Rival watch

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What I don't want to see Arsenal do is give the overpaid and undermotivated the heave ho and invest in youth. So that's probably their best bet.
deedub93 said:
Have to wish him all the best, even if he is an ex goon. He had that horrible injury/flesh eating infection. I hope that he gets back to his best.
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Cazorla was one of the handful of rival players who were so effective and gave me so little cause to find fault with them that I hated them respectfully. I'm glad he won't play for Arsenal again and wish him good luck on his recovery and career. He had about as good judgment at the edge of the box as anyone I've seen.
 
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According to Sky Sports, Unai Emery is going to give Aaron Ramsey a central role there. Forgive me for being a big, old cynical Brian but I think that we've seen this before......

A few years back, a pissed off Theo Walcott, fed up playing on the wing indicates that he wants to play centrally or move to pastures new when his contract expires. Despite being **** at playing there, Wenger gives him one or two games. Theo, enthused by getting what he wants, signs a new contract and is never played centrally ever again. They sold him for a fair few million, mind.

So, Aaron Ramsey has a contract running down........and is fed up playing out wide and wants to play centrally....
 
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Hmmm. I think I'm going to have to seriously disagree with your assessment of Ramsey, TFTB.

In one of your other posts, you said he'd do no better than West Ham if he left Arsenal (or words to that effect at least) which, respectfully, just isn't true. He's one of the very few goalscoring central midfielders with a great engine and stamina, and has a good passing range. Don't get me wrong - he has his flaws and I'm not saying he's perfect when he isn't - but there is certainly a lot for Emery to work with there. He got 11 goals and 10 assists last season, despite being injured for half the campaign.

The Theo Walcott situation isn't comparable; Walcott was the only major goalscoring threat we had at the time, so he knew perfectly well he could bend us over a barrel and get away with it. Not only that, but Ramsey wasn't deployed out wide last season, nor has he complained about his best position on the pitch, which is precisely what Theo did when he ran his mouth off to the media.

Nevertheless, if Emery can work on Ramsey's tactical understanding and discipline of the game, he will be an asset for us.

He's a better player than you think.
 
BrunelGooner said:
Hmmm. I think I'm going to have to seriously disagree with your assessment of Ramsey, TFTB.

In one of your other posts, you said he'd do no better than West Ham if he left Arsenal (or words to that effect at least) which, respectfully, just isn't true. He's one of the very few goalscoring central midfielders with a great engine and stamina, and has a good passing range. Don't get me wrong - he has his flaws and I'm not saying he's perfect when he isn't - but there is certainly a lot for Emery to work with there. He got 11 goals and 10 assists last season, despite being injured for half the campaign.

The Theo Walcott situation isn't comparable; Walcott was the only major goalscoring threat we had at the time, so he knew perfectly well he could bend us over a barrel and get away with it. Not only that, but Ramsey wasn't deployed out wide last season, nor has he complained about his best position on the pitch, which is precisely what Theo did when he ran his mouth off to the media.

Nevertheless, if Emery can work on Ramsey's tactical understanding and discipline of the game, he will be an asset for us.

He's a better player than you think.
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I don't think that he's a bad player on his day. He just doesn't show it often enough for a player who'll be 28 pretty soon and will be looking for a big deal this time around. Against us, he's one of your better players pretty much every time. Compared to that level of performance, he's often a let down in other games across a season.

It could be that he's let down by those around him or Wenger couldn't find the right position for him? If you take it as a given that you're going to play at least 3 of Aubameyang, Lacazette, Ozil and M'Khitaryan in the majority of your games, you're going to need some steel somewhere. Ramsey's not that player from what I can see. Can you play all of those 5 in one team? I'm not sure that you can and the cost and wages of the others [added to the fact that the new backroom power brokers bought at least 2 and maybe 3 of them and Ozil will be tough to move on] suggest Ramsey will be high up the list of possible sales. I feel the same with Wilshere - get him to sign a contract and significantly increase his value for sale. Then sell him.

Again, no Top 6 team is going to buy him unless Chelsea see him playing alongside Drinkwater and Barkley?
 
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Yeah I'd say Ramsey's a good player but not a great one. He wouldn't make the strongest XI of any of the other top 6 sides.

When you think in previous eras, Arsenal had the likes of Vieira and then Fabregas, Ramsey isn't fit to lace either's boots. Likewise for Wilshere. I think Arsenal fans are maybe allowing sentiment to cloud judgement as both players have been around Arsenal a while and naturally endeared themselves to the fans.

In my 28 years, this is easily the worst Arsenal side in terms of quality - which I absolutely love make no mistake - but a club of their stature somewhat deserves better.
I think I can genuinely sit here confidently - without WUMming or sarcasm - and say that not one single Arsenal player would currently get into our strongest XI.

Hugo > Cech
Tripps > Bellerin
Dave/ Toby > Mustafi
Jan > Koscielny
Davies > Monreal (although I do rate Monreal but Ben has been great for us this season)
Dier > Xhaka
Dembele > Wilshere/ Ramsey (although Dembele has had a poor season)
Alli > Mkhi
Eriksen > Ozil
Son > Laca/ Welbeck/ Iwobi
Kane > Auba
 
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BrunelGooner said:
Hmmm. I think I'm going to have to seriously disagree with your assessment of Ramsey, TFTB.

In one of your other posts, you said he'd do no better than West Ham if he left Arsenal (or words to that effect at least) which, respectfully, just isn't true. He's one of the very few goalscoring central midfielders with a great engine and stamina, and has a good passing range. Don't get me wrong - he has his flaws and I'm not saying he's perfect when he isn't - but there is certainly a lot for Emery to work with there. He got 11 goals and 10 assists last season, despite being injured for half the campaign.

The Theo Walcott situation isn't comparable; Walcott was the only major goalscoring threat we had at the time, so he knew perfectly well he could bend us over a barrel and get away with it. Not only that, but Ramsey wasn't deployed out wide last season, nor has he complained about his best position on the pitch, which is precisely what Theo did when he ran his mouth off to the media.

Nevertheless, if Emery can work on Ramsey's tactical understanding and discipline of the game, he will be an asset for us.

He's a better player than you think.
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Pick your current best XI, BG.
 
PleaseNotPoll said:
Pick your current best XI, BG.
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Currently? It's hard when I personally don't rate a lot of our players highly <laugh>!

I'm hoping Emery can change my perception of these players or that they're not as mediocre as I think. But from what I have seen, I just don't feel like we have the right balance/calibre of players at the moment.

Anyway, assuming all are fit on their day, I would go with:

Cech, Bellerin, Koscielny, Holding, Monreal; Elneny, Ramsey; Aubameyang, Ozil, Mkhitaryan; Lacazette (4-2-3-1).

That being said, Cech needs to be upgraded. He's a decent goalkeeper, but age is quite clearly catching up with him.

Koscielny has been a great servant for us. His Achilles problem is affecting him massively and again, he's no spring chicken. Need to upgrade.

Holding or Chambers over Mustafi when both are available for me. The latter is just too rash and indecisive. Wouldn't bat an eyelid if he's sold this Summer.

Monreal was probably one of our best defenders last season, somewhat surprisingly. He's always been a solid left-back, but he added goals to his game which, at the age of 32, was unexpected. I think left-back is a position we do need to look at though, as we have no long-term player for that position. I'm not 100% sold on Kolasinac; had a promising start for us, then got injured and never recovered afterwards.

Elneny as our deep-lying defensive midfielder because he can press well, is a decent tackler and has a good work-rate. Keeps possession ticking over nicely too. Again, though, good squad player to have, but not the required quality for the first-team. To be fair to Xhaka, he did ok towards the end of the season, but as I've mentioned before, generally he is too slow to release the ball, gets caught dawdling in possession and isn't dynamic enough to be an effective DM. So this is a position that needs to be strengthened urgently.

The rest are self-explanatory I'd have thought.

It might be surprising I've included both Aubameyang and Lacazette in there, but they actually formed a good partnership together when in the same side. You may think it's bizarre to boot Aubameyang out wide when he has an impressive goalscoring record for us, but he does have a habit of drifting inside and sometimes switching positions with Lacazette during the game.

Right now, that team needs several new additions to compete for the top 4 spot though. We simply cannot go into the season with a starting XI like that.
 
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BrunelGooner said:
Currently? It's hard when I personally don't rate a lot of our players highly <laugh>!

I'm hoping Emery can change my perception of these players or that they're not as mediocre as I think. But from what I have seen, I just don't feel like we have the right balance/calibre of players at the moment.

Anyway, assuming all are fit on their day, I would go with:

Cech, Bellerin, Koscielny, Holding, Monreal; Elneny, Ramsey; Aubameyang, Ozil, Mkhitaryan; Lacazette (4-2-3-1).

That being said, Cech needs to be upgraded. He's a decent goalkeeper, but age is quite clearly catching up with him.

Koscielny has been a great servant for us. His Achilles problem is affecting him massively and again, he's no spring chicken. Need to upgrade.

Holding or Chambers over Mustafi when both are available for me. The latter is just too rash and indecisive. Wouldn't bat an eyelid if he's sold this Summer.

Monreal was probably one of our best defenders last season, somewhat surprisingly. He's always been a solid left-back, but he added goals to his game which, at the age of 32, was unexpected. I think left-back is a position we do need to look at though, as we have no long-term player for that position. I'm not 100% sold on Kolasinac; had a promising start for us, then got injured and never recovered afterwards.

Elneny as our deep-lying defensive midfielder because he can press well, is a decent tackler and has a good work-rate. Keeps possession ticking over nicely too. Again, though, good squad player to have, but not the required quality for the first-team. To be fair to Xhaka, he did ok towards the end of the season, but as I've mentioned before, generally he is too slow to release the ball, gets caught dawdling in possession and isn't dynamic enough to be an effective DM. So this is a position that needs to be strengthened urgently.

The rest are self-explanatory I'd have thought.

It might be surprising I've included both Aubameyang and Lacazette in there, but they actually formed a good partnership together when in the same side. You may think it's bizarre to boot Aubameyang out wide when he has an impressive goalscoring record for us, but he does have a habit of drifting inside and sometimes switching positions with Lacazette during the game.

Right now, that team needs several new additions to compete for the top 4 spot though. We simply cannot go into the season with a starting XI like that.
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Very honest assessment, refreshing to see as most fans (including Spurs) have blinkers when it comes to their team.
 
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KingHotspur said:
Very honest assessment, refreshing to see as most fans (including Spurs) have blinkers when it comes to their team.
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<ok>.

As I've stated several times, some of the players we have I am willing to give a second chance to see how they would fare under a different manager. Certain players may have underperformed under Wenger, but could very well blossom under Emery. However, there are some players who just don't seem good enough to take us to the level we want to be at. Regardless of if they improve or not, it is unlikely that they will improve to the extent we need them to if we wish to fight on all fronts. I could be wrong, but players like Xhaka, Mustafi, Wilshere, Welbeck seem to fit this bill. I guess we just need to wait and see.

All I can say is even if we finish in an identical position to last season, I have a lot more confidence in Emery's vision than I ever did for Wenger in the past 5-6 years. He seems to have impressed a lot of people at the club too.
 
Fulham have been very good to watch so far. Villa still feel like a side that are a bit cobbled together but there's a real quality to what Fulham are playing under Jokanovic. One to watch imo.
 
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