I really enjoyed watching Elneny and Xhaka play together last night. I think Santi is vital to our team. I am thinking how about we played a MF 3 of Xhaka-Santi-Elneny. And play a fluid front 3. I know we all love Ozil, but he will have to earn his place in the team. Even though Walcott is a limited footballer I can see how dangerous a weapon he can be. I would play a trio of Iwobi-Sanchez-Theo. Iwobi is giving me everything we need. Dynamism, vision, running at defences, and attempting shots on goal. He will improve defensively. Ozil has been coasting since the start of the season. We can't afford that. What do y'all think?
Ozil has been really poor since he can back from holidays. Coq, Xhaka, Cazorla are all playing well so maybe he deserves a game on the bench Think it's extremely unlikely Wenger would drop him for Chelsea though
As Krome says, it's very unlikely that Ozil will be dropped for the Chelsea game - especially as this will mean a big change to our system as well. I do think a 3 of Coq-Xhaka-Santi (or replace Xhaka/Coq with Elneny) could be very dangerous and a very good midfield. I also feel, while it's great to have the movement and pace of Sanchez, Theo and Iwobi/Oxo, we really suffer from a lack of presence/height in the box when we play a front 3 like this.
I just think it's great that for once in what seems like an eternity, we actually have some really good options to choose from.
I like Coq-Xhaka-Santi against a team like Chelsea. We'll need the legs of Coq to track the MF runners in Hazard and Willian.
We have a good and varied midfield that can be altered to cater for the situation. Ozil is our best creative player and our midfield should be moulded around him, but I do like Cazorla, who I think keeps the ball and works it around better, a bit like Rosicky and Fabregas. This is where getting the combination right and not being scared to change is necessary. You could play Ozil and Cazorla in midfield together when you want to be more attacking, but it does leave us weaker defensively. When playing Ozil, we need enough strong and defensively sound midfielders to allow him to orchestrate the entire team. He's not there to get his hands dirty, leave that to the Xhaka's, Elneny's and Coqs. Sometimes players excel in particular areas and I believe you should allow them to express themselves. You can't get everyone to do everything.
Against Chelsea I would so reluctant to start with both Santi and Ozil. Chelsea have mad runners in Hazard and Willian. We'll need to be defensively sound in MF.
Agreed, i wouldn't play the both of them in central midfield. He may opt to play one of them on the wing and play a more solid midfield. Problem with that is neither are wingers, and it would reduce our capacity to attack.
Feels so good to be proven wrong! Brilliant midfield display by Santi+Coq/Xhaka. Ozil turned up. In other good new, L'equip are reporting Coq to be back in 15 days.
That's excellent if true as I was fearing the worst and saw a headline (based on nothing) in the Mirror about Coq being out for months...
It's bad enough that the 'Arsenal days' have kicked in for Ramsey, we certainly don't need it to happen to anyone else. And Wenger always looks lost without his Coq as well...
He's been heavily dependent on a fit and strong Coq. But I think with Xhaka and Elneny we should cope. I think Coq is actually worried about his place now, which is not a bad thing. Everyone has to stay on their job to get in.
Same here, i want to see what Xhaka can do too. Better Coqs get injured now than later. It gives the new guys time to play in the DM position and make them battle ready. Also i want to see a few games with Xhaka and Elneny play together and see if they work well together. Both are defensively good, strong and have a good pass. Elneny last season looked good and it would be good to see him, as well as Xhaka get some more game time. Hopefully it will present more competition in midfield!
Finally it's a relief that when one key player gets inured, we have another one equally as good (possibly better in Xhaka) to come in
I guess its a good problem to have. Its quite hard to pick a 'best' midfield at the moment. Hopefully that means we'll get a bit of rotation which should keep players in a better condition for the second half of the Season.
Wenger just said this which is a relief - Arsene Wenger: "Coquelin is out for the game tomorrow - it should be a short-term injury. The scan was quite positive.”
