One thing that became clear to me yesterday is that we have some deadwood in the team, and that we have to be brutal and get rid of those players that do not perform to the high standards we expect on a consistent basis, and fail to justify their wages.
We need to bring in players that are capable of playing to a high standard week in week out and the five players below simply do not do that.
Mesut Ozil
What can i say, I know he can be great but it is not regular enough and when we need him the most that is the exact time he goes missing, it is now time to offload the German and not only will it remove a huge wage burden we will get a decent amount of money for him.
Mohamed Elneny
He is seriously mediocre, he has never shown that he is up to the standard we need and yesterday proved that beyond any doubts, not sure what we would get for him but whatever amount would be a bonus.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan
Another player that is not consistent enough and I am certain we can find a replacement that would be more effective for the money he is paid on a weekly basis.
Alex Iwobi
He was supposed to be one for the future but not now, he is already 22 years of age and there is far better out there that can do a much better job than he has done for us.
Shkodran Mustafi
A disaster waiting to happen, the one thing he does not inspire is confidence and to think he cost us in excess of £35 Million and if there was ever a player not worth his transfer fee it is Mustafi.
You have to think we would raise over £100 Million for those five and that there would be a lowering of the wage bill close to £750k per week so imagine the quality we could bring in with that sort of money, I mean, it cant be hard to replace that lot.
Alex Iwobi? You having a laugh? Clearly know nothing about football.
Alex Iwobi was the one player who ran at the toffees with any menace he may not be ideal but at least he shows some balls
Yea and left us wide open at the back ,where a better team would have scored 2-3 more
I disagree sorry guys, yeah Iwobi is a decent player but has become a symbol of what Arsenal has become. How dows he compare to a Mane, Salah, Stirling, De Bruyne in no certain terms he not in their league and i doubt he ever will be. He’s not consistent enough which at 22 he should be pretty solid with his performances week in week out.
He’s wasteful in possession sometimes holding on to it too long taking to many touches and making the wrong decisions, again at 22 he should be far better at. Like i said at the top he is a good player but that’s all he is and all he will be i feel he suits Italy or the Bundesliga more than the prem.
concur
well said
Iwobi is home grown, none of the stars you mentioned were home grown, and costed much in their time. If you think we can plan a 5 player clear out, when one of our GK is leaving, and Ramsey/Lichtsteiner/Welbeck need replacement, you are day dreaming. I would say, keep Iwobi/Mkhi, sell Mustafi/Elneny/Ozil, and with Ramsey/Lichtsteiner/Welbeck/Jenk/Chez gone we have enough wages opening up to get 1 CB, 1 LB, 1 winger, 1 box to box midfielder, keep Martinez as second keeper
I agree and disagree with the pair of you
I don’t think iwobi has progressed this season. All shuffle and no end product and a decent sub but never a starter. unfortunately we don’t have anyone better in that position so we need to play him.
I get angry at him because I don’t see his work rate stepping up when defending. going forward he has bags of energy but defending he just stares at the player, never picks up and lets them drift passed him
saying that he looked like the only going at there defense.
don’t blame him for out inefficiencies to defend down the flanks. we looked exposed all afternoon.
as everyone knows I am not an Ozil fan and he proved again to me that he is not up to the task
seeing him and Mkhitaryan in the same team, playing away was the kiss of death.
we needed to earn the right to play up there. winning first and secondary balls. keeping the crowd quiet and getting them on edge. unfortunately they just kept growing in confidence and we were a dead team walking all afternoon.
also thought AMN had a disappointing game as well.
Sell:
Ozil (would give change of a pound if someone offered it), Mkhitaryan, Mustafi, Xhaka,
bench warmer,
Iwobi,
very frustrating afternoon
the top 4 is still within our grasp
keep the faith people!
Why sell Xhaka? He starts majority of our games. I agree he’s not top quality, but we can only really afford to sell players that have no value to us anymore. Ozil, Mustafi, Miki, Licht, are the main culprits. If we sell Xhaka we would need to find a replacement. Not to mention we have to get a whole new defense, winger, CM before we make problems for ourselves. Maybe a season later, but selling him this summer would be very stupid.
you think Iwobi has improved, I watch him every time I go to a game and he doesn’t cut the mustard, doesn’t track back, doesn’t have a strong shot, can tackle, I think it’s you that is misguided
Iwobi will never be a world beater but at 22 he will improve and at least he brings athleticism to a team in need of legs.The other four can go along with Monreal, Kolasinac and Socratis who should take up wrestling.If he were any good he would not have amassed 10 yellow cards.He needs to resort to foul ing because of his lack of ability.In practical terms who on the planet would buy Mustaf I or take over the current terms of Ozil’s contract?
Five STARS? EXCUSE ME? Elneny is now a star according to you then? When did that happen then, as I clearly missed that “magic transformation”. I would hardly call Mustafi a “star” either; rash, clumsy, one paced dross woiuld be a far better description. But why let the “mere, unimportant truth” get in the way of an eye catching headline eh Pat! I firmly believe that NONE of your five names can remotely deserve “stardom” based entirely on their regular use – or otherwise – to our team.
This comment is a general post and not a reply to Grandad who, as ever, talks sense
The Chinese can afford Ozil. PSG too.
we lack leadership quality in the team and we should sell 7 players including, miky, mustafi, elneny, jenko, nacho, etc
Iwobi is the only one with potential, and has done very well this season. Definitely keep him! I agree on the others as though.
I think only Sanchez is ahead of Ozil as the EPL’s most expensive flop now. We’re paying 350k a week for a player that can only perform at home against weak opposition. Even in those fixtures, it’s probably only 50% of the time he actually does anything! I’m so angry with Gazidis and Wenger for this situation. Because of Ozil’s wage, Ramsey has to go! I was always up for selling Ramsey, but he really suits Emery’s style, and has been fantastic for us! I really want to keep him now.
Wenger was one of the people who didn’t want to pay a player so much, he wanted to keep a wage structure at the club… He was also sidelined by Gazidis in handling contracts, we hired Huss… Or did you purposely forget that?
Ramsey isn’t going because of Ozil wage, Ramsey is going because Raul pulled the offer which was on the table after Wenger left but while Gazidis was still in charge. Gazidis leaving and Raul stepping up seen Ramsey contract pulled. Arsenal could afford to pay Ramsey the offer which was on the table, Raul has made a decision and he is acting upon the decision he made, Ramsey who was injured so much didn’t appear to have convinced Raul that he was worth it…
You say Ozil is on £350k a week, prove it. I read reports saying £300k a week. IMO you should take the range into consideration or you clearly show a narrative you wish to tell over the truth.
A player who can only perform against weak opponents at home?
2-0 against UTD, keeping a clean sheet as well… Ozil was part of that. Took me 5 seconds to prove you wrong. In fact, the last 3 clean sheets we have had, Iwobi wasn’t part of the starting lineup… It was Ozil!
You say Iwobi has done well… how can you make that claim? He has progressed a bit under Emery but he is still looking like a headless chicken. Talking about headless chickens… Theo scored more than Iwobi and look how he was seen to be not good enough.
11 full seasons with us and 8 times he scored 4 or more in a season in the EPL.
Iwobi hasn’t done it once and this is his 4th season with us, for accuracy, Iwobi first season was only 13 EPL games so kinda half season in terms of games.
midkemma, I would have thought your argument is ill served by comparing IWOBI -or ANY player – to Walcott. As you state , TW scored over 4 goals , a mighty???? 4 goals, in 8 out of 11 seasons. Wow! Hardly hall of fame stats are they! You don’t say, I notice, in how many games he totally vanished while wearing our shirt.
Lol, it may seem like that but Theo scored 1 in 4 games compared to Iwobi 1 in 10.
People can mock Theo all they want, he wasn’t the best player for us… Iwobi isn’t any better and I would say he is worse.
But he is still just 22, whereas Weed Walcott hung around like a bads stink until he was 28. What a sick joke by WENGER TO KEEP THAT HOPELESS WEED HERE ALL THAT TIME. I am scarcely an Iwobi fan either but he is still young and I TELL YOU THIS; THIS CURRENT MANAGER WILL NOT REPEAT WENGERS DECADE LONG LOVE IN WITH A PLAYER NOT UP TO IT. Midkemma, he will put the club before ANY one single player, NO MATTER WHO, AS ANY PROFESSIONAL MANAGER ALWAYS SHOULD DO. And you know that just as well as I do or anyone does either.
Jon, are you interested in attending our last home game?
I’m on holiday and you fit the over sixty harmless old codger profile that is needed for my s/ticket!!
If you are, please contact me via admin and we can discuss further.
Be wary when calling for sale or release of a young playr!
Man U released Pogba and later bought him for how much
chelsea let both Mo Salah and De Bruyne slip thruogh their fingers
just to cite but a few.
i am sure for each of these players there were people who, like some of you are say about Iwobi, said the would never amount to much.
Do not excuse Wenger for this situation. That guy had more power behind the scenes than any other manager. I agree that Wenger didn’t want to pay Ozil that much, although Wenger didn’t mind being being one of highest paid managers in world football…which I find quite ironic! But Wenger played a huge role in Ozil running down his contract, and no one can deny that. Of course it wasn’t just Ozil. It seemed to be a policy of Wenger and Gazidis to basically have…no policy when it came to contract renewals/selling players.
Whether it’s 300k, or 350k is of little difference, as they are so close to together. Even it was 300k, it’s still way too much! The reason most people say 350k, including myself, is because that’s the figure I constantly see quoted in media reports.
Not sure what Ozil has to do with us getting clean sheets? Haha! And you didn’t prove me wrong, because how many times has Ozil performed well in big games this season? One performance (which was decent, without being spectacular), against a top side, doesn’t make up for all the other times he goes missing! The only other big game you could say he did ok in, was Liverpool at home. And it’s a fact we’ve performed better in the big games without Ozil…FACT! I don’t expect Ozil to be WC in every big game, but I’d be surprised if it was anymore than 15% of the time that he turned up.
Iwobi has made huge progress this season, and was the only outfield player to do anything against Everton. We still need better than him of course (unless he continues his progression), but he has done more than Ozil this season, and has performed better than Ozil, when really needed. One has to remember that he’s still young, and inexperienced, so you’re still going to see inconsistency with Iwobi. Whereas Ozil is a WC winner, of massive experience, and on a monster wage, so I expect to see very consistent performances, and I expect him to step up in the big games…which he doesn’t!
You also have to remember that this is only Iwobi’s first real season of getting regular starts, and like everyone else, his first season under a manager who actually uses tactics. Like a lot of players he looked awful under Wenger, but he’s made huge improvements under Emery. Iwobi has definitely become a quality squad player for us. Ozil looked better under Wenger, but worse under Emery. I don’t think Ozil suits Emery’s style, so clearly one of them has to go.
So my question to you: Sack Emery, and keep Ozil, and hope our next manager knows how to get him performing? Or, sell Ozil, who’s wages could fund 3 new players wages, and let Emery work with his type of players? I’ve seen Ozil for almost 6 years at Arsenal, so I know what I’d rather see.
And making Ozil captain is one of the biggest jokes of them all! The guy has zero leadership skills, and a poor attitude. From doing my research on Emery, he likes to push players, and get a reaction from them, so I think he was expecting a response from Ozil, after being on the sidelines for so long in away games. Sadly, no response. I really hope Emery doesn’t make him captain again. Sokratis all day long!
Emery does like to get a response from his players… Shame he can’t train them to keep their hands to themselves… Sokratis could learn to not man handle everyone.
It isn’t always good to get any old response from players. I do think some of the aggression we have shown to be disappointing. I like to see players sticking up for each other but I also like to watch wrestling happen in a wrestling ring.
TMJW, it seems that you are hooked on what certain players and managers supposedly earn, without any real proof of what the contract consists of.
You quite easily go along with quoting the higher salary with no proof of anything at all.
First team selection, win bonus, you have no idea have you?
Why dont you say that Ozil is on a reported £300,000 a week, but give or take £50,000 brings it down to £250,000 a week? I know why, it doesn’t suit your skewed argument does it?
What about wenger’s reported £9,000,000…was it made up of league position, fa cup progress, CL qualification, europa success, win ratio, to name just a few thoughts…again you have no idea whatsoever, but keep churning it up as a justification for all things you can blame him for.
Do you have any conception what AW’s twenty years of JUST QUALIFIYING for the CL meant sterling wise?
Check it out and you will see that is equal to his pro rata yearly salary…leaving the top four money, CL group money, fa cup money, home fixture money and the ability of these factors to bring in top sponsorship money.
As for having no tactics, what a classless comment about a manager who achieved so much for our club.
It was his tactical brilliance with players that achieved the above results and silly little sideswipes only make you look clueless, rather than the greatest manager our club ever had.
Your ignorance of these facts when bringing in his salary is incredible, but not surprising.
You talk about him being the main reason for running Ozils contract down…so how comes Ramsey has done the same a year after he left?
Doesn’t it even occur to you that Wenger couldn’t have been to blame, but, as midkemma has explained, it was Gazidis who took over this role?
I clearly remember how it was said that Gazidis had started to take all the power away from AW and introduced Hussy to take that role over nearly two years ago, but you can’t remember that?
Selective memory or plain ignorance?
Iwobi…I always try to be positive about our players (apart from mustafi), so please tell me how you measure the improvement in his game?
Ozil haters like yourself always say what other top team would want him, so tell me who exactly would find a place for Iwobi out of the top ten clubs in the PL, yet alone europe?
As for UE or Ozil…do you ever read UE’s comments?
He stated as recently as last week, that he is more than happy with the man, as do every one of his team mates.
Why do you think that is the case?
Sokratis as captain? Well, as he has now accumulated ten…YES TEN…yellow cards, he will miss the next two games and this is the man you want as captain?
Unless of course UE wants to push him to appear in WWE Wrestlemania as tag partner to mustafi!!!
Finally, your remark about Ozil not helping keeping clean sheets sums up your narrow minded views on him.
Have you not even considerd that his link up play with Lacs and Aba, along with the outlet for our midfield players actually puts our opponents on the back foot and having to defend?
Not rocket science, but maybe a bit too much for anyone who judges Iwobi as a better player than Ozil and I have watched Iwobi for three years and Ozil for six.
“Unless of course UE wants to push him to appear in WWE Wrestlemania as tag partner to mustafi!!!”
You just know it’ll be Mustafi who slips and allows the opponents to pin them 😛
I actually watch WWE whenever I can…yes I know it’s all play acting and diving…just a minute though, isn’t that what some of the PL players do?
Wouldn’t surprise me if Mike Riley is training the referees as well, they miss so much and see things only they want to see!!!
Your stats on Walcott make really interesting reading and deserved highlighting.
I have always agreed with Jon regarding him, but didn’t realise those figures existed.
Can’t change my views, however, as I remember so clearly the frustrating times when I thought he would fulfill his perceived potential.
My fondest memory of him will be the two fingered scoreline he gave the spud supporters when he came off injured at the Emirates.
Again, I agree with Jon though, an expensive mistake by AW.
Ken…I don’t know 100% what Ozil earns, just as you don’t, but at least I am going along with what I am hearing from virtually all media sources. Yet, somehow you come up with 250k? As if to say, maybe we’re not wasting as much money as we all thought? Now who’s looking to skew an argument, because I have not heard one single person say he was earning any less than 300k p/w. Even if he was on 250k, it’s still way too much! I guess David Silva should be on about 900k p/w if wages are linked with performances.
I find it staggering that you do not think this an issue? Arsenal do not have an owner who’s willing to subsidise the club, so we have to be REALLY careful with our finances, and maximise sales. Along with Ozil’s contract, and loss of transfer fee, plus the Ramsey, and Sanchez debacle, that’ll be somewhere in the region of £200 million lost in just the last 2/3 years on those three.
And what happens if we want to sign a WC player in the summer? Agents are not stupid. They’ll look at Ozil, who cannot play away from home, who rarely turns up in the big games, and say, well my client will want upwards of 300k to join, as he’ll easily perform better than Ozil. You then have the problem of contract renewals as well.
I cannot be bothered to debate every point with you, as we have debated before, and you clearly have your rose-coloured glasses on when comes to Wenger. So I’ll just answer one paragraph of yours, which kind of sums up your distorted view of all things Arsenal, and the fact you have to attack anything I say…even if it’s factual!
You question my choice of captain in Sokratis, because of his disciplinary record. You said “Well, as he has now accumulated ten…YES TEN…yellow cards, he will miss the next two games and this is the man you want as captain?” So clearly…by your own logic…the likes of Vieira and Adams must have been a really poor choice of captains?
First of all, you can reply comments without calling people ignorant. Players contracts are renewed two years to expiry not one and Wenger was always responsible. Remember Sagna, Sanchez, Wishers… Just to mention A few…. Solaris also had ten yellow cards because he had to often cover for Mustafi’s shitty defending….. Vera had 11 yellow cards in a season and was that because he was a bad player? Let’s not reward mediocrity….. Perfection is Hotspur’s best manager but has never won a trophy……. A coach is rated by how many top trophies he has won not how many UCL appearances a club has had. In those years he was often given money to sign players and he would say he hasn’t found a top top player.
You do not recognise Huss who was hired to deal with contracts, you fail to recognise that Gazidis had the real power which he clearly shown when he went and backed Sven in transfers… After Wenger had the backing from Silent Stan.
Same with the wage, you ignored the lower figure which was said in an article on this site for a figure which was higher and fits your narrative.
The clean sheet part refers to how ‘lazy’ Ozil is and Iwobi tries hard, Iwobi is better team player.. BS! Iwobi loses the ball and puts our team under pressure, Ozil doesn’t as much. Any wonder we get clean sheets with a player who doesn’t hand our opposition the ball.
I do not know if you have noticed but Emery can’t pick an away team to save his life. Every player has failed us away from home, including Ozil… including Iwobi. This is down to the manager being pathetic and the good games we have had is feeling like luck.. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
As for the question, how about a simple question instead of a loaded one?
Yes I would sack Emery and keep Ozil, I wouldn’t hope the next manager can get him performing… I would research and ensure the next manager could get Ozil working. As soon as we offered Ozil his wage then we was agreeing to keep him till the end of that contract, not only agreeing to keep him but kinda forced that choice on the club with the wage. Ozil has to agree to leave.. Will he agree to a paycut? Why would he if he doesn’t want to step down in terms of quality in team? Arsenal is still a big club, if Ozil wants to remain with us over joining some Turkish team then we can’t sign contracts on behalf of Ozil.
I have accepted that it is extremely unlikely that we will find another club to take his wages, I would plan for that and not get hurt next season when we still have him because we couldn’t find a team to take his wages.
You would be asking “Why haven’t we sold him, derp!” and plans gone out the window because you treated real life like a football manager on the PC. You can’t just take over another team and commit them to signing deals the do not want.
Ozil needs to perform if we wish to sell him or have you ignored this as well? You ignore a lot to fit a narrative… Just like you ignored Huss when talking about contracts because it fits your narrative better if he wasn’t included.
Arsenal is one of the richest football clubs around The world and desperately needs to start thinking like its size . Having star players and quality is what brings us new supporters around The world , mídia coverage and make The club relevant once again. Then everything else comes as a consequence.
We need to get rid of players who either are not consistent enough or just are not good for The squad ..
We can start selecting players that are actually world class level and players that can Help us build.
Lacazette , Aubameyang, Bellerin , Leno , Torreira , Sokratis are The few players onto those categories..
Guendouzi , Kolasinac , Iwobi , Maitland-Niles, Smith-Rowe , Nelson , Nketiah , Holding , Chambers , Mavropanos could help with development .
Mkhitharyan could be a rotation member but he is too expensive for Little consistency.
ALL The others need to Go and that includes Ozil and Xhaka .
I agree with 3 of them without a doubt but we wouldn’t get much for them but it does free up space
Mustafi maybe 10 mil
Elneny 5mil
Iwobi 2.5 k
So just over 15 mil which in today’s market does not buy you much .
Ozil won’t be sold and miki is useful when played properly.
Don’t forget to sell Xhaka!
LMAO. you have a vendetta against Iwobi. HE may not be the best player but he gives his all . that being said at least they can be room for improvement .
I think he will be a good squad player . His wing does however need strengthening .
Ozil , Miki, Mustafi ,Xhaka ,Lich all need to be gone
“GIVING YOUR ALL” shold be a basic reqirement for ALL players, irrespective of their skill level. But if giving your all is ALL you can offer, then you are not good enough, not REMOTELY good enough for Arsenal. Simple but necessary to state PERSPECTIVE!
I have been on record that we have so many average players and the team needs serious surgery more so defensively. We need some top class players to be able to compete for major honours. 2 top class center backs, a midfielder, a left back, a winger and then get rid of dead wood. One thing I know for sure is there will be massive clear out this summer as Cech, Monreal, Mustafi, Mikhtaryan, Ozil, Elneny, Litchsteiner plus some fringe players are likely to go. That will give us a breather in terms of wages and we will easily invest in the squad, I’m optimistic next season will be one of the best for Arsenal in recent years as I’m pretty sure Unai will build a strong team.
Sydney, Agree that Emery had been left with an average squad bar Aubameyang and Lacazette. Ramsey is above average but not a “Marquee Player” like “Isco” of Real Madrid, Bernardo Silva of Man. City or even Sergio Busquets of Barcelona. Xhaka is consistent and has the “Grit” which strengthens the spine.Of the new signings that Emery was allowed Only Lemar(GK) is looking top class and Sokratis also has the “Grit” and with the ageing Koscielny to hold a weak back line. The only other new signing worth his salt is Torreira. Guenduozi has little to No ball control/skill when under pressure exposing his level from where he came, French Ligue 2.
Given the inconsistent performances of the Arsenal squad, including the top strikers “Aubameyang and Lacazette”; it is a near miracle that Arsenal are presently only “one point” in fourth place of EPL . It took Unai Emery more than 30 games to utilise his players in their ‘natural positions’ and to play “full power” in attack with both Aubameyang and Lacazette with both Ozil and Ramsey also. Iowobi, Kolasinac and Mkhitaryan all decided to fire full pelt that day to defeat Manchester Utd. 2-0. Did Emery decide to utilise the players potential ton their full strength to excite “Josh Kroenke”, Son of Owner Stan Kroenke and then turn Rennes in to defeat as Icing on the Cake.
Arsenal, with the sale of Mkhitaryan, Elneny, Mustafi, Monreal and Jenkinson may achieve £60m. Ozil will have to be a free transfer given his wages. Litchsteiner, and Cech are out of contract. Iwobi will make a Squad Player.
Given Arsenal may end up in “Top 4 of EPL”, which gives £40m approx. and that there is a balance of £45m from the Adidas contract and the £60m from sales, making a total of £145m. approx. Then Arsenal Must sign Samuel Umtiti (CB), David Alaba (LB) Aaron Wan-Bissaka (RB) Hakim Ziyech (AMF), Gelson Martins (RW/STR) and Ryan Fraser(LW/STR).
Now Arsenal and Unai Emery will have a first team to challenge for top honours in EPL and Champions league.
“Of the new signings that Emery was allowed Only Lemar(GK) is looking top class”
lol, Lemar in goal… I guess it would be a ball playing GK then XD
I assume you meant Leno, the mix up just made me lol and wanted to share 🙂
Talk about Emery who decides to leave a top scorer with 27 goals on the bench and expects to win away matches. Do you expect Ozil to pass the ball to the bench. If Liverpool can have three strikers on the pitch why not two for Arsenal.
I did not rate Iwobi, but season he has really improved.
My list of players to sell:
Mustafi
Mikhtaryan
Monreal
Elneny
Jenkinson
Welbeck
Litchsteiner
I am somehow warming to Xhaka, Ozil is a luxury but will improve in a better team. He would not play every game. We need two top centre backs, Mcquire of Leicester would be perfect!
I think many of us agree on who needs to go, that’s not the problem. THE problem is our cheapskate owner. He will never spend the funds required to make our team competitive. I would argue we need a top winger, top CB, and top Midfielder to keep pace for challenging this year.
We will carry those 3 needs into next year, plus we will fall further behind as the teams in front of us upgrade.
Those 3 needs alone will cost 100 million; add another winger, depth at midfield, and back up LB and RB and addressing the backup GK situation.
Personally I would argue for a massive overhaul going into next year. Spend the money now, and for the next 2 years you can limit the spending to recoup the massive investment from this Summer. We need a warchest of 100 million, then add the player sales to get it right the first time.
Emery has shown he has the chops to do the job in my opinion, over the course of this year. Give him the financial backing to get top players to build on a strong year in which he has delivered. Mustafi has more experience than Mavro, but that “experience” hasn’t translated to performance. Surely Mavro can’t be that far below Mustafi in terms of performing can he?
Monreal is done in my opinion; lacks the pace to be a LB, and doesn’t have the grit, size, or strength to play CB. Watching him get torched yesterday was a definitive reminder of what age has taken away from him.
AMN is a better midfielder than Elneny, yet can’t buy a chance to play there again. I would love to see AMN and Chambers as a backup pairing in our midfield next year. Torreira can do a job as DM if he’s partnered with a solid box-to-box player that allows Torreira to do what he does best; shield the defenders by breaking up attacks and interceptions.
Many question marks going into the Summer, and the only thing that can provide an answer is Stan’s wallet.
Can’t believe some of these comments. The league I have shows us fourth from top. Am I holding the league table upside down?
Yes 4th.. so we must be pretty good right?! So why can’t we win away from home????
We’ve got the worst squad in top 6 and our rivals are only going to spend more improve their teams. So yes, we need to make big changes. This squad is overperforming given the complete lack of quality in defense.
I would like to sell Guendouzi or at least give him a whole season in the reserves. Adds nothing and rushes to celebrate goals as though he really is the man. Just watch out for him in future. The usual suspects take the flack but never Guendouzi.
I cant say that Iwobi fills me with excitement when he is on the team sheet and I must agree with that selection of players, including Ozil, but to be honest I think he is in the wrong team with the wrong players around him, you cant argue with what he has achieved in his career, when he sees the team sheet each week he is probably grateful he’s not playing when he’s left out these players are just not up to the task and you could probably add a couple more to the list, how Emery has got this lot where they are is really down to him. If the rumours are true about transfer funds who is to say he will still be here next season anyway, it doesn’t fill me with confidence so I doubt it will Unai.
Emery getting his starting XI for the match wrong has accounted for Arsenal losing the match to Everton in IMO. Had he started the match with Aubameyang, Ramsey, and Iwobi instead of the lazy Ozil, the mistake galore making in passing accuracy Kolasinac and the paceless AMN, he cost Arsenal the the Everton goal for his lack of recovering pace to mark his opponent player. Perhaps Arsenal might have gotten at least a point in the match.
I agree with you Admini, Arsenal should try to offload the lazy Ozil and the inconsistent and the can’t win any duels Mkhitaryan during the next summer window. But Mustafi should definitely remain. And Iwobi should be given another season to see if he’ll improve on his weaknesses. Elneny passed the ball well in the Everton game. Did he make any mistake in passing accuracy in the game before he was substituted? I think he played to Emery’s instructions in the match. The only thing he failed to do was his failing to carry his game to the opposition area to cause havoc.
Before we sell, I think we need to look at replacements and if we can actually upgrade.
Iwobi isn’t hard to upgrade, we could(not saying we should!!!) get Theo back and boom, that is double the goals Iwobi provides for us. I do try to support every player that wears our badge but I am not perfect, I couldn’t get behind Perez and Iwobi is kinda like that to me… I’d give Nketiah gametime as the inside forward, give him experience at going at players in the EPL and ready him for CF where he would be expected to hold the ball up and be more of a main man.
Mkhi and Ozil are very similar and IMO we could get rid of one of these while maintaining a WC ACM, Mkhi could be the easier of the two to sell due to his wage not being as high as Ozil and as such I would go down that route. The player to replace Mkhi could be Nelson, not expected to start all the time as Ozil is more of the senior player… But Ozil isn’t some wall that can never be scaled. I believe in Ozil but if he fails all of us who support him and proves the lazy tag to be true then Nelson can exploit that to become a first team regular, assuming he works hard enough.
Mustafi hasn’t shown why he should be kept, at least, that is my opinion. I am also of the opinion that Chambers can do a better job than Mustafi. Even if we do not buy, we can afford to sell Mustafi and just replace Mustafi with Chambers. Still a step up, if it is enough to please you lot… Meh, who will say it isn’t a step up on Mustafi though? Plus he is HG so bonus.
Elneny is pure passion, I like his passion… If that was enough then I’d be begging to keep him. We all know it isn’t and if it was… With the amount of passion on this site, Arsenal wouldn’t have to worry about recruitment lol. Sorry Elneny, I wish him the best and I hope he can get his career back on path at another club. He is a likeable character and I wish he had the quality… Such a shame 🙁 For me, we can replace Elneny with AMN and it would be a massive upgrade. We would need a RB to compete/rotate with bellerin but I think we need one anyway as AMN is not a RB, he has done admirable at RWB but he would provide such a drive through the middle in the absence of Ramsey! Ooooh, tingles of excitement at the thought of it.
Overall, I agree with 4 out of 5. Main disagreement part was selling both Ozil and Mkhi, I do think only one of them should be sold currently. I have read that Mkhi has a claus in his contract that doubles his wage if we extend his deal, he is the one on a lower wage currently and he would be easier to sell due to wage commitments. I would keep them both if they shown to benefit each other but so often they tend to hamper each other, at least from what I have seen. I’d accept that Ozil will run out his contract with us and be pushing for Nelson to make it happen sooner rather than later.
While I have used current squad members to replace the sold players, I do not mean it has to be that way, the funds from those 4 sales could be used towards quality for 1 or 2 players.
750k a week saved by selling these players, what an obscene amount of money!!
Elneny – Not good enough, not by a long way!
Mustafi – Has had a few decent games for us, but those have been outweighed by the shockers! Always has a huge clanger in him… no wonder Valencia took the 35m!
Mkhi – Had high hopes for him, though he’d be good for us.. has had some good games but not consistent enough unfortunately
Iwobi – Not good enough.. not AFC standard.. at 22 now, you’ve either got it or you haven’t & tbh I’m still waiting to see it….
Ozil – Wages are way too high… yes I’m a fan, got to say though he was poor yesterday… now I’m not defending him when I say this (as couldn’t defend anyone after yesterday) but people say he’s only good at home… well surely this should apply to the whole team as we can’t win away…
Whether any of these players will be sold remains to be seen, but after that crap yesterday, would anyone put an offer in?
One benefit to having such high wages is how clubs can increase their wage bill annually with FFP.
Assuming we sold the listed players, that is £750k a week as you point out Sue, that is Mbappe (£300k week) plus De Bruyne (£120k a week) plus VVD (£150k a week) and about £130k a week for Marco Verratti… and £50 k a week spare.
I know the transfer fees for them would be enough to give Silent Stan a heart attack XD but I think it shows how Arsenal are a sleeping giant, we have the wage capability and will not be hindered by FFP in signing big wage players… assuming we can balance the books with outgoing wages.
?
“How dows he compare to a Mane, Salah, Stirling”
Want to hear something really painful?
Theo scored 108 goals in 397 games from the right, other than that short time as CF which didn’t work.
Iwobi has played 140 games and scored 14.
He can’t even compare to Theo :'(
I wouldn’t compare Theo to those 3 and Iwobi can’t compare to Theo… The pain… 🙁
Midkemma
unfortunately he had over 10 years to accumulate that amount of goals, which is a poor return.
I had so much hope for Theo but he always flattered to deceive. he just didn’t deliver.
watched Sky sports yesterday where it was mentioned that Theo is a guy that people still think still has potential even though he has just turned 30 . Now Everton want to move him on?
we are done with players who flatter to deceive for us.. move them on and bring in players who want to give 100% for us and earn the right to wear the badge.
It doesn’t matter how long Walcott was here it’s the stats midkemma is talking about ,the rate iwobi is going it would have scored 40 odd goals in the same amount of matches as Theo who scored 108 .so like he said no one rated Walcott but he’s miles ahead of iwobi and fans think iwobi can carry this team as a number 10
all due respect
in my opinion I don’t think many believe Iwobi is going to be the future No10 for us
I hope I am wrong but cant ever see that ever happening
very interested to see if anyone on here also agrees with your opinion which I respect but don’t agree
Think you read my post wrong mate ,I do t want iwobi anywhere near this team let alone a number10 ,I wasn’t talking about you anyway buddy ,crossed wires there I think .
The point I was making was about Walcott being ahead of iwobi and the stats midkemma gave us .
Hi Xxnofx
Many appologises
As for Walcott…you can always make an arguement based on stats just depends how you read it and present it. hes gone now. Scored some important goals for us but Never lived up too wearing the no.14..
my friend leave iwobi alone ……
Lol aww man. This comment had my stomach hurting. ?
Iwobi should not be for sale. He should also not be a starter for us. I have no problem with him as a squad player though. Not everyone in your squad can be world beaters but Iwobi can become a decent enough player that he contributes to a succesful season. The rest of the players listed have huge wages, are supposed to be the players we routinely rely upon, but just about never deliver the goods. 350k for Ozil cannot be justified anymore. Inconsistent and can only string 2 good games together maybe 3 times a season. Not acceptable. Mustafi, let’s not even start.
Question to everyone.
How do you propose we find a club willing to match Ozil wage and Ozil is willing to join?
Ozil doesn’t exactly have teams lining up to get him and he rejected the PSG loan in Jan, at least according to reports I read, what club is Ozil willing to join and willing to match his wages?
Whenever I read someone say we should sell Ozil, I never see the issues around selling him being considered, if we plan to sell him but don’t then what? If we try hard to sell him and upset him then fail to sell him… we will have an unhappy player on our hands. Still paying his wages.
If a team comes in for him and willing to pay his wages then it wouldn’t be such a question but as it currently is, it just feels like wishful thinking…
We should sell Ozil.
We should win the lottery.
We should club together and buy out Silent Stan.
Easy to say we should but how realistic is it?
If it is unrealistic then why focus so much on it over what can be worked on?
For the five of them I personally prefer the sale of Mesut Ozil, Mohammed and Mustafi but for Alex and Henrikh Mkhitaryan both of them can be used as squad players. One thing I want u guys to understand is that, Alex is still a younger player that is still learning in the game.In so doing let give this guy a chance.
never going to make a footballer. if he was 122