Rate our 2016 signings so far.

[SiMamu]

Elneny - 6/10. Solid, unspectacular signing. Performed better than expected whilst not exactly lighting it up like an Egyptian Taio Cruz.

Holding - 7/10. Better than expected, didn't really seem to struggle too much with the step up. Definitely has potential and could be a big player, possibly sooner rather than later too.

Xhaka - 6/10. Not been as good as hoped, but he's shown glimpses. I expect he'll be a big player for the club next season.

Mustafi - 8/10. Decent partnership formed with Koscielny, albeit some fears he may be a right footed Vermaelen.

Lucas - 5/10. Who? Not played as often as hoped, but has shown glimpses of quality, or at least of an eye for goal. Needs more minutes.

 

[Dokaka]

You took **** for saying Nordveit would be a better signing you ****.

Hasn't he been? He was free! Nordveit was a risk-free punt. He's been somewhat **** so far but he's looked better recently.

I took a lot of **** for saying I didn't want us to sign Xhaka for that amount of money and I had faith in Obiang stepping up + we already had Noble. Obiang stepped up and has been great, and we still have Noble.

Nevertheless, I never said Nordtveit > Xhaka, I said the money required to get Xhaka made Nordtveit a better signing. I never believed Xhaka was a £30m+ player, simply too limited to demand such a fee. He's a static pivot in midfield who needs runners around him offensively and defensively. He looked great at Gladbach because he had Nordtveit covering him defensively and Dahoud being the dynamic runner from midfield, so his weaknesses were covered for the most part.

He'd probably look a lot better if he was playing in a midfield 3 of him, Wilshere and Coquelin. That's a very similar setup to the one he was playing in Gladbach.

 

[Yousif Arsenal]

Xhaka 6: His performance has been mixed few good games few bad once he'll need time to settle i'm sure he'll come good soon. he need to add pace to his game.

Mustafi 8 : Our best signing he is the perfect partner that Kosh was missing really glad we got him quality defender.

Lucas Peres 6.5: I can't judge him because he didn't play many games for us but every time he start or come from the bench he impress me.

Holding 7 : I'll leave it with this Wenger: Unfortunately no one speaks about the performance of Rob Holding. You should be happy, he is English and 20 years old. I am sorry he didn't cost £55 million, so he can't be good."

 

[Bar-jonah]

Elneny
Average player, no real stand out qualities. 5/10

Holding
Too early to judge how he'll turn out. Of the little I've seen I don't understand the hype TBH. 6/10

Xhaka
Slow and ponderous , unassertive, clumsy, rash and undisciplined. Not good enough so far. Drastic improvement required. 5/10

Mustafi
Mostly liked what I've seen so far, though sometimes a bit too over committed. His reading of the game could be better too but all in all a good signing. Hopefully like Kos he'll get better season by season. 7.5/10

Lucas
Another underwhelming signing. Decent player but not someone that will elevate us to a higher level. 5/10

 

[Garrincha]

None of the 2016 buys are poor players but the 50m+ & 180k+ a week spend on Xhaka & Lucas has to be questioned some what.

Lets be honest you would hope the second most expensive central midfielder ever to be a little more like Xabi Alonso & less like Emre Can.

We ****ed up with the late Alexis switch & just didn't have the squad to make it click. Wish we spent the money on a couple of wide players & let Santi / Ramsey / Jack partner Coquelin.

 

[Vinci]

He's a static pivot in midfield who needs runners around him offensively and defensively. He looked great at Gladbach because he had Nordtveit covering him defensively and Dahoud being the dynamic runner from midfield, so his weaknesses were covered for the most part.

He'd probably look a lot better if he was playing in a midfield 3 of him, Wilshere and Coquelin. That's a very similar setup to the one he was playing in Gladbach.

This isn't even right. Only in his last season at Gladbach under Schubert did they play like that, the three seasons before that under Favre they played a 4-4-2. His best partnership was arguably with Kramer, who has incredible stamina and was everywhere, but Xhaka more than pulled his weight defensively.

I'll keep saying it, the problem is more the system than the players. Xhaka would look a lot better if we didn't play in a poorly organised, suicidal 4-2-4 system at times.

 

[razörist]

Hasn't he been? He was free! Nordveit was a risk-free punt. He's been somewhat **** so far but he's looked better recently.

I took a lot of **** for saying I didn't want us to sign Xhaka for that amount of money and I had faith in Obiang stepping up + we already had Noble. Obiang stepped up and has been great, and we still have Noble.

Nevertheless, I never said Nordtveit > Xhaka, I said the money required to get Xhaka made Nordtveit a better signing. I never believed Xhaka was a £30m+ player, simply too limited to demand such a fee. He's a static pivot in midfield who needs runners around him offensively and defensively. He looked great at Gladbach because he had Nordtveit covering him defensively and Dahoud being the dynamic runner from midfield, so his weaknesses were covered for the most part.

He'd probably look a lot better if he was playing in a midfield 3 of him, Wilshere and Coquelin. That's a very similar setup to the one he was playing in Gladbach.

Wow, haven't seen you on here in a while! Has West Ham won a couple games recently or something?

Anyway, we tried to get Noble from you guys instead of Xhaka, but he was holding out for Barcelona. Have to try something. Good to see that an Arsenal academy graduate is doing well for you guys.

 

[samshere]

Too early to judge both Xhaka or Perez. Xhaka hasn't even played that poorly ffs, some of his first time long balls have been class and I'm sure he'll cut out the rash challenges once he gets used to the pace of the league.

 

[Dokaka]

This isn't even right. Only in his last season at Gladbach under Schubert did they play like that, the three seasons before that under Favre they played a 4-4-2. His best partnership was arguably with Kramer, who has incredible stamina and was everywhere, but Xhaka more than pulled his weight defensively.

I'll keep saying it, the problem is more the system than the players. Xhaka would look a lot better if we didn't play in a poorly organised, suicidal 4-2-4 system at times.

I know, but my point still stands with regards to Kramer, who as you said was everywhere. The only comparable player at Arsenal is Ramsey but he's not half the player Kramer was/is defensively, at least not in recent years. My point was also that the system is mostly the problem. A Xhaka/Wilshere/Coquelin trio wouldn't be what you have now, or at least it wouldn't make sense to plop those players into your current system.

Wow, haven't seen you on here in a while! Has West Ham won a couple games recently or something?

Anyway, we tried to get Noble from you guys instead of Xhaka, but he was holding out for Barcelona. Have to try something. Good to see that an Arsenal academy graduate is doing well for you guys.

Noble is too good for Barca. Iniesta once said that he could only dream of having Noble's drive from midfield.

Been away for a while as I felt the atmosphere on here got very hostile, with most posts just ridiculing others and aggressive attitudes getting applauded. Really enjoyed posting here but 90% of the responses I get these days is people trying to make fun of West Ham, so it all got a bit boring.

 

[redwhiteAustrian]

Elneny 6/10
Did better than I thought he'd do, seems a decent rotating option for our midfield, good replacement for Flamini. Considering his fee, he's quite solid.

Holding 7/10
Never imagined him being this good at that young age....there's still some work for him to do of course, but as of yet, he looks well on his way of replacing Kos once his days as starter are over.

Mustafi 9/10
Brilliant CB, never thought he'd settle in this quickly, nor that he'd become our vocal leader at CB at this rate. Brilliant buy, worth every penny.

Xhaka 6/10
Really like the look of this guy, although he's so far clearly struggled to settle, as we can see by Wenger not quite fully trusting him, yet. I think he'll kick on in 2017, the tools are there, he just needs to sharpen them.

Perez 5/10
Can't properly assess him yet, he does look like a signing just to give us some numbers up front. He's in the same boat as Xhaka (2017), although time's not on his side to be honest.

 

[Taylor Gang Gunners]

Come on now, most people accept he is talented but he hasn't looked like a 35 million midfielder yet. He wasn't even a nailed on starter when Santi was fit. I like his style and think he can be successful here, but he's been 6/10 so far if we're feeling generous. 4/10 is harsh I'll agree.

4/10 is Townsend at Palace, or Gokhan Tore at West Ham.

 

[Mitch]

Elneny - came in and was the Ramsey upgrade we needed. It's just a shame it took Wenger so long to show faith in him and give him a chance whilst the Flamsey Partnership cost us the league. Very good movement off the ball to constantly make himself self available for a pass and his quick tempo touch passing fits into the team style very well. Only negative is that Elneney could offer more protection defensively. 7/10.

Lucas - with the exception of two games Lucas has looked impressive in most matches. Lucas should be our second choice striker behind Alexis but I can see him cemting a spot on the RW with his crossing ability and very hood link up play. The only thing is Wenger is currently under using at present.7/10

Xhaka - I have to admit he has by far surpassed the expectation I had for him and it's a shame Wenger hasn't used him as a automatic starter till recently. Xhaka has been one our best players in every match he has played with the exception of 2 matches. Xhaka passing abillity and range is world class, I mean Pirlo and Alonso standard. Looks every bit of 35m player and proved me wrong when i doubted his ability when he first signed. 9/10

Mustafi - Solid CB and it shows as we haven't lost a game that he has played. The different aspect he bring to this team is his mentality, leaderahip and being a very vocal player on pitch. 9/10.

Holding - surpassed all expectation and a real bargain. 7/10.

Overall a very impressive group of signings. Wenger still has an eye for talent even if he should show more faith in them over under peforming players who have been at the club longer.

 

[MutableEarth]

Elneny - 6.5

He is Denilson with more heart. Does the simple things well in possession - pass quickly, shows for the ball, advances play by making triangles with teammates. He has a pretty high footballing IQ which is useful for a team like ours. My main issue is that he is not as good defensively as many might think. He is a pretty poor tackler IMO and loses duels one too many times for my liking. Think he has to learn to be a better ball winner.

Holding - 6.5

So far, every time I have seen him he has been impressive. Dominant in the air and in the tackle, calm and can distribute the ball very well. Occasionally fafs about with the ball at inopportune times a la Stones but I think he is smart enough to discard that element of his game. Promising signs.

Xhaka - 7

A tad generous but mainly because his positives so far have outweighed the negatives for me. He is one ofthe better technicians in rhe squad, and when he drops deep, he opens up the game for us with his fantastic passing range. The short quick passes maybe could be a bit tighter but he can already hang IMO, especially considering his midfield partners bar Cazorla, are not exactly super technicians. I like his combativeness also. My major problem with him right now is 2 fold. One, the system doesnt benefit quite a few of our players and Xhaka is one of the victims which ties into the other problem, which is that Xhaka still has slight traces of sh!thousery. He tries to defend laterally and leaves too much room in an already stretched midfield, then rashly lunges in to make up for it. That rashness needs to be tempered.

Mustafi - 8.

Best of the bunch. Aggressive, smart, ambitious but excellent distribution, and vocal. Perfectly complements Koscielny better than even Mertesacker did. One weakness? Needs more aerial presence, where Holding has an advantage.

Lucas - 6

Seen too little of him so far but he looks clever in his movement and is dogged in attack which complements attackers like Alexis. Need to see more IMO.

 

[hydrofluoric acid]

My ratings are like this.

under 5 not good enough

5 - solid
6 - lived up reasonable hype

7, 8, 9, 10 - that extra they give.

 

[Gooner Zig]

I think there's a bit of an expectation gap with Xhaka and he's getting downgraded for it. He's been a solid 6/10 and if you're generous a 7/10 thus far. I think our midfield has serious issues that isn't just down to personnel or individual quality.

If people expected him to be world class from the get go then I think they need to go back and revise their expectations.

 

[Gooner Zig]

How on earth are some giving Xhaka the same rating as Lucas? One player has made himself a starter in an area where we have the most talent whilst the other can't even get into a team where our wingers consist of Walcott, Oxlade Chamberlain and Iwobi.

 

[Gooner Zig]

None of the 2016 buys are poor players but the 50m+ & 180k+ a week spend on Xhaka & Lucas has to be questioned some what.

Lets be honest you would hope the second most expensive central midfielder ever to be a little more like Xabi Alonso & less like Emre Can.

We ****ed up with the late Alexis switch & just didn't have the squad to make it click. Wish we spent the money on a couple of wide players & let Santi / Ramsey / Jack partner Coquelin.

If we didn't buy Xhaka we'd be fielding Coquelin-El Neny as our pivot given the achilles injury to Santi, Ramsey's muscular injuries and Wilshere's propensity to break down. It would have been utter madness to rely on that three.

 

[Garrincha]

If we didn't buy Xhaka we'd be fielding Coquelin-El Neny as our pivot given the achilles injury to Santi, Ramsey's muscular injuries and Wilshere's propensity to break down. It would have been utter ******* to rely on that three.

Agreed we would definitely need another central midfielder in the mix. My issue is with the price & fit of Xhaka with other areas weak. If we get the front three functioning with our top class 10 we just dont need to pay the premium of such a specialist central midfielder like Xhaka.

 

[GunnerBP]

Overall, I think our signings have been really excellent and a clear improvement on last season.

Elneny 6/10 -- I've never rated Elneny as a starter and always saw him as a squad player, and I'd be surprised if he was still at the club in a year or two, but I think his signing was really important for last season. We desperately needed a midfielder who could come into the squad keep everything simple and not be a liability, and Elneny is definitely that guy. Massive upgrade on Flamini last season. This season he's struggled to take his game up a level, and when he gets back from ACN he'll probably have a hard time getting back into the side. But thus far he's done pretty much exactly what we needed him to do, which was help us last season when our midfield was struggling.

Holding 7/10 -- This kid was bought for the future and was never going to get a ton of minutes, but he's looked really promising when he's played. Ironically, I think his most important performance was against Liverpool on opening day. Clearly our defense wasn't at its best, but he looked more ready than Chambers, and in the long term that will help us out tremendously. Chambers is now playing every week for Middlesborough and looking really good. These two CBs play together for the England u21s, and in seasons to come they could be a great defensive partnership for us. Wouldn't be surprised if Gabriel left in the summer and we kept Holding.

Mustafi 9/10 -- He has completely changed our defense and formed an instant partnership with Kos. I knew he would be an improvement, but it would be insane to predict that it would be this good. He fits in with the team perfectly, and it feels like he's been here for years.

Xhaka 8/10 -- This guy is the midfielder that we've need for a long time. Wenger has always wanted a Xabi Alonso or Emmanuel Petit midfielder and Xhaka is that type of player. Sure he could have played more earlier, but Wenger is patient with new players and likes to slowly introduce them to the EPL, and this makes sense -- especially this season. We started the season with a brand new attack with Alexis as a CF and Theo back on the wing, we converted Özil into a goalscoring midfielder, and we had a new CB in Mustafi; so it would be kind of crazy to throw a new midfielder into the mix until everything settled down. The team needed some continuity, and that meant that Xhaka didn't start at first. However, now that our attack and our defense is settled Xhaka is playing more and his quality is obvious. He'll be a big, big player for us.

Lucas 6/10 -- He hasn't played much, but he's done everything we've asked of him well, and I think his influence will grow in the second half of the season and probably next season too. Wenger is building a new look attack this season and Lucas can play all three positions in our attack, so his value to the team will grow now that he is more used to the team. Right now Giroud is blocking his path, but I think Giroud will eventually get out of the way. He hates not starting, he hasn't signed a new contract, and our attack looks worse with him in it. If he leaves in the summer, which I think is likely, Lucas will have an even more important role for us next season. I wouldn't be surprised if Lucas scored a couple big goals for us this season.

 

[CurryFlavoured]

How on earth are some giving Xhaka the same rating as Lucas? One player has made himself a starter in an area where we have the most talent whilst the other can't even get into a team where our wingers consist of Walcott, Oxlade Chamberlain and Iwobi.

To be fair he's only 'nailed' his starting spot after Santi got injured, Ramsey is way out of form. Besides that you've got Coquelin and Elnenny. It's about expectation too - 40 million versus 15 million, or whatever they cost.

I didn't even rate Lucas, the guy has only played a handful of times against **** opposition and a few sub intros. Too soon to judge tbh. Probably too soon to judge Xhaka too but I based it off what I've seen so far.