs, that's not what he was bought for.
2) Untill recently we did not have midfielders that could do that in our starting 11, let alone on the bench. You must learn how to walk before you can run.

So true it hurts. Before we bought Elneny our midfielders were a semi-retired Arteta, a can't-pass-for-my-life Coquelin, a can't-stop-getting-injured Cazorla, and... Aaron "the goalscorer" Ramsey and Jack "out-of-form crock" Wilshere. Fecking hell!!

 

[Maybe]

Really nitpicking here, I remember him vaguely playing there once and doing an ok job there. What you're trying with the Eboue comparison is beyond me.

It is you who started with Elneny on CB and RB, so I made a good example of Eboue that you can put any player anywhere (something that Wenger was doing), but the results of that were mostly pathetic. You are trying to raise Elnenys squadie status value by making him look like a guy who could cover for multiple positions, but in truth he is not even good enough to cover his own position.

you used a really bad example of Giroud as a squad player, which he isn't

Giroud would be a squad play at most top clubs, but since we were not even close to that status, he was regular for us until Laca came here.

Overall I'm telling you one day we will hopefully improve on Elneny, it is what striving for the best ultimately will make us do. However, improving on Elneny is way down the pecking order

I'm not saying we need to improve on Elneny, we already did that with Guenduzi, Torreira and possibly AMN. It is shocking to me that he got new contract without being considered squad player anymore. Club made improvements this year, and to repeat myself, Elneny is not good enough to be squad player for any top team (I consider us top team again)

 

[hydrofluoric acid]

No Elneny on the bench or in the starting line up. My new drug!

 

[rich 1990]

Why the **** would you bump this.

 

[say yes]

Can’t wait to retweet this when we sell him to Rubin Kazan on January 1st.

 

[Stannis]

Can’t wait to retweet this when we sell him to Rubin Kazan on January 1st.

Doubt he is going anywhere, he has no incentive to leave. Big club, quality team mates, London, plus he will always be picked for his National Team.

 

[boyinneedofhumor]

Doubt he is going anywhere, he has no incentive to leave. Big club, quality team mates, London, plus he will always be picked for his National Team.

Never ever underestimate the Arsenal fanbase...

 

[razörist]

Why is this thread up?