fabo
6.51 / 10
Mustafi 7.5
Xhaka 6
Perez 5
Holding looks promising.
Xhaka 6
Perez 5
Holding looks promising.
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Rate our 2016 signings so far.
- Thread starter Hunta
- Start date
- Replies 73
- Views 6,240
Elneny 6.5/10 for the price paid and role he is expect to play, he's done very well. He's a squad player and is not here to set the word alight, if he was starting more games I'd give him a 6/10.
Holding 7/10
Def. a great buy. Cheap and exciting, I have hopes for him. Will be great seeing how he fairs next year if he gets a loan move.
Mustafi 8/10
Worth every pound spent so far.
Xhaka 6.5/10
meh. I like him, and like others said, he's a bit of a victim of how we play. For the price and hype I expected a bit more from the guy. Has a lot of positives tho.
Perez 5.5/10
Shot in the foot as soon as Alexis made the CF position his. The fact that Giroud is having his purple patch of the season is not helping him either. Still, he has shown a bit of his qualities here and there. Would like to see him more on the wings so he can get some playing time.
With Welbecks return will be interesting to what Wenger does with him. All signs point to him being taken to the glue factory.
Bonus Rating: Asano 10/10
Holding 7/10
Def. a great buy. Cheap and exciting, I have hopes for him. Will be great seeing how he fairs next year if he gets a loan move.
Mustafi 8/10
Worth every pound spent so far.
Xhaka 6.5/10
meh. I like him, and like others said, he's a bit of a victim of how we play. For the price and hype I expected a bit more from the guy. Has a lot of positives tho.
Perez 5.5/10
Shot in the foot as soon as Alexis made the CF position his. The fact that Giroud is having his purple patch of the season is not helping him either. Still, he has shown a bit of his qualities here and there. Would like to see him more on the wings so he can get some playing time.
With Welbecks return will be interesting to what Wenger does with him. All signs point to him being taken to the glue factory.
Bonus Rating: Asano 10/10
Elneny - 4/10. Got what we paid for himself and hasn't been able to establish himself in the team despite big injuries too Cazorla, Ramsey and Coq.
Holding - 6/10. Looked decent enough when called upon and can't think of too many shaky moments except in the CL against Basel?
Mutafi - 9/10. A few iffy moments between him and Koscienly but his basically been everything we wanted in our CB signing.
Xhaka - 6/10. Perhaps misjudged the aggression in the PL at times as it was one of the things he was looking forward too, which could have cost us. Would easily rate him higher if he continues to build on his good performances.
Lucas - 5/10. Looks good going forward but loses interest when the balls goes out the final third.
Holding - 6/10. Looked decent enough when called upon and can't think of too many shaky moments except in the CL against Basel?
Mutafi - 9/10. A few iffy moments between him and Koscienly but his basically been everything we wanted in our CB signing.
Xhaka - 6/10. Perhaps misjudged the aggression in the PL at times as it was one of the things he was looking forward too, which could have cost us. Would easily rate him higher if he continues to build on his good performances.
Lucas - 5/10. Looks good going forward but loses interest when the balls goes out the final third.
ElNenny - 3 (barely worth the money, not near good enough for us).
Holding - 6 (lots of potential).
Xhaka - 6 (we could have done so much better with 35M)
Mustafi - 9 (brilliant signing)
Lucas - 7 (he's done very well every time he played so far.)
Holding - 6 (lots of potential).
Xhaka - 6 (we could have done so much better with 35M)
Mustafi - 9 (brilliant signing)
Lucas - 7 (he's done very well every time he played so far.)
Allow me to hijack the thread for a minute -
You're Wenger. You have £35m to spend on a central midfielder. Who do you sign and why?
Tir Na Nog
Changes Opinion Every 5 Minutes
Country: Ireland
Elneny- 10
Xhaka- 7
Mustafi- 9
Lucas- 6
Holding- 6
Xhaka- 7
Mustafi- 9
Lucas- 6
Holding- 6
Kante.
ETA:
Nainggolan is also a very good shout, but not for 35M, he would cost upwards of 45.
Country: Canada
Ready to go, in his prime & flexible midfield partner wise.
Who dat?
Nainggolan of Roma & Belgium.
Most of the alternatives that get suggested for Xhaka would be great partners for him not alternatives. The thought of Coq/Elneny and Kante in a midfield two makes me feel sick.
Country: Canada
IMO Kante alone wouldn't have been enough. We still would have needed to buy a controller. We should have bought Xhaka AND Kante
Which is why I asked the question, because I knew the answer would be Kante or a similar kind of player. And that would not have solved the problem in our midfield.
The problem was that we had no control, even with a maestro like Cazorla. No positional control and no real possession control - possession with purpose anyway. Signing Kante to put him next to Coquelin or Ramsey would have solved nothing. Put him next to Cazorla? You've got a decent midfield, but you're again relying solely on Cazorla to provide any kind of real technical quality and attacking thrust from deeper positions.
And I know some people will cry Wilshere but Wilshere made the correct decision to go to Bournemouth, and at least he's going to a manager who might not be as good as Wenger overall but will at least coach him to learn how to defend in central midfield properly, and use his dribbling skills wisely.
A real Xhaka alternative would be someone who is similar stylistically, which we always needed and had done for a long time. I like Nainggolan but he would not have solved that problem.
I just question if you need this type of player in a 4-2-3-1 playing a 10 if we had half decent wide players.
A really limited player like Henderson is killing all the passing stats at the moment & by some way. He always has options infront of him which just completely hides the limitations.
A really limited player like Henderson is killing all the passing stats at the moment & by some way. He always has options infront of him which just completely hides the limitations.
Fallout
Active Member
Elneny - 7/10. We paid very little and got a serviceable player who works hard for the team, keeps the ball moving, and provides moments of quality here and there. Overall, very good business.
Holding - 7/10. Again, paid very little and got a serviceable player who seems to have a lot of potential. Hopefully he finds a way to develop his game with limited playing time.
Xhaka - 6/10. Has major strengths but also major weaknesses that get exposed in our system. I think another manager could use him better. So far, has not justified his price tag.
Mustafi - 8/10. Very good player. Has improved our defense and has great leadership skills. He has a few flaws, like losing some aerial duels and pushing up too high, but Koscielny has masked them well for the most part.
Lucas - 6/10. I think he's not playing because he doesn't have the stamina to play wide. Some people seem to think he's a hard worker, but so far I haven't seen it. He does have some useful skills though.
Holding - 7/10. Again, paid very little and got a serviceable player who seems to have a lot of potential. Hopefully he finds a way to develop his game with limited playing time.
Xhaka - 6/10. Has major strengths but also major weaknesses that get exposed in our system. I think another manager could use him better. So far, has not justified his price tag.
Mustafi - 8/10. Very good player. Has improved our defense and has great leadership skills. He has a few flaws, like losing some aerial duels and pushing up too high, but Koscielny has masked them well for the most part.
Lucas - 6/10. I think he's not playing because he doesn't have the stamina to play wide. Some people seem to think he's a hard worker, but so far I haven't seen it. He does have some useful skills though.
Bar-jonah
Member
I would have probably gone for one of these over Xhaka. Mind you a few of them would fetch more than 35M.
• Thiago Alcantara
• Saul Niguez
• Adrien Rabiot
• Pjanic
• Kevin Strootman
• Jorginho
• Julian Wiegl
• Davy Klaassen
• Rubin Neves
I'm with you on some of these names, they would all have been very good alternative signings. It was @Rex Banner and I who championed a Saul Niquez signing mostly but he signed a new deal before this summer. Weigl probably would have been extremely hard to sign also. That leaves Rabiot and probably Jorginho who had the relative experience and talent to take on a permanent role in the Arsenal midfield in terms of defense in midfield and providing passing and attacking quality from deep. Pjanic is a good shout.
Saying that, Xhaka was still a very competent signing regardless of his lack of pace. A player of his physical presence and technical ability is still a good signing, but you can't sign players without a plan IMO.
He can play in a two, he has done so for Gladbach and prospered. It really depends on who his partner is though. Some like Xhaka needs someone with legs around him, who'll play just ahead of him when necessary. Xhaka is much more comfortable deeper on the pitch, even though he does have the technical ability to operate closer to goal if needed. I think a player with quickness in thought and athleticism and complementary technical ability would suit him in a partnership. If Wilshere was a tactically stronger player, he'd make a good partner.
I agree with this post in principle though, as I think that Wenger is not using his entire team to its full potential. Some players are prospering - Alexis as number 9 has flourished, Walcott is enjoying his pseudo-striker role wide right and Iwobi - despite some shaky performances - is really comfortable in his wide playmaker role. Mustafi and Koscielny also look very settled with the aggressive high line and distributional responsibilities. It's ironically midfield - touted as a strong area - which has really truly suffered. And full back to an extent, particularly left full back. The thing is, all it takes is a slight rejig and things can look exponentially better.
Mitch
Blonde Brigade Grand Wizard
Have to say I am shocked about the negative opinions about Xhaka considering his indvidual performances so far and what I considered to be his obvious talent.
It seems a lot of people are hung up on his lack of pace. I've never understood this considering the majority of the great CM's lack pace (his comparable style of midfielders such as Alonso, Pirlo, Petit, Albertini and schweinsteiger all did) as it's a postion which doesnt require it, more important is the technical and tactical talents which Xhaka clearly has in abundance (however it does go some way to explaining why people have Bellerin in such high regard).
It seems a lot of people are hung up on his lack of pace. I've never understood this considering the majority of the great CM's lack pace (his comparable style of midfielders such as Alonso, Pirlo, Petit, Albertini and schweinsteiger all did) as it's a postion which doesnt require it, more important is the technical and tactical talents which Xhaka clearly has in abundance (however it does go some way to explaining why people have Bellerin in such high regard).
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People bashing Perez, he joined the team on the 30th of Aug, when did the season start? How many training sessions do you think he's had with the team? He's been with the club for 4 months, 6 weeks of that he was out with an injury. Then there is the actual fitness recovery period. Players can't just start a game after not playing for 6 weeks.
reed
Active Member
Wenger doesn't trust Perez, it's as clear as day.
