The Arsenal FC - Related News and Development for 2018/2019

[Waffiman]

Read into it what you may but remember when we failed on Higuain and then panicked, and wasted time and money on that life sucking waste of space from Bremen?

Well In that Time, Higua has tallied 91 goals in three seasons at Napoli and then nicked another 55 in two seasons at Juventus .

Regardless of how you feel about the dude and his commitment and effort but that’s a sick amount of goals ....


Abou isn’t too bad either .... he now has 14 goals in 21 games for Arsenal and he has barely switched out of first gear. If and when he gets into his groove this man can easily score 40 in a season.

3-5-2 is not Unai’s cup of tea but I believe at this moment it would help Arsenal the most with so many square pegs in round holes

Couldn't agree with you more - Unai seems to value the playing time of a dysfunctional MF over adding another defender, decreasing the space between Auba & Laca upfront - the change's so obvious, it gives a better shape & our wingbacks can truly bomb forward. Right now Auba & Ozil are licensed to go narrow - creating double teams for Monreal & Hector(defensively) - thought we had a no-nonsense coach!!! Scared of names??
3-5-2 or 3-4-1-2 etc go watch how close Pep lines up with Aguerro & Jesu when he plays them as part of a 11.

You claimed we were not pressing effectively. Under Wenger and now Emery, we press effectively. Pressing effectively means forcing your opponents to lose possession, leading to chances and goals.



Arsenal created the 3rd most chances from pressing past season, behind the expected top 2, Liverpool and City. I know it does not really fit people's agenda, but I do like to point out facts.

Arsenal have always done this. They did at Highbury and now at the Emirates. We got our 2nd goal from the press and forced Everton to turn over possession leading to chances 4 times.

Pressing has 2 purposes, to win possession in order to create good chances and goals. Pressing also prevent the opposition from attacking. We definitely did the first, as is shown by the graphic. Our defence is erratic at best, so it looks like we don't achieve the second. So far this season, we still have the same problem.

The problem of ineffective pressing does not come in, as evidenced above. The next thing I will read here will be, 'we did not press and now we do', as is the normal practice here since Wenger left.

Now with regard to formation and need for 3-5-2. I do.not see the formation as the problem. Our problem is not the mid field also. IMHO, our problem is in the attacking positions. Here is how I will change it.

I much prefer the structure of our play in a 4-2-3-1 with Mkhi at WR, particularly for his support for Bellerin who provided great scoring opportunities vs Chelsea. I prefer Ozil central and Ramsey either dropped. Auba on the left is not the best but, he gets goals still, so I will not change it for now. With Xhaka and Torreira as double pivot, we do not need Ramsey, who is not performing close to his best physically and has not done since season before last, on a consistent basis.

So in simplistic terms Ozil and Mkhi would act as creators for Laca and Auba who are our finishers. I prefer Ozil and Mkhi (mainly) supplying Auba and Laca. This selection also gets more from Hector. I prefer him as the primary avenue of attack.

But Emery at present has a team that's lopsided to its left side. Maybe cos of Auba there but we must find a balance.

You slam Ramsey and give a pass to Ozil and Xhaka?

Smh you this guy and ya selective bias

When will merit and performance ever enter into ya narrative rather than bias and false reputations eh?

And oh by the way where is the stat that showed goals resulting from the high press

With regards to goals, you have to subscribe to Statsbomb to get it yourself. I give you a hint, it is easily in the top 4.

I have not slammed Ramsey. I merely pointed out issues with his game and I have been doing this since last season. Unless Ramsey's form changes spectacularly in coming weeks, I am convinced Emery will have to decide between him and Ozil to make way Mikh or Iwobi. Why? This is about how playing Ramsey, Laca, Ozil and Auba affects the team and not Ramsey the individual players.

On Ozil, he is more of a concern right now. The way Ozil's physical output has deeped since parts of last season is alarming, and it is very much a topical issue with data analysts. If you want I can produce analytics to back this up. But this is not my focus right now.

Also, Emery has cut Ozil's influence on the team. For example, Ozil used to take all the free kicks. He was in charge of these situations, except penalties. Note, Xhaka now takes most dead balls. Even Torreira is now making his presence felt on deal ball situations.

But Ozil is still tops and amongst the top in the league when it comes to the XGoals (expected goals) chain. In others words, Ozil is the greatest influence in moves that lead to chances and goals. The next is Xhaka, but under Emery, this is also changing. Whilst Ozil was Wenger's man, in terms of influence on the team, it is looking more and more like Xhaka is Emery's man.

But Ozil is that one player in the team that times a pass, no matter how simple or difficult, to break defensive blocks of our opponents. His influence in chances created is one reason why he will always get picked, so it is no surprise the Germans were trying to use Per to talk to him returning to the national team. Ozil can look uninterested for 90 minutes but everyone knows in the blink of an eye, he can open up the most stubborn of defences.

Now have a look at this piece of analytics from the Everton game.



Keys features are:

Arsenal's left sided lopsidedness. (Pardon my oyinbo )
Xhaka's passing dominance.
Ozil's average position during the game was central, and
Bellerin's isolation.

BTW! Our average shape is similar to the above when these players are picked with or without Torreira.

Note the 3 stars on Bellerin, Ozil and Laca. In this game, they were the most influential in terms of moves that led to chances and goals. Ramsey, who was supposed to be the number 10 is not involved enough. Why? What exactly was his role?


We played 4-2-3-1, with our FBs pushing really high up. Ozil and Auba are supposed to cut in, but note Auba and Ozil's average position. Ozil, the stats suggests is able to avoid man markers when he comes in from the left as opposed to central, but this is marginal and does not warrant the team being compromised IMHO.

Look how lopsided towards the left the team. See how many players on that left side. Look at Ramsey's position. It tells us that when we had the ball, we focused our attacks on that side. It also tells us that without the ball, this was also our most likely shape. But was this really the plan? I don't think so. From that shape, you can see why we were really vulnerable to the counter attack.

All this wahala because of the players picked, the formation they played in and their respective positions. I know we are getting results but Emery cannot keep on playing too many players out of position. As much as I want the Laca and Auba pairing to flourish, I must also point out that when Iwobi, Mkhi and Auba played, they gave us balance and a serious threat on the counter-attack. Look! We currently have this strange situation where playing our best players play as out of position wise men yet our actual wide men have done well most of the season. I think we need to have one of Iwobi or Mikh for every game.

So why not play these players instead? This is what I want to see. If not Iwobi, play Mikh. I must add Welbeck in all of this too.

Lacazette
Iwobi Ozil Aubameyang

Okay, I don't think Emery will use Auba on that side cause he wants him cutting in I suppose. This means Mikh will give far better balance to the team on the right, with Auba moving to the left.

This brings me back to Ramsey. What the Everton game confirmed again is, if Ramsey is not playing in the deeper role they cannot all play together. We lack balance without a proper wide forward. If we chose to play a wide forward, I think Iwobi has been our best player in the wider role and deserves a chance in the starting team at the expense of Ramsey.

This is why my focus is on Ramsey and not Ozil or Xhaka.

[bk-one]

Read into it what you may but remember when we failed on Higuain and then panicked, and wasted time and money on that life sucking waste of space from Bremen?

Well In that Time, Higua has tallied 91 goals in three seasons at Napoli and then nicked another 55 in two seasons at Juventus .

Regardless of how you feel about the dude and his commitment and effort but that’s a sick amount of goals ....


Abou isn’t too bad either .... he now has 14 goals in 21 games for Arsenal and he has barely switched out of first gear. If and when he gets into his groove this man can easily score 40 in a season.

3-5-2 is not Unai’s cup of tea but I believe at this moment it would help Arsenal the most with so many square pegs in round holes

Couldn't agree with you more - Unai seems to value the playing time of a dysfunctional MF over adding another defender, decreasing the space between Auba & Laca upfront - the change's so obvious, it gives a better shape & our wingbacks can truly bomb forward. Right now Auba & Ozil are licensed to go narrow - creating double teams for Monreal & Hector(defensively) - thought we had a no-nonsense coach!!! Scared of names??
3-5-2 or 3-4-1-2 etc go watch how close Pep lines up with Aguerro & Jesu when he plays them as part of a 11.

You claimed we were not pressing effectively. Under Wenger and now Emery, we press effectively. Pressing effectively means forcing your opponents to lose possession, leading to chances and goals.



Arsenal created the 3rd most chances from pressing past season, behind the expected top 2, Liverpool and City. I know it does not really fit people's agenda, but I do like to point out facts.

Arsenal have always done this. They did at Highbury and now at the Emirates. We got our 2nd goal from the press and forced Everton to turn over possession leading to chances 4 times.

Pressing has 2 purposes, to win possession in order to create good chances and goals. Pressing also prevent the opposition from attacking. We definitely did the first, as is shown by the graphic. Our defence is erratic at best, so it looks like we don't achieve the second. So far this season, we still have the same problem.

The problem of ineffective pressing does not come in, as evidenced above. The next thing I will read here will be, 'we did not press and now we do', as is the normal practice here since Wenger left.

Now with regard to formation and need for 3-5-2. I do.not see the formation as the problem. Our problem is not the mid field also. IMHO, our problem is in the attacking positions. Here is how I will change it.

I much prefer the structure of our play in a 4-2-3-1 with Mkhi at WR, particularly for his support for Bellerin who provided great scoring opportunities vs Chelsea. I prefer Ozil central and Ramsey either dropped. Auba on the left is not the best but, he gets goals still, so I will not change it for now. With Xhaka and Torreira as double pivot, we do not need Ramsey, who is not performing close to his best physically and has not done since season before last, on a consistent basis.

So in simplistic terms Ozil and Mkhi would act as creators for Laca and Auba who are our finishers. I prefer Ozil and Mkhi (mainly) supplying Auba and Laca. This selection also gets more from Hector. I prefer him as the primary avenue of attack.

But Emery at present has a team that's lopsided to its left side. Maybe cos of Auba there but we must find a balance.

You slam Ramsey and give a pass to Ozil and Xhaka?

Smh you this guy and ya selective bias

When will merit and performance ever enter into ya narrative rather than bias and false reputations eh?

And oh by the way where is the stat that showed goals resulting from the high press

With regards to goals, you have to subscribe to Statsbomb to get it yourself. I give you a hint, it is easily in the top 4.

I have not slammed Ramsey. I merely pointed out issues with his game and I have been doing this since last season. Unless Ramsey's form changes spectacularly in coming weeks, I am convinced Emery will have to decide between him and Ozil to make way Mikh or Iwobi. Why? This is about how playing Ramsey, Laca, Ozil and Auba affects the team and not Ramsey the individual players.

On Ozil, he is more of a concern right now. The way Ozil's physical output has deeped since parts of last season is alarming, and it is very much a topical issue with data analysts. If you want I can produce analytics to back this up. But this is not my focus right now.

Also, Emery has cut Ozil's influence on the team. For example, Ozil used to take all the free kicks. He was in charge of these situations, except penalties. Note, Xhaka now takes most dead balls. Even Torreira is now making his presence felt on deal ball situations.

But Ozil is still tops and amongst the top in the league when it comes to the XGoals (expected goals) chain. In others words, Ozil is the greatest influence in moves that lead to chances and goals. The next is Xhaka, but under Emery, this is also changing. Whilst Ozil was Wenger's man, in terms of influence on the team, it is looking more and more like Xhaka is Emery's man.

But Ozil is that one player in the team that times a pass, no matter how simple or difficult, to break defensive blocks of our opponents. His influence in chances created is one reason why he will always get picked, so it is no surprise the Germans were trying to use Per to talk to him returning to the national team. Ozil can look uninterested for 90 minutes but everyone knows in the blink of an eye, he can open up the most stubborn of defences.

Now have a look at this piece of analytics from the Everton game.



Keys features are:

Arsenal's left sided lopsidedness. (Pardon my oyinbo )
Xhaka's passing dominance.
Ozil's average position during the game was central, and
Bellerin's isolation.

BTW! Our average shape is similar to the above when these players are picked with or without Torreira.

Note the 3 stars on Bellerin, Ozil and Laca. In this game, they were the most influential in terms of moves that led to chances and goals. Ramsey, who was supposed to be the number 10 is not involved enough. Why? What exactly was his role?


We played 4-2-3-1, with our FBs pushing really high up. Ozil and Auba are supposed to cut in, but note Auba and Ozil's average position. Ozil, the stats suggests is able to avoid man markers when he comes in from the left as opposed to central, but this is marginal and does not warrant the team being compromised IMHO.

Look how lopsided towards the left the team. See how many players on that left side. Look at Ramsey's position. It tells us that when we had the ball, we focused our attacks on that side. It also tells us that without the ball, this was also our most likely shape. But was this really the plan? I don't think so. From that shape, you can see why we were really vulnerable to the counter attack.

All this wahala because of the players picked, the formation they played in and their respective positions. I know we are getting results but Emery cannot keep on playing too many players out of position. As much as I want the Laca and Auba pairing to flourish, I must also point out that when Iwobi, Mkhi and Auba played, they gave us balance and a serious threat on the counter-attack. Look! We currently have this strange situation where playing our best players play as out of position wise men yet our actual wide men have done well most of the season. I think we need to have one of Iwobi or Mikh for every game.

So why not play these players instead? This is what I want to see. If not Iwobi, play Mikh. I must add Welbeck in all of this too.

Lacazette
Iwobi Ozil Aubameyang

Okay, I don't think Emery will use Auba on that side cause he wants him cutting in I suppose. This means Mikh will give far better balance to the team on the right, with Auba moving to the left.

This brings me back to Ramsey. What the Everton game confirmed again is, if Ramsey is not playing in the deeper role they cannot all play together. We lack balance without a proper wide forward. If we chose to play a wide forward, I think Iwobi has been our best player in the wider role and deserves a chance in the starting team at the expense of Ramsey.

This is why my focus is on Ramsey and not Ozil or Xhaka.

Waffi....Isnt what you saying vis-avis Ramsey the same thing i said some time back and you told me that I dont know what I am talking about?

My problem with Ramsey playing as a 10 is that its forcing Özil out wide where he is not comfortable. Ramsey also relies on other players playing passes forward for him to run on to and with Özil forced wide, the strikers are the ones forced to play that role thus forcing them to play a bit deep. One perfect example is that one-two he tried with lacazette and lacazette ended getting pushed by a brentford defender but the referee didnt call the foul. Instead of playing the initial pass slightly in front of laca so that he could have enough time and space to push the ball forward and shoot. He intentionally played it slightly behind laca so that he doesnt have a chance to do anything but play it forward to Ramsey but somehow laca decided to do the samething to Ramsey. The final pass back to laca was in a congested area thus giving the defender enough time to nudge on laca and his shot went wide.

I can somehow get the reasoning behind playing Ramsey central though his mentality is mostly to shoot first and passing is the last resort for him. Özil is the opposite of that. Passing and creating is his bread and butter. The strikers we have in my opinion are better of with somebody like Özil because they are slightly faster than when we had Olivier Giroud(not dissing him). I could understand playing Ramsey as a 10 when we had Giroud not now.

My main reason why I dont like this experiment of playing Ramsey as a 10 is that Alex Iwobi deserves to be starting based on his form. The only dispensable person there is Ramsey. Besides seniority, I dont see why he should be starting ahead of Iwobi(I know they dont play the same position). Özil and Iwobi make those around them better whilst Ramsey needs others to look better and mostly at the expense of those players.

Lastly, I am not a fan of Ramsey and I think if he wasnt english(with an english agent) he wouldn't be playing for a club like arsenal(I might be biased there). I was a fan for sometime both before and after that stoke thug broke his leg. Afterwards he became that roy of the rover and his ego was big to even figure out that he is actually a limited but functional footballer. Wenger pampered him too much and at the same time his media buddies were making him believe he is better than he actually is.

With all that said I still think he can still do well as part of three midfielders where his role is more workhorse like(similar to the roles Milner and Henderson(two limited players aware of their limits but highly functional for the roles they are playing) are playing at liverpool. I doubt though, that his ego will allow him to do that.

[Cally]

Just want to specially mention Mateo Guendozi here. I watched this young man's every step yesterday, and Arsenal have got themselves a gem of a player here. He silently provided the assist for Welbeck's first goal, and made such good use of the ball and space yesterday, it thrilled me.

[Chief Ogbunigwe]

Just want to specially mention Mateo Guendozi here. I watched this young man's every step yesterday, and Arsenal have got themselves a gem of a player here. He silently provided the assist for Welbeck's first goal, and made such good use of the ball and space yesterday, it thrilled me.

The boy is GOOD, period!

[bk-one]

Just want to specially mention Mateo Guendozi here. I watched this young man's every step yesterday, and Arsenal have got themselves a gem of a player here. He silently provided the assist for Welbeck's first goal, and made such good use of the ball and space yesterday, it thrilled me.

The boy is GOOD, period!

Nah Bruv.....that boy is the perfect proof that evolution can go in reverse, his belt doesn't go through all the loops

Its true coz Xhaka said so

Plus he aint ready....he needs to be loaned for 5 seasons at a non-league side

Its true coz Ohenhen said so

Anyways, Bullshit aside. The kid is a gem and he is a fast learner. The last time he started most of his passes were backwards and he was not mobile enough. He got substituted and yesterday he was far much more mobile, his passing was really good. It was from the foul he committed Brentford scored. Overall he had a very good game. The other thing about him is that for a young player, he is quite brave and not easily deterred. I am quite convinced that by October/January, he is going to be starting ahead of Xhaka. All he needs is experience and a bit more self belief, then he will be fine

[anikulapo]

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football ... t-13315036

John Cross reports that Ramsey might leave on a Bosman. They should have had the same stance with Ozil

My bro, John Cross is just a hack who works for one of the gutter press of England. I give no credence to his report or opinion. I love to learn, I am a glutton for knowledge, there is nothing John Cross writes that teaches me a thing, so I do not to click on his clickbait.

Ramsey's Agent is trying to drum up interest for his player, who is looking for one final bumper payday. It is rumoured he wants £250,000 per week. But his performances so far, does not merit £100,000 per week.

My mind is made up on Ramsey, I have studied the data for the past 2 seasons, He is now where near what he once delivered physically. I guess the club know this and I guess they are convinced he is not worth the money he and his Agent want. It looks like they gave made their minds up. The only beef I have is, if you don't want him, stop playing him. I guess they pay him, so he must earn his salary

Ahem Oya send Crossie an apology quick quick

https://www.skysports.com/football/news ... break-down

[anikulapo]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/45663651


Oya Waffi BBC don report the same story that you insulted Crossie who shared a scoop while you were blowing fables ... Oya go chop that ya humble pie .... AGAIN

[Cally]

Just want to specially mention Mateo Guendozi here. I watched this young man's every step yesterday, and Arsenal have got themselves a gem of a player here. He silently provided the assist for Welbeck's first goal, and made such good use of the ball and space yesterday, it thrilled me.

The boy is GOOD, period!

Chief, I thought the boy was good, but yesterday, he actually surprised me pleasantly. Like BK-One stated, he was quite mobile, forward-thinking, and his decision making left me drooling. I saw an innate ability to get out of tight spaces just by making the right decisions. Watching him play alongside El-Neny magnified Mo's deficiencies. When he puts on more muscle, and gets used to the physical challenges of the EPL, kai, what a gem he's going to become.

[maceo4]

Just want to specially mention Mateo Guendozi here. I watched this young man's every step yesterday, and Arsenal have got themselves a gem of a player here. He silently provided the assist for Welbeck's first goal, and made such good use of the ball and space yesterday, it thrilled me.

The boy is GOOD, period!

Chief, I thought the boy was good, but yesterday, he actually surprised me pleasantly. Like BK-One stated, he was quite mobile, forward-thinking, and his decision making left me drooling. I saw an innate ability to get out of tight spaces just by making the right decisions. Watching him play alongside El-Neny magnified Mo's deficiencies. When he puts on more muscle, and gets used to the physical challenges of the EPL, kai, what a gem he's going to become.

From the few games I saw of him in pre-season I knew he was special, midfield play comes so easy to him just a natural there. Was telling some of my gooner friends that it will only be a couple of seasons before he moves on to a Real or Barca. So enjoy him in the mean time

[Chief Ogbunigwe]

Just want to specially mention Mateo Guendozi here. I watched this young man's every step yesterday, and Arsenal have got themselves a gem of a player here. He silently provided the assist for Welbeck's first goal, and made such good use of the ball and space yesterday, it thrilled me.

The boy is GOOD, period!

Chief, I thought the boy was good, but yesterday, he actually surprised me pleasantly. Like BK-One stated, he was quite mobile, forward-thinking, and his decision making left me drooling. I saw an innate ability to get out of tight spaces just by making the right decisions. Watching him play alongside El-Neny magnified Mo's deficiencies. When he puts on more muscle, and gets used to the physical challenges of the EPL, kai, what a gem he's going to become.

My bro, it is the failures of the past years that has made us underestimate the quality of our club, and expect every new signing to improve us immediately, forgetting that the bottom line is, a teenager that walks into Arsenal's midfield MUST be special.

[bk-one]

Just want to specially mention Mateo Guendozi here. I watched this young man's every step yesterday, and Arsenal have got themselves a gem of a player here. He silently provided the assist for Welbeck's first goal, and made such good use of the ball and space yesterday, it thrilled me.

The boy is GOOD, period!

Chief, I thought the boy was good, but yesterday, he actually surprised me pleasantly. Like BK-One stated, he was quite mobile, forward-thinking, and his decision making left me drooling. I saw an innate ability to get out of tight spaces just by making the right decisions. Watching him play alongside El-Neny magnified Mo's deficiencies. When he puts on more muscle, and gets used to the physical challenges of the EPL, kai, what a gem he's going to become.

I am a big fan of Elneny but Mateo is special. Playing them together was'nt fair on Elneny coz it truely exposed his limitations.

I just hope that arsenal is not going to destroy him whilst trying to appease limited players.

Him and Iwobi got the potential to be future stars of that team. Even though Arsenal lost that game against City, that was the game i realized that the kid is special. Iwobi did show the same thing that time Arsenal beat chelsea 3-0. After that he was inconsistent and lost form but since the beginning of this season, he has been a different animal. He doesn't deserve to be warming the bench for nobody. He is ready.

[kajifu]

Just want to specially mention Mateo Guendozi here. I watched this young man's every step yesterday, and Arsenal have got themselves a gem of a player here. He silently provided the assist for Welbeck's first goal, and made such good use of the ball and space yesterday, it thrilled me.

The boy is GOOD, period!

Chief, I thought the boy was good, but yesterday, he actually surprised me pleasantly. Like BK-One stated, he was quite mobile, forward-thinking, and his decision making left me drooling. I saw an innate ability to get out of tight spaces just by making the right decisions. Watching him play alongside El-Neny magnified Mo's deficiencies. When he puts on more muscle, and gets used to the physical challenges of the EPL, kai, what a gem he's going to become.

From the few games I saw of him in pre-season I knew he was special, midfield play comes so easy to him just a natural there. Was telling some of my gooner friends that it will only be a couple of seasons before he moves on to a Real or Barca. So enjoy him in the mean time

Na wa oooh so we better put 350million asking price.But why is Real not go look for their own player Truth is if things goes well and beloved in few years will be of Real and Barca level and no player will really want t o move to Real if the condition at beloved is right....
Any well PSG make a deal with Arsenal about this kids,if we want to sell they will be the first option to the kid

[Waffiman]

Just want to specially mention Mateo Guendozi here. I watched this young man's every step yesterday, and Arsenal have got themselves a gem of a player here. He silently provided the assist for Welbeck's first goal, and made such good use of the ball and space yesterday, it thrilled me.

The boy is GOOD, period!

Chief, I thought the boy was good, but yesterday, he actually surprised me pleasantly. Like BK-One stated, he was quite mobile, forward-thinking, and his decision making left me drooling. I saw an innate ability to get out of tight spaces just by making the right decisions. Watching him play alongside El-Neny magnified Mo's deficiencies. When he puts on more muscle, and gets used to the physical challenges of the EPL, kai, what a gem he's going to become.

My bro, it is the failures of the past years that has made us underestimate the quality of our club, and expect every new signing to improve us immediately, forgetting that the bottom line is, a teenager that walks into Arsenal's midfield MUST be special.

I know Vieira at 19 was from another planet. But I see so many shades of Vieira in this kid. When he grows and becomes physically ready, brushes off his positional weaknesses etc etc he will be some player.

About a month ago, I posted a rumour that a 4-year contract was agreed between Arsenal and Ramsey. Now we hear the club withdrew the contract. Many suspect Ramsey did not sign when he promised to. But players never do and Arsenal has not withdrawn a contract on these grounds before. It is all sorts of weird.

But when you factor in the fact that Guendouzi is improving leaps and bounds, there is a rumour that Arsenal are happy to withdraw their deal cos of the kid.

There are also strong rumours of an experienced stop gap player coming in for the kid to play off. In other words, a player who can seat on the bench while the kid gets playing time and will be a lot better and cheaper for the club. A lot of talk out there that Ever Benega will be signed in January, with Ramsey leaving.

Whatever the truths to these stories are, one thing is clear the kid is a special talent that needs games to improve and Emery knows this. He will get more games and get better.

If it is true Arsenal withdrew its contract agreement with Ramsey, I believe the kid must be one reason why. Of course there maybe other reasons, cos decisions like these are made with a number of factors in the equation.

[Waffiman]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/45663651


Oya Waffi BBC don report the same story that you insulted Crossie who shared a scoop while you were blowing fables ... Oya go chop that ya humble pie .... AGAIN

I don't need Cross or any hack to tell me what I knew before them about Arsenal. I have not read whatever Cross wrote. I will not.

I will tell hacks about Arsenal, not them telling me.

[Siddonlook11]

I like Ramsey's engine - but he needs to go period.

To many pts have been made to support that..I think Kenng G take his position. I think Mo needs to step up his game or he is toast as well.

Now to Ozil..I am not defending Ozil, but I think we should play Ozil as a 10, all this wing experiment will not get us the best of Ozil. simple, play to his strength and move him on whenever his contract come up.


I also think Play Auba on the Wing get as e be. but I cant figure out hwo to play he and Laca without sticking him at the wing

[Nkume]

I say thank you Rambo. He should go to Juventus or Barca. He has tried for Arsenal.

[kajifu]

I say thank you Rambo. He should go to Juventus or Barca. He has tried for Arsenal.

Thanks to Wenger foolishness he will be going for free,when Manu and Chelsea came for him We should have cash in 2 years ago.
I will have kept him over Xhaka just my opinion

[Waffiman]

Read into it what you may but remember when we failed on Higuain and then panicked, and wasted time and money on that life sucking waste of space from Bremen?

Well In that Time, Higua has tallied 91 goals in three seasons at Napoli and then nicked another 55 in two seasons at Juventus .

Regardless of how you feel about the dude and his commitment and effort but that’s a sick amount of goals ....


Abou isn’t too bad either .... he now has 14 goals in 21 games for Arsenal and he has barely switched out of first gear. If and when he gets into his groove this man can easily score 40 in a season.

3-5-2 is not Unai’s cup of tea but I believe at this moment it would help Arsenal the most with so many square pegs in round holes

Couldn't agree with you more - Unai seems to value the playing time of a dysfunctional MF over adding another defender, decreasing the space between Auba & Laca upfront - the change's so obvious, it gives a better shape & our wingbacks can truly bomb forward. Right now Auba & Ozil are licensed to go narrow - creating double teams for Monreal & Hector(defensively) - thought we had a no-nonsense coach!!! Scared of names??
3-5-2 or 3-4-1-2 etc go watch how close Pep lines up with Aguerro & Jesu when he plays them as part of a 11.

You claimed we were not pressing effectively. Under Wenger and now Emery, we press effectively. Pressing effectively means forcing your opponents to lose possession, leading to chances and goals.



Arsenal created the 3rd most chances from pressing past season, behind the expected top 2, Liverpool and City. I know it does not really fit people's agenda, but I do like to point out facts.

Arsenal have always done this. They did at Highbury and now at the Emirates. We got our 2nd goal from the press and forced Everton to turn over possession leading to chances 4 times.

Pressing has 2 purposes, to win possession in order to create good chances and goals. Pressing also prevent the opposition from attacking. We definitely did the first, as is shown by the graphic. Our defence is erratic at best, so it looks like we don't achieve the second. So far this season, we still have the same problem.

The problem of ineffective pressing does not come in, as evidenced above. The next thing I will read here will be, 'we did not press and now we do', as is the normal practice here since Wenger left.

Now with regard to formation and need for 3-5-2. I do.not see the formation as the problem. Our problem is not the mid field also. IMHO, our problem is in the attacking positions. Here is how I will change it.

I much prefer the structure of our play in a 4-2-3-1 with Mkhi at WR, particularly for his support for Bellerin who provided great scoring opportunities vs Chelsea. I prefer Ozil central and Ramsey either dropped. Auba on the left is not the best but, he gets goals still, so I will not change it for now. With Xhaka and Torreira as double pivot, we do not need Ramsey, who is not performing close to his best physically and has not done since season before last, on a consistent basis.

So in simplistic terms Ozil and Mkhi would act as creators for Laca and Auba who are our finishers. I prefer Ozil and Mkhi (mainly) supplying Auba and Laca. This selection also gets more from Hector. I prefer him as the primary avenue of attack.

But Emery at present has a team that's lopsided to its left side. Maybe cos of Auba there but we must find a balance.

You slam Ramsey and give a pass to Ozil and Xhaka?

Smh you this guy and ya selective bias

When will merit and performance ever enter into ya narrative rather than bias and false reputations eh?

And oh by the way where is the stat that showed goals resulting from the high press

With regards to goals, you have to subscribe to Statsbomb to get it yourself. I give you a hint, it is easily in the top 4.

I have not slammed Ramsey. I merely pointed out issues with his game and I have been doing this since last season. Unless Ramsey's form changes spectacularly in coming weeks, I am convinced Emery will have to decide between him and Ozil to make way Mikh or Iwobi. Why? This is about how playing Ramsey, Laca, Ozil and Auba affects the team and not Ramsey the individual players.

On Ozil, he is more of a concern right now. The way Ozil's physical output has deeped since parts of last season is alarming, and it is very much a topical issue with data analysts. If you want I can produce analytics to back this up. But this is not my focus right now.

Also, Emery has cut Ozil's influence on the team. For example, Ozil used to take all the free kicks. He was in charge of these situations, except penalties. Note, Xhaka now takes most dead balls. Even Torreira is now making his presence felt on deal ball situations.

But Ozil is still tops and amongst the top in the league when it comes to the XGoals (expected goals) chain. In others words, Ozil is the greatest influence in moves that lead to chances and goals. The next is Xhaka, but under Emery, this is also changing. Whilst Ozil was Wenger's man, in terms of influence on the team, it is looking more and more like Xhaka is Emery's man.

But Ozil is that one player in the team that times a pass, no matter how simple or difficult, to break defensive blocks of our opponents. His influence in chances created is one reason why he will always get picked, so it is no surprise the Germans were trying to use Per to talk to him returning to the national team. Ozil can look uninterested for 90 minutes but everyone knows in the blink of an eye, he can open up the most stubborn of defences.

Now have a look at this piece of analytics from the Everton game.



Keys features are:

Arsenal's left sided lopsidedness. (Pardon my oyinbo )
Xhaka's passing dominance.
Ozil's average position during the game was central, and
Bellerin's isolation.

BTW! Our average shape is similar to the above when these players are picked with or without Torreira.

Note the 3 stars on Bellerin, Ozil and Laca. In this game, they were the most influential in terms of moves that led to chances and goals. Ramsey, who was supposed to be the number 10 is not involved enough. Why? What exactly was his role?


We played 4-2-3-1, with our FBs pushing really high up. Ozil and Auba are supposed to cut in, but note Auba and Ozil's average position. Ozil, the stats suggests is able to avoid man markers when he comes in from the left as opposed to central, but this is marginal and does not warrant the team being compromised IMHO.

Look how lopsided towards the left the team. See how many players on that left side. Look at Ramsey's position. It tells us that when we had the ball, we focused our attacks on that side. It also tells us that without the ball, this was also our most likely shape. But was this really the plan? I don't think so. From that shape, you can see why we were really vulnerable to the counter attack.

All this wahala because of the players picked, the formation they played in and their respective positions. I know we are getting results but Emery cannot keep on playing too many players out of position. As much as I want the Laca and Auba pairing to flourish, I must also point out that when Iwobi, Mkhi and Auba played, they gave us balance and a serious threat on the counter-attack. Look! We currently have this strange situation where playing our best players play as out of position wise men yet our actual wide men have done well most of the season. I think we need to have one of Iwobi or Mikh for every game.

So why not play these players instead? This is what I want to see. If not Iwobi, play Mikh. I must add Welbeck in all of this too.

Lacazette
Iwobi Ozil Aubameyang

Okay, I don't think Emery will use Auba on that side cause he wants him cutting in I suppose. This means Mikh will give far better balance to the team on the right, with Auba moving to the left.

This brings me back to Ramsey. What the Everton game confirmed again is, if Ramsey is not playing in the deeper role they cannot all play together. We lack balance without a proper wide forward. If we chose to play a wide forward, I think Iwobi has been our best player in the wider role and deserves a chance in the starting team at the expense of Ramsey.

This is why my focus is on Ramsey and not Ozil or Xhaka.

Waffi....Isnt what you saying vis-avis Ramsey the same thing i said some time back and you told me that I dont know what I am talking about?

My problem with Ramsey playing as a 10 is that its forcing Özil out wide where he is not comfortable. Ramsey also relies on other players playing passes forward for him to run on to and with Özil forced wide, the strikers are the ones forced to play that role thus forcing them to play a bit deep. One perfect example is that one-two he tried with lacazette and lacazette ended getting pushed by a brentford defender but the referee didnt call the foul. Instead of playing the initial pass slightly in front of laca so that he could have enough time and space to push the ball forward and shoot. He intentionally played it slightly behind laca so that he doesnt have a chance to do anything but play it forward to Ramsey but somehow laca decided to do the samething to Ramsey. The final pass back to laca was in a congested area thus giving the defender enough time to nudge on laca and his shot went wide.

I can somehow get the reasoning behind playing Ramsey central though his mentality is mostly to shoot first and passing is the last resort for him. Özil is the opposite of that. Passing and creating is his bread and butter. The strikers we have in my opinion are better of with somebody like Özil because they are slightly faster than when we had Olivier Giroud(not dissing him). I could understand playing Ramsey as a 10 when we had Giroud not now.

My main reason why I dont like this experiment of playing Ramsey as a 10 is that Alex Iwobi deserves to be starting based on his form. The only dispensable person there is Ramsey. Besides seniority, I dont see why he should be starting ahead of Iwobi(I know they dont play the same position). Özil and Iwobi make those around them better whilst Ramsey needs others to look better and mostly at the expense of those players.

Lastly, I am not a fan of Ramsey and I think if he wasnt english(with an english agent) he wouldn't be playing for a club like arsenal(I might be biased there). I was a fan for sometime both before and after that stoke thug broke his leg. Afterwards he became that roy of the rover and his ego was big to even figure out that he is actually a limited but functional footballer. Wenger pampered him too much and at the same time his media buddies were making him believe he is better than he actually is.

With all that said I still think he can still do well as part of three midfielders where his role is more workhorse like(similar to the roles Milner and Henderson(two limited players aware of their limits but highly functional for the roles they are playing) are playing at liverpool. I doubt though, that his ego will allow him to do that.

No. We are on similar thinking but not saying the same thing. I wanted to know how you will play it with Iwobi coming in. Iwobi cannot be a direct replacement for Ramsey, you have to makes changes to the team this is what I wanted to know. It is why I kept on asking my questions.

[kajifu]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/45663651


Oya Waffi BBC don report the same story that you insulted Crossie who shared a scoop while you were blowing fables ... Oya go chop that ya humble pie .... AGAIN

John Cross knows the inside of beloved more than any fan and BBC has confirm it,so case closed on that debate.Now my beef is why will the club allow this boy contract run to the end?Sell him next window sharp sharp,Elneny,Iwobi will be in ANC,so a lot of gaps to filled and this might forced Emery to keep him till May.

[anikulapo]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/45663651


Oya Waffi BBC don report the same story that you insulted Crossie who shared a scoop while you were blowing fables ... Oya go chop that ya humble pie .... AGAIN

I don't need Cross or any hack to tell me what I knew before them about Arsenal. I have not read whatever Cross wrote. I will not.

I will tell hacks about Arsenal, not them telling me.

You insulted the man and now you dey stutter ... wa yo man

[Waffiman]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/45663651


Oya Waffi BBC don report the same story that you insulted Crossie who shared a scoop while you were blowing fables ... Oya go chop that ya humble pie .... AGAIN

I don't need Cross or any hack to tell me what I knew before them about Arsenal. I have not read whatever Cross wrote. I will not.

I will tell hacks about Arsenal, not them telling me.

You insulted the man and now you dey stutter ... wa yo man

I did not insult the man. I just gave my opinion on hacks who work for the English gutter press.

The same man that said on Twitter that Ozil was joining ManU, whilst I was insisting here I heard rumours Ozil will sign a new deal. Aniks, do me a favour, I don't need hacks like John Cross for my Arsenal news. I am not afraid of being wrong and you know it.

I did not read Cross report, because I do not regard him on any level as a journalist. I will read stuff from top journos that write for the best papers. He is not one of them.

But the Ramsey thing was not news, it broke last night.

Go back some weeks, I said here there were rumours of Arsenal agreeing a deal with Ramsey. What has changed? A lot has changed. For starters, the man who agreed the Ramsey deal, (Gazidis) is no longer at the club. The new man Sanhelli sees it differently and many reckon he like Emery is a fan of Guendouzi.

We don't know why the club withdrew its offer, except that Gazidis agreed the deal with Ramsey and the new man withdrew the deal, but these are the type of rumours doing the rounds. In time, we will know the truth.

There is a new regime at Arsenal, their first decision involves Ramsey and IMHO, it is not the way the club has historically conducted its affairs. Arsenal, are known as a club with values doing things the right way. I cannot think of any time they broke an agreement. Things are different now.

[bk-one]

Read into it what you may but remember when we failed on Higuain and then panicked, and wasted time and money on that life sucking waste of space from Bremen?

Well In that Time, Higua has tallied 91 goals in three seasons at Napoli and then nicked another 55 in two seasons at Juventus .

Regardless of how you feel about the dude and his commitment and effort but that’s a sick amount of goals ....


Abou isn’t too bad either .... he now has 14 goals in 21 games for Arsenal and he has barely switched out of first gear. If and when he gets into his groove this man can easily score 40 in a season.

3-5-2 is not Unai’s cup of tea but I believe at this moment it would help Arsenal the most with so many square pegs in round holes

Couldn't agree with you more - Unai seems to value the playing time of a dysfunctional MF over adding another defender, decreasing the space between Auba & Laca upfront - the change's so obvious, it gives a better shape & our wingbacks can truly bomb forward. Right now Auba & Ozil are licensed to go narrow - creating double teams for Monreal & Hector(defensively) - thought we had a no-nonsense coach!!! Scared of names??
3-5-2 or 3-4-1-2 etc go watch how close Pep lines up with Aguerro & Jesu when he plays them as part of a 11.

You claimed we were not pressing effectively. Under Wenger and now Emery, we press effectively. Pressing effectively means forcing your opponents to lose possession, leading to chances and goals.



Arsenal created the 3rd most chances from pressing past season, behind the expected top 2, Liverpool and City. I know it does not really fit people's agenda, but I do like to point out facts.

Arsenal have always done this. They did at Highbury and now at the Emirates. We got our 2nd goal from the press and forced Everton to turn over possession leading to chances 4 times.

Pressing has 2 purposes, to win possession in order to create good chances and goals. Pressing also prevent the opposition from attacking. We definitely did the first, as is shown by the graphic. Our defence is erratic at best, so it looks like we don't achieve the second. So far this season, we still have the same problem.

The problem of ineffective pressing does not come in, as evidenced above. The next thing I will read here will be, 'we did not press and now we do', as is the normal practice here since Wenger left.

Now with regard to formation and need for 3-5-2. I do.not see the formation as the problem. Our problem is not the mid field also. IMHO, our problem is in the attacking positions. Here is how I will change it.

I much prefer the structure of our play in a 4-2-3-1 with Mkhi at WR, particularly for his support for Bellerin who provided great scoring opportunities vs Chelsea. I prefer Ozil central and Ramsey either dropped. Auba on the left is not the best but, he gets goals still, so I will not change it for now. With Xhaka and Torreira as double pivot, we do not need Ramsey, who is not performing close to his best physically and has not done since season before last, on a consistent basis.

So in simplistic terms Ozil and Mkhi would act as creators for Laca and Auba who are our finishers. I prefer Ozil and Mkhi (mainly) supplying Auba and Laca. This selection also gets more from Hector. I prefer him as the primary avenue of attack.

But Emery at present has a team that's lopsided to its left side. Maybe cos of Auba there but we must find a balance.

You slam Ramsey and give a pass to Ozil and Xhaka?

Smh you this guy and ya selective bias

When will merit and performance ever enter into ya narrative rather than bias and false reputations eh?

And oh by the way where is the stat that showed goals resulting from the high press

With regards to goals, you have to subscribe to Statsbomb to get it yourself. I give you a hint, it is easily in the top 4.

I have not slammed Ramsey. I merely pointed out issues with his game and I have been doing this since last season. Unless Ramsey's form changes spectacularly in coming weeks, I am convinced Emery will have to decide between him and Ozil to make way Mikh or Iwobi. Why? This is about how playing Ramsey, Laca, Ozil and Auba affects the team and not Ramsey the individual players.

On Ozil, he is more of a concern right now. The way Ozil's physical output has deeped since parts of last season is alarming, and it is very much a topical issue with data analysts. If you want I can produce analytics to back this up. But this is not my focus right now.

Also, Emery has cut Ozil's influence on the team. For example, Ozil used to take all the free kicks. He was in charge of these situations, except penalties. Note, Xhaka now takes most dead balls. Even Torreira is now making his presence felt on deal ball situations.

But Ozil is still tops and amongst the top in the league when it comes to the XGoals (expected goals) chain. In others words, Ozil is the greatest influence in moves that lead to chances and goals. The next is Xhaka, but under Emery, this is also changing. Whilst Ozil was Wenger's man, in terms of influence on the team, it is looking more and more like Xhaka is Emery's man.

But Ozil is that one player in the team that times a pass, no matter how simple or difficult, to break defensive blocks of our opponents. His influence in chances created is one reason why he will always get picked, so it is no surprise the Germans were trying to use Per to talk to him returning to the national team. Ozil can look uninterested for 90 minutes but everyone knows in the blink of an eye, he can open up the most stubborn of defences.

Now have a look at this piece of analytics from the Everton game.



Keys features are:

Arsenal's left sided lopsidedness. (Pardon my oyinbo )
Xhaka's passing dominance.
Ozil's average position during the game was central, and
Bellerin's isolation.

BTW! Our average shape is similar to the above when these players are picked with or without Torreira.

Note the 3 stars on Bellerin, Ozil and Laca. In this game, they were the most influential in terms of moves that led to chances and goals. Ramsey, who was supposed to be the number 10 is not involved enough. Why? What exactly was his role?


We played 4-2-3-1, with our FBs pushing really high up. Ozil and Auba are supposed to cut in, but note Auba and Ozil's average position. Ozil, the stats suggests is able to avoid man markers when he comes in from the left as opposed to central, but this is marginal and does not warrant the team being compromised IMHO.

Look how lopsided towards the left the team. See how many players on that left side. Look at Ramsey's position. It tells us that when we had the ball, we focused our attacks on that side. It also tells us that without the ball, this was also our most likely shape. But was this really the plan? I don't think so. From that shape, you can see why we were really vulnerable to the counter attack.

All this wahala because of the players picked, the formation they played in and their respective positions. I know we are getting results but Emery cannot keep on playing too many players out of position. As much as I want the Laca and Auba pairing to flourish, I must also point out that when Iwobi, Mkhi and Auba played, they gave us balance and a serious threat on the counter-attack. Look! We currently have this strange situation where playing our best players play as out of position wise men yet our actual wide men have done well most of the season. I think we need to have one of Iwobi or Mikh for every game.

So why not play these players instead? This is what I want to see. If not Iwobi, play Mikh. I must add Welbeck in all of this too.

Lacazette
Iwobi Ozil Aubameyang

Okay, I don't think Emery will use Auba on that side cause he wants him cutting in I suppose. This means Mikh will give far better balance to the team on the right, with Auba moving to the left.

This brings me back to Ramsey. What the Everton game confirmed again is, if Ramsey is not playing in the deeper role they cannot all play together. We lack balance without a proper wide forward. If we chose to play a wide forward, I think Iwobi has been our best player in the wider role and deserves a chance in the starting team at the expense of Ramsey.

This is why my focus is on Ramsey and not Ozil or Xhaka.

Waffi....Isnt what you saying vis-avis Ramsey the same thing i said some time back and you told me that I dont know what I am talking about?

My problem with Ramsey playing as a 10 is that its forcing Özil out wide where he is not comfortable. Ramsey also relies on other players playing passes forward for him to run on to and with Özil forced wide, the strikers are the ones forced to play that role thus forcing them to play a bit deep. One perfect example is that one-two he tried with lacazette and lacazette ended getting pushed by a brentford defender but the referee didnt call the foul. Instead of playing the initial pass slightly in front of laca so that he could have enough time and space to push the ball forward and shoot. He intentionally played it slightly behind laca so that he doesnt have a chance to do anything but play it forward to Ramsey but somehow laca decided to do the samething to Ramsey. The final pass back to laca was in a congested area thus giving the defender enough time to nudge on laca and his shot went wide.

I can somehow get the reasoning behind playing Ramsey central though his mentality is mostly to shoot first and passing is the last resort for him. Özil is the opposite of that. Passing and creating is his bread and butter. The strikers we have in my opinion are better of with somebody like Özil because they are slightly faster than when we had Olivier Giroud(not dissing him). I could understand playing Ramsey as a 10 when we had Giroud not now.

My main reason why I dont like this experiment of playing Ramsey as a 10 is that Alex Iwobi deserves to be starting based on his form. The only dispensable person there is Ramsey. Besides seniority, I dont see why he should be starting ahead of Iwobi(I know they dont play the same position). Özil and Iwobi make those around them better whilst Ramsey needs others to look better and mostly at the expense of those players.

Lastly, I am not a fan of Ramsey and I think if he wasnt english(with an english agent) he wouldn't be playing for a club like arsenal(I might be biased there). I was a fan for sometime both before and after that stoke thug broke his leg. Afterwards he became that roy of the rover and his ego was big to even figure out that he is actually a limited but functional footballer. Wenger pampered him too much and at the same time his media buddies were making him believe he is better than he actually is.

With all that said I still think he can still do well as part of three midfielders where his role is more workhorse like(similar to the roles Milner and Henderson(two limited players aware of their limits but highly functional for the roles they are playing) are playing at liverpool. I doubt though, that his ego will allow him to do that.

No. We are on similar thinking but not saying the same thing. I wanted to know how you will play it with Iwobi coming in. Iwobi cannot be a direct replacement for Ramsey, you have to makes changes to the team this is what I wanted to know. It is why I kept on asking my questions.

Okay
My bad then. I assumed that I didnt need to explain that by replacing him with Iwobi will mean moving Özil back to his position and Iwobi to where Özil is now playing.

Iwobi played some games last season as a 10 right?

[kajifu]

Juventus and AC Milan are interested in signing Arsenal's Wales midfielder Aaron Ramsey. The 27-year-old is likely to leave the club in the summer. (Evening Standard)

Arsenal are open to selling Ramsey in January to avoid losing him for free.
So how come when Ozil contract was running out no club come ask price but Ramsey don dey like hot cake.Some my Barca fans say they are monitoring Ramsey and Pogba situation...