Noni Madueke: There Is No Knee To Be Upset

[Martinvonkeown]

Am I the only Madueke fan left on AM?

Don't think so. People were throwing their toys out of the pram when we signed him. He's done the job we signed him for.

 

[lomekian]

A player not doing well after Arsenal doesn’t mean anything though? Loss of momentum, confidence being damaged, constant adaptation periods, mental state all play a part so it’s a lazy point that doesn’t mean anything and assumes footballers are machines and not human beings.

Pepe was trending upwards career wise and struggled after Arsenal in weaker leagues than the one he exploded in. If your point is that struggling after Arsenal means he was never good enough then how did he earn the move to Arsenal in the first place?

If Noni or Martinelli go on to struggle after Arsenal are you gonna say they were never good enough for Arsenal? Oh and what about the players who have done better after Arsenal? What does that mean then? I could go on and on.

Anyway the point is that the Pepe Arteta couldn’t wait to get rid of is a better player than Noni or if you want to be generous they’re at similar levels. For Arteta to get rid of one just to sign an arguably worse player a few years later just doesn’t make sense.

Disagree. Pepe had more talent, more composure in the box for sure, but he was also awful for long stretches, lacked security in possession and could shy away from asserting himslef if against a physical opponent. In a totally free late Wenger system, he would have been better, but in Arteta's system, he was a very bad fit.

Had he been this amazing talent that Arteta mismanaged, he wouldn't have been terrible on loan and we might have got a fee.

A lot of ability for sure, but apart from a couple of purple patches of a couple months, hasn't looked like utilising it since he left Lille.

 

[lomekian]

Glad you have mentioned marquinhos, his signature was likely the catalyst for Hutchison moving on and thus costing the club a lot more than the minimal transfer fee we paid for the Brazilian.

Marquinhos represents the issue with signing promising young players, they push back our own players, and no guarantee they make it either.

When both Diomande and Petuszewski moved in the summer, they were both incredibly raw. Both went to clubs with a strong reputation for developing players, we would have them in our youth team still, potentially barring Bailey Joseph from minutes there.

Despite the above, we should be considering signing more very young rough gems, but we are of a size that these players are more likely to move to us later in their career. Let Sporting/Leipzig enjoy their massive profit, we then get a polished version of the player we are happy to put in the first team.

I was unconvinced by the madueke signing when it happened, but given his relatively low wages, fee structure, that we know what to expect, and in theory his ability on the left wing (yet to see it of course) - his signing at that time made sense.

Sometimes 'lazy' is good - we have a competent player who has been a threat when saka out. We could have instead signed a Gittens, Garnacho, Sancho or Elanga - these being more akin to the profile we were likely considering. All have been inferior to Madueke this season.

Hutchinson had long decided to leave - he had turned down plenty of contract offers before Marquinhos turned up. He got a massive wage increase and got to play for the team he supported, so hard to argue with his decision.

 

[hydrofluoric acid]

Am I the only Madueke fan left on AM?

Nah I like him. He has done well as Saka backup.

 

[amigo]

He’s perfect example of the flaw with mainly data analytics. He has great take on stats and get in great positions. If we can improve his final ball you have a player. It’s just lazy signing by a club and manager who has no real eye for pure talent

The "lazy signing" that completes our squad and wins us the league. I'll take that. The squad buys have taken us further in all comps than we've been for decades. If we do win a couple of trophies some on this forum will be eating big slices of humble pie.

 

[Aubamabludclat94]

Said earlier in this thread that when you’re having to use every ounce of pace and power just to get past your man then your final ball/pass is going to be crap more often than not. Hoped for his sake that he’d learn to adjust his take-on approach or process quicker but it was always going to be a long shot at 23 years old.

It’s now very clear why he has amazing take on stats, and shots off the dribble stats but it’s also very clear why those didn’t translate to end product. This was a very lazy (or safe depending on your viewpoint) signing.

We basically paid 50M to sign a guaranteed ‘okay’ player instead of going into Europe and signing someone who could have been much better (Diomande and that polish kid have tripled their valuations in 2/3rd of a season btw) because we were worried they could be a flop. Then again with Mikel’s talent ID maybe going safe and lazy is the best choice or we’d end up with another Marquinhos or Mudryk.

He literally plays at 100 mph all the time and not in a good way. Unfortunately I’ve seen enough to be able to say with confidence that the game will never slow down for him. Regardless, don’t wanna be too harsh on him cause he’s done about as good as I’d hope (suffice to say I’ve never been his biggest fan)

 

[Topside]

He is the definition of an inconsistent winger, but most of us knew that, done a decent job this season .I don't see a lot of comments like 'oh no Noni is starting' when named.

I like the fact he is brave, goes at the full back and isn't a stat padding wide player that takes the easy option. In certain games he brings real chaos to the opponents full back.

 

[jones]

Had he been this amazing talent that Arteta mismanaged, he wouldn't have been terrible on loan and we might have got a fee.

And why's that? Because talented players famously never have their confidence broken by being benched indefinitely, never get rusty after playing 20 minutes a month etc?

He wasted his prime years on our bench, on loan and in Turkey, doesn't look even half the player he was before we ruined him and he's still the main creator and a key player for a team sitting joint 3rd in La Liga. I don't know what more you can expect under his circumstances

 

[Tourbillion]

Nah I like him. He has done well as Saka backup.

He's also looked more dangerous than Saka this season.

 

[lomekian]

And why's that? Because talented players famously never have their confidence broken by being benched indefinitely, never get rusty after playing 20 minutes a month etc?

He wasted his prime years on our bench, on loan and in Turkey, doesn't look even half the player he was before we ruined him and he's still the main creator and a key player for a team sitting joint 3rd in La Liga. I don't know what more you can expect under his circumstances

Interesting that people (not you particulalrly) repeatedly bend over backwards to defend Pepe and say how he was destroyed by Arteta, while also laying into the players Arteta has bought who see the club in the strongest position its been in the last 20 years. Pepe has worse output this season as a nailed on starter in Spain than Madueke has as primarily a bench option....and its his best season in 4-5 years

 

[Gooner Zig]

He's also looked more dangerous than Saka this season.

Lol, no he hasn't.

 

[Blood on the Tracks]

I quite like Noni. Sure he can be inconsistent at times but he offers a different profile of wide man which I appreciate.

For the fee spent we've got the kind of player and output you'd expect, with room to grow if he develops the way we hope.

 

[jones]

Interesting that people (not you particulalrly) repeatedly bend over backwards to defend Pepe and say how he was destroyed by Arteta, while also laying into the players Arteta has bought who see the club in the strongest position its been in the last 20 years. Pepe has worse output this season as a nailed on starter in Spain than Madueke has as primarily a bench option....and its his best season in 4-5 years

Off the top of my head Neto Salah and Rogers are having comparable or better output than Saka this season.

Not much point discussing stuff if the extent of your analysis is reading numbers off a transfermarkt profile, especially when the explicit point was that Pepe is a shadow of the player he used to be pre-Arteta.

 

[Jackie_Treehorn]

Am I the only Madueke fan left on AM?

Nope. I've been thinking for some time that he's working out okay. Yeah he has his moments when he skies a shot into row z. He can be wasteful when it comes to end product. And the price tag for a backup seemed quite high at the time.

But he seems to excel at getting to the byline and hitting those cutbacks. I think his teammates have been poor at putting those dangerous balls into the net and opposing teams have flooded the 6 yard box so much against us that it's been tough to make those moves work consistently.

Maybe Noni should try something else if the box is so full, but he is a pretty good dribbler in my mind. I think he's been a solid backup for Saka, and we've needed his contributions throughout the season. He's done enough to have more than 3 assists or whatever it is in all comps. And he's scored a couple of important goals. His was the game winner against Bayern. I think he got us a point at Brentford too. He's been okay.

 

[Axel9090]

Rescued us with that brilliant run, didwell after coming on. Good to have him there when Saka isnt having the greatest of games.

 

[Trilly]

Am I the only Madueke fan left on AM?

I’m a critic because of the use of funds for someone who doesn’t raise a ceiling we desperately needed raising in attack.

But he’s squad player worthy, I’ve been consistent in that if a player isn’t good enough to start they should still have some standout attacking attribute and Noni has that with his take-ons. Just think it was a very safe/lazy transfer.

 

[Ash10]

Had the fb on toast whenever he ran at him but atrocious end product as usual. Still will give him props for getting the pen

 

[Blood on the Tracks]

That was a hard game to come into given the gamestate and how sloppy we were.

Full credit to him, he was positive and dynamic and won us the pen.

 

[Aubamabludclat94]

Might've saved our CL season just now

 

[RandomHero84]

For the moment, he should be the starter.