or to join or start a new Discussion

Articles/all comments
These 22 comments are related to an article called:

Who is your least favourite CM at Arsenal?

Page 1 of 1

posted on 4/9/17

Ozil ain't a central midfielder but the rest look average to me. He should have replaced Cazorla as soon as he got a long term injury. He was approaching Wenger's magic 30 years old anyway.

posted on 4/9/17

I think Ramsey frustrates me the most, because he is the most detrimental to our system, and it's entirely his fault (although arguably Wenger's for continuing to pick him/not changing the system).

The problem is it's not that he isn't talented, or lacking technically. It's entirely because all he seems to care about is trying to score goals, regardless of who he's playing alongside, or the match situation. He has no discipline, and that he is so selfish in this respect is unforgivable.

comment by Radical (U8691)

posted on 4/9/17

All are either not good enough or are being mismanaged but Ramsey does my head in.

posted on 4/9/17

ozil and giroud run more than sanchez

posted on 4/9/17

comment by Robbing_Hoody - I taught FSG how to negotiate (U6374)
posted 47 minutes ago
Ozil ain't a central midfielder but the rest look average to me. He should have replaced Cazorla as soon as he got a long term injury. He was approaching Wenger's magic 30 years old anyway.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I ran out of room in the title so changed it from midfielder to CM. Ozil is listed as a midfielder and strictly speaking is a CAM being used as a winger.in true Wenger style.

posted on 4/9/17

comment by Sömeday_693 - Elneny will be our salvation (U8892)
posted 44 minutes ago
I think Ramsey frustrates me the most, because he is the most detrimental to our system, and it's entirely his fault (although arguably Wenger's for continuing to pick him/not changing the system).

The problem is it's not that he isn't talented, or lacking technically. It's entirely because all he seems to care about is trying to score goals, regardless of who he's playing alongside, or the match situation. He has no discipline, and that he is so selfish in this respect is unforgivable.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I think wenger is playing him as a CAM. His role in the team is to get forward. Blame wenger not Ramsey. Ramsey also has 5 tackles this season to Xhaka's 1. how do you justify Xhaka when he does nothing to defend?

comment by renoog (U4449)

posted on 4/9/17

Hey OP, did you mention the stat that Xhaka has only made 1 tackle this season? I think it's an important stat that has to be repeated at every opportunity possible. Maybe even create an article with the sole purpose of rehashing this stat again?

posted on 4/9/17

comment by I'm a WOKO - thats Wenger out, Kronke out (U16927)
posted 44 minutes ago
comment by Sömeday_693 - Elneny will be our salvation (U8892)
posted 44 minutes ago
I think Ramsey frustrates me the most, because he is the most detrimental to our system, and it's entirely his fault (although arguably Wenger's for continuing to pick him/not changing the system).

The problem is it's not that he isn't talented, or lacking technically. It's entirely because all he seems to care about is trying to score goals, regardless of who he's playing alongside, or the match situation. He has no discipline, and that he is so selfish in this respect is unforgivable.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I think wenger is playing him as a CAM. His role in the team is to get forward. Blame wenger not Ramsey. Ramsey also has 5 tackles this season to Xhaka's 1. how do you justify Xhaka when he does nothing to defend?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I completely disagree with you analysis. On what basis can you say that Ramsey is an attacking midfielder in our current system, a 3-4-3? Look at his starting position, and position off the ball (when he eventually gets into shape). It's alongside Xhaka, in a midfield 2.

I don't necessarily disagree that Wenger allows him to get forward, but at some point the player has to start taking responsibility and play for the team and not for himself.

Take Santi for example - a far superior player to Ramsey and much more creative. But when he was asked to play in a deeper role, despite not playing that position for the majority of his career, he did so, with positional discipline, for the benefit of the team. When he played there with Coquelin it was the most functional our midfield has been in the last 3-4 years.

To get the best out of Ramsey you need to play him in a midfield 3. He plays better for Wales because they play a 3-5-2 which give him more freedom (aka less responsibility).

My view is that you can't play Ramsey and Ozil in the same side unless you play one out wide, which is hardly ideal anyway.

As for the point on tackles, that means nothing without context. Better to be in a position to make the interception than have to tackle - again frequently the problem with Ramsey.

comment by Clay (U21628)

posted on 4/9/17

Apart from Ozil they all annoy me.

It's all about quality finished article players for me. And we suffer because since the Invincibles we've never had a whole midfield who are at the top of their profession.

It's not a problem that Man City, Chelsea or Man Utd have - they buy the likes of De Bruyne, Silva and Fabregas.

But I better get used to it.

posted on 4/9/17

Elneny because he wouldn't get into any other top 6 squad

posted on 4/9/17

comment by Sömeday_693 - Elneny will be our salvation (U8892)
posted 54 minutes ago
comment by I'm a WOKO - thats Wenger out, Kronke out (U16927)
posted 44 minutes ago
comment by Sömeday_693 - Elneny will be our salvation (U8892)
posted 44 minutes ago
I think Ramsey frustrates me the most, because he is the most detrimental to our system, and it's entirely his fault (although arguably Wenger's for continuing to pick him/not changing the system).

The problem is it's not that he isn't talented, or lacking technically. It's entirely because all he seems to care about is trying to score goals, regardless of who he's playing alongside, or the match situation. He has no discipline, and that he is so selfish in this respect is unforgivable.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I think wenger is playing him as a CAM. His role in the team is to get forward. Blame wenger not Ramsey. Ramsey also has 5 tackles this season to Xhaka's 1. how do you justify Xhaka when he does nothing to defend?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I completely disagree with you analysis. On what basis can you say that Ramsey is an attacking midfielder in our current system, a 3-4-3? Look at his starting position, and position off the ball (when he eventually gets into shape). It's alongside Xhaka, in a midfield 2.

I don't necessarily disagree that Wenger allows him to get forward, but at some point the player has to start taking responsibility and play for the team and not for himself.

Take Santi for example - a far superior player to Ramsey and much more creative. But when he was asked to play in a deeper role, despite not playing that position for the majority of his career, he did so, with positional discipline, for the benefit of the team. When he played there with Coquelin it was the most functional our midfield has been in the last 3-4 years.

To get the best out of Ramsey you need to play him in a midfield 3. He plays better for Wales because they play a 3-5-2 which give him more freedom (aka less responsibility).

My view is that you can't play Ramsey and Ozil in the same side unless you play one out wide, which is hardly ideal anyway.

As for the point on tackles, that means nothing without context. Better to be in a position to make the interception than have to tackle - again frequently the problem with Ramsey.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Wenger has played teams hich change formation when we attack and defend for years. If you watch his play it looks like Ramsey has been told to concentrate on getting forward when we win the ball. He drops back in when we lose the ball and adds a player to the defensive line, but by all appearances that is a secondary duty with getting forward being the primary one.

posted on 4/9/17

comment by renoog (U4449)
posted 1 hour, 1 minute ago
Hey OP, did you mention the stat that Xhaka has only made 1 tackle this season? I think it's an important stat that has to be repeated at every opportunity possible. Maybe even create an article with the sole purpose of rehashing this stat again?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I dont like Xhaka, others dont like Ramsey and the other players. It was a genuine article to try to gauge what the proportion of fans on here that dislike each is and what qualities in a player they like and dont like. Of course I will give my bias to it and you clearly are as well.

posted on 4/9/17

Wenger has played teams hich change formation when we attack and defend for years. If you watch his play it looks like Ramsey has been told to concentrate on getting forward when we win the ball. He drops back in when we lose the ball and adds a player to the defensive line, but by all appearances that is a secondary duty with getting forward being the primary one.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Well neither of us know what Ramsey has been told. Wenger is in the wrong either way as he has either told Ramsey to bomb forward and constantly leave us exposed, or he hasn't but can't bring himself to drop Ramsey.

But either way, you can't disagree that Ramsey takes no responsibility for defending, positioning, and tries to do the spectacular half the time. Either he has no awareness, or is so obsessed with grabbing his goal that he doesn't care.

comment by BO$$™ (U6401)

posted on 4/9/17

Think Ramsey needs to be put on the right side of MF or AM He can still make them forward runs but he doesn't need to do as much defensive work (not like he does.anyway) so hopefully we won't have gaping holes in the CM.

Maybe need to try out Xhaka and Coquelin with Coq given specific information about not passing he halfway line and staying in front of the CB like he was doing a few seasons back.

----Xhaka--Coq------
Ramsey-Ozil-Alexis
------Lacazette

posted on 4/9/17

Xhaka has looked the worse recently, but Ramsey really doesn't help him. He is no where near Xhaka when he receives the ball from the back. He's always basically on the 18 yard box, usually even further forward than Ozil, which leaves Xhaka very isolated and easily tackled. If Ramsey did his job better, our CM pairing would look more solid. He seems only interested in trying to score himself

posted on 4/9/17

But we have 3 CB's, 2 wing backs and a deep lying of which maybe only one at a time should go forward. we introduced an extra CB which should release Ramsey to be able to go forward. Yet we see so many of our fans who want to commit a 6th player to be a defensive player.

Ramsey keeps getting the blame but when we have that many defensive players and a deep lying CM who does nothing defensively I think the finger is being pointed at the wrong person.

At the end of the day, there are many valid ways of resolving our defensive issues, I just dont like parking the bus.

posted on 4/9/17

comment by Sömeday_693 - Elneny will be our salvation (U8892)
posted 39 minutes ago

But either way, you can't disagree that Ramsey takes no responsibility for defending, positioning, and tries to do the spectacular half the time. Either he has no awareness, or is so obsessed with grabbing his goal that he doesn't care.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ramsey has 5 tackles so far. Xhaka has 1, Even Ozil has 2.

Who is not taking responsibility?

comment by renoog (U4449)

posted on 4/9/17

I dont like Xhaka, others dont like Ramsey and the other players. It was a genuine article to try to gauge what the proportion of fans on here that dislike each is and what qualities in a player they like and dont like. Of course I will give my bias to it and you clearly are as well.
------------
Yeah but you've been banging this 'Xhaka 1 tackle' drum for days now. You've just posted it again above.

Besides, I think you're missing the more culpable factor which is Arsenal's terribly porous system (and by extension, Wenger). Xhaka is NOT a defensive midfielder. So, using him as your deepest midfielder, then instructing his midfield partner to play high up the pitch and leave him to fend for himself is suicide.

While most teams have a debate on whether to play 2 or 3 in midfield, our genius of a manager genuinely thinks he can get away with 1

comment by renoog (U4449)

posted on 4/9/17

Anyway, tackles tells you nothing about positional discipline. It's possible for Ramsey to both make more tackles than Xhaka, and also be absent from the CM position at the same time.

Look at the Stoke goal or the first 2 Liverpool goals. They literally involve opposition players strolling through our midfield facing either one or zero CMs. How can any serious top level professional football team play like that? Arsenal's problems are 95% systemic and Xhaka/Ramsey are merely casualties of this amateur-ish style of play, not the cause of it.

posted on 5/9/17

comment by renoog (U4449)
posted 9 hours, 38 minutes ago
Anyway, tackles tells you nothing about positional discipline. It's possible for Ramsey to both make more tackles than Xhaka, and also be absent from the CM position at the same time.

Look at the Stoke goal or the first 2 Liverpool goals. They literally involve opposition players strolling through our midfield facing either one or zero CMs. How can any serious top level professional football team play like that? Arsenal's problems are 95% systemic and Xhaka/Ramsey are merely casualties of this amateur-ish style of play, not the cause of it.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
10000000% agree.

Dicipline is the most important thing especially in midfield.

posted on 5/9/17

Absolutely no problem with your comments. You want 3 CB's, 2CM and possibly a wing back or 2 behind the ball.

Thats fine if you want to play like that, I however think its parking the bus and too defensive a set up. That would leave just Laca, Sanchez, Ozil and maybe a wing back attacking. Not the style of play I want to see us utilising, but if you do thats fine. Personally I would look to a change of formation and tactics and take the weakest defensive player out, Xhaka, and add a bit of strength there to release the other players to get forward and do the creative stuff.

comment by renoog (U4449)

posted on 5/9/17

In a 3-4-2-1 you have 5 players in attack - the 2 wing backs should in theory always be ahead of the ball providing width. Chelsea and Spurs had the most goals scored in the league last season. A formation is only as attacking or as defensive as you want it to be. With Arsenal's personnel and Wenger's philosophy, it would obviously be the former.

Page 1 of 1

Sign in if you want to comment