- Thread starter
- #1,001
Completely agree, when teams manage to stifle our passing ability we have no other tools in our locker.
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Squad Analysis 2017/18
- Thread starter Aevi
- Start date
- Replies 1,411
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Not much passing ability these days honestly. It's the most un-Wenger-like Wenger team I can remember. No ballers except for Nelson and Jeff
. Iwobi doesn't have enough thrust as a dribbler. City looked so comfy on the ball, both carrying and passing, that it stood out to me. I was quite jealous - they were even missing Sterling. They could have killed us even more brutally on another day.
Vibra
Established Member
Our squad looks like it's been assembled at random, with no rhyme or reason. We look like my sister's fantasy team she forgets about after 3 days
We've always had flaws in the squad but the pieces fit. This is ****
We've always had flaws in the squad but the pieces fit. This is ****
Country: Wales
I mean we got Mustafi and Gabriel from La Liga, and a whole string of flops from France. There's so many poor errors in the transfer market in recent years.
Not much passing ability these days honestly. It's the most un-Wenger-like Wenger team I can remember. No ballers except for Nelson and Jeff
City looked so comfy on the ball, both carrying and passing, that it stood out to me. I was quite jealous - they were even missing Sterling. They could have killed us even more brutally on another day.
We're a passing team that doesn't know how to pass
The lack of technical quality throughout this team is painful. Seeing us try to play out the back makes me weep.
Vibra
Established Member
Seriously. If Wenger one day writes in his book that the board was responsible for all the signings for the last 3 years I'd say I ****ing knew it. How does someone once so obsessed with technical attacking midfield midgets assemble a team that is so unimaginative, so lacking in technical ability and actual footballing ability? This isn't a rhetorical question I'd actually like to know
Our bench is also shockingly poor. Just the exclusion of two players, like Laca Mkhitaryan today, and suddenly you literally have no one of the bench competent enough to effect the game. I said this about the Sp**s game as well. If you're looking to Welbeck and Iwobi change the outcome of a result then you're serious trouble.
I think the problem is twofold personally. Some of these players might be poor fits in general, but Wenger nowadays seems to sign players without figuring out beforehand exactly what he wants to do with them. A lot of these players have left the club and are actually playing decent football. I watched a Valencia game the other day and even Coquelin looked really good in a role that was designed for him as it relates to the rest of his team (I'm a fan of Marcelino as a manager to be fair).
Even FACKING YAYA SANOGO LOOKS LIKE A NORMAL PLAYER!
Bullied Monaco yesterday. Xhaka might be limited but Gladbach used him well to mitigate his weaknesses. We do nothing of the sort at Arsenal. I'm even thinking Cazorla/Coquelin was a complete accident
. I normally give Wenger the benefit of the doubt! The errors in the transfer market have not entirely been down to the personnel and more due to how they're used. It's like upside-down from how things used to be.
Might be a strange opinion but I felt a little bit sorry for Nketiah, seeing as we only progressed in the competition because he turned up in the last couple of minutes v Norwich. I reckon given enough time and minutes, he'd have been far more effective this season than Welbeck but it's too late for that now. Gotta wait and hope next season.
To think, Welbeck actually started the season pretty decently!
FreakySami
Well-Known Member
I think the problem is twofold personally. Some of these players might be poor fits in general, but Wenger nowadays seems to sign players without figuring out beforehand exactly what he wants to do with them. A lot of these players have left the club and are actually playing decent football. I watched a Valencia game the other day and even Coquelin looked really good in a role that was designed for him as it relates to the rest of his team (I'm a fan of Marcelino as a manager to be fair).
Even FACKING YAYA SANOGO LOOKS LIKE A NORMAL PLAYER!
Xhaka might be limited but Gladbach used him well to mitigate his weaknesses. We do nothing of the sort at Arsenal. I'm even thinking Cazorla/Coquelin was a complete accident
Sanogoal first of all and that kid needed game time and to get his body back in shape.
Second of all, the transfers took a weird turn after we hired gazidis. Anyways. I'm not in the mood to talk right now.
Yeah definitely agree with you. Seems Wenger have favored using "throw away" games or moments to give Welbeck minutes to build up his confidence rather than aid in the development of Nketiah. Really strange since most of us can see their is nothing there with Welbeck. At least Nketiah has potential, might as well see just how much he has.Might be a strange opinion but I felt a little bit sorry for Nketiah, seeing as we only progressed in the competition because he turned up in the last couple of minutes v Norwich. I reckon given enough time and minutes, he'd have been far more effective this season than Welbeck but it's too late for that now. Gotta wait and hope next season.
To think, Welbeck actually started the season pretty decently!
Country: Wales
Responsible for one of the all time quotes on Sp**s:
"You weren't really ****, but you weren't all that great either. Like Tottenham"
- Thread starter
- #1,013
Sane and Gundogan are from the Bundesliga.
Wenger used a lot of throwaway games this season to appease squad members who haven't done the business enough or otherwise became surplus. Giroud and Walcott, as much as they have done decently for us, played a number of terrible games for us this season before leaving, when Nelson and Nketiah could have been in their place. Nelson's momentum killed playing RWB, Nketiah scrapping for bench places even after destroying Norwich almost single-handedly.
How different could their seasons have been had they been given more of a rub. Now their momentum is gone. Nelson looks somewhat shorn of confidence. Poor IMO.
It's poor use of a disjointed squad. Sometimes some things work. Then it runs out of steam fast once teams clock the half-baked plan. Many games this season, both in the league and the EL, the system did not look well crafted and players were shoehorned into roles that were not beneficial for them.
And here's the all-important follow-up question:
Would either of those players look as good for us as they do for Man City? Guardiola at least has a plan in that City team. Total control and movement by design in the middle and devastating directness on both wings.
- Thread starter
- #1,015
They wouldn't look as good as they do for City, that's for sure. There are definitely tactical issues here, I don't believe Özil, Aubameyang, Wilshere, Ramsey etc. are as bad as these performances suggest. If you flip it and imagine them playing for City, I could see them being consistently good performers. It feels wrong to say but Wenger just doesn't have what it takes anymore.
tap-in
Nothing Wrong With Me
We need a completely new spine and have done for years. Ok we now have Auba but we need top GK, 2 x CB's & DM. Then we can start to build around them but before we do any of that we need a new manager and I hope and prey its this summer.
I mean, I'm no football manager or coach, but I would assume team/squad building is an essential part of management in any field, including sport. There has to be a decent mixture adhering to that which you want to achieve. The last time I felt we had that was 2011. Since then, the team has been choppy at best. RVP carried us for a season before f*cking off, Arteta held our midfield together until his legs started to fail him, then the same thing happened to Cazorla. The team doesn't have an identity anymore. What are the tactical objectives of the team? What are their roles outside of just their positions? (which seem to change mid-match at will to gung-ho attacks with no design or pattern).
- Thread starter
- #1,019
Who's top quality and reliable in this side that you can build around?
???
Bellerin - ??? - ??? - Monreal
??? - Ramshere
Mkhi - Özil - ???
Aubameyang
Lots of work to be done this summer. A new manager could help to revitalize some of the players we already have too.Bellerin - ??? - ??? - Monreal
??? - Ramshere
Mkhi - Özil - ???
Aubameyang
- Thread starter
- #1,020
I agree, I wonder how long Arsenal/Wenger's reputation is going to last. We supposedly play nice football and get the best out of players, but that couldn't be farther from the truth now. There is a certain amount of respect for this club in the football community but soon enough that will fade.
