Alex Iwobi

Typical casual racism, he’s nothing like Gervinho bar the colour of his skin.

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I don’t think he scored many in the youth team and that wasn’t why he got promoted he was a shock promotion

True, Gervinho was much better.

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I don’t hate him really. And to be fair, I don’t actually think he was as bad last night as is being made out. He seemed quite direct, he worked hard and protected the ball. His decision making in the final third lets him down though.

But hopefully that can be rectified and he can thrive in the right environment. I’m not ready to give up on him yet.

I never rated Iwobi that highly but if we look at his full assets, he passes intelligently, has good vision, has a good first touch, has tight close control and has good movement off the ball. Also he’s big, strong and reasonably quick. Finising has always been his weakness, but maybe in time that can develop.

Like you say a Wengerball proponent and Wenger too believes finishing is learnt to a degree something that bore fruit with Henry and RVP, not that we need to hype Iwobi in that bracket he doesn’t have that level of technique. Also last season when he came in for Ozil as a no10 he did pretty well in that role.

If all we’re interested in is success for the here and now you bench him. If you want young players to develop you sometimes have to put up with sub par performances.

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It doesn’t, no, but it’s one of the reasons why he was plucked from the yoof. Wenger hadn’t paid him much mind iirc up until that season he had with them.

Just doesn’t seem to have transitioned well into higher tier.

Haha fuck off :joy:

He’s plays wide in a front three, has all the silky, fancy skills but no end product, sounds a lot like Gervinho to me.

Tbh how could anyone even think he was bad last night?

There was Welbeck on the pitch for example being the total non-entity that he is (offensively) never even touching the ball. And then there was Iwobi. Under scrutiny in a poor side against a top side. Still driving us forward and giving us some semblance of build up and only having Wilshere and Lacazette for support.

Iwobi wasn’t out there losing the ball, making dumb passes or shirking responsibility.

He gets an unfair shake for a young footballer who’s actually shown some genuine technical class, decent movement and good decision making in big games for club and country. He’s got genuine attributes to work with. This is the sort of player that Arsenal are meant to nurture.

He’s not some world beating talent. But he is a good talent. He obviously has flaws to his game that he will need to develop over the next few years.

But the main reason people shit on him is because Wenger isn’t playing a more experienced player in that position. That isn’t Iwobi’s fault. We want Arsenal to play the Arsenal way again. Of all the players that deserve the boot in our set up, why do our fans target a kid that tries to?

The Gervinho comparison is nuts. One is exclusively a dribbler with bags of skill and pace, with zero brain to back it up. Then the other is a budding playmaker that makes the right choices on the ball, with a good touch, good movement and can create good openings for his team. Iwobi is far more useful in the long run than a brainless touchline dribbler.

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Liked the post because it’s spot on for the most part, but would disagree with this part. It’s true that Gervinho and Iwobi are nothing alike but tbh there’s value in a dribbler who can beat his man, something Iwobi is not (he can carry the ball, but beat his man no). In Gervinho’s last season here he was extremely valuable in a few games, remembering the West Brom game for example where he was tearing it up.

But yeah, Iwobi was good last night. As @A.F. said in the MDC last night he does need to add end product at some point if he wants to make it here (something one we’ve lost–ay, Serge, the heart weeps!–ha(s)d), but it’s amazing that Iwobi gets all this flack and useless Welbeck somehow flies under the radar.

Re: Iwobi at youth level, yes, he was scoring in bunches for the U21s when he was promoted. He was actually being played at 9 a good deal and had scored a few hat tricks, scoring with both feet. I do think he has some end product there but he’s clearly hearing the pressure re: his end product and forcing it way too much. Needs to play as he was when he broke through and let it come.

Like you said, not a world beating talent but he is a good talent. At the very least he looks a useful squad player. His end product will need to improve vastly if he wants to be more than that but there is time and at least he does the basics right and doesn’t hurt the team whilst he’s struggling to impact the game more directly in the final third.

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been saying Wellbeck is garbage since long before got him

That doesn’t mean Iwobi is any good though, bang average at best

is that what we;ve come to? Accepting players of his calibre?

Looks like it I mean we kept Oxlade, Walcott, Coquelin, Flamini and plenty others who simply aren’t up to the grade…

if your grade is to be one of the top clubs in Europe

apparently that is no longer our grade so fuck it

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Yes.
Next season our starting midfield will consist of Ramsey, Iwobi, Wilshere and Xhaka.
That is barely good enough for a mid table club.

Those players were reasonably experienced and lacking heavily in the technical side. They all offered something to the team in short spells in certain positions but never consistently.

Iwobi’s 21. He actually has that foundation to build on which can produce over a long period of time if coached right and used properly.

Not saying he’s guaranteed to reach the required quality and he could be a bust at 24. But he wouldn’t have been written off so quickly maybe 5-10 years ago.

It’s the state of the club and manager that is causing this dismissal of him as a player. Perhaps if he played for England instead of Nigeria there would be more talk about his promise as well.

he’s fucking shit and always will be

I said the same about Oxlade and Walcott when they were both 21 and I’m saying the same about Iwobi now

He will never be better than he is now, not to a large enough extent to make it worth keeping him for the next 8 years

simple as that

I agree that he shouldn’t be starting week in week out until he’s had a couple more years development as a squad player. Labelling him shit and wanting rid of him especially with the state of the squad now though is ludicrous. A total injustice to his performances at the start of his career.

By accepting Iwobi as a first team player, despite his inconsistency and not being at the level expected of a top four club, is exactly why Ozil and Sanchez are leaving.

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Fixed it a little bit for you :slight_smile:

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Iwobi’s in the first team squad but is he really in Wenger’s first XI? Ozil and Sanchez are leaving for many reasons, not because of some youngster we’re trying to develop into a quality player. Every top 4 team has youngsters in the first team fold and Iwobi’s on par with most of them.

But every other team would try and get players of a similar quality to their best players.
Not go every season persisting with the same uninspiring players and driving their best players out the door.

Just look at our midfield and attack in recent seasons.
Apart from Ozil and Sanchez, we have got Ramsey, Iwobi, Giroud, Walcott, Welbeck, Xhaka, Chamberlain, etc.

The successful clubs, and the clubs that have overtaken us, wouldn’t touch any of those with a barge pole, yet Wenger has persisted with a lot of them, either from a young age, or from the youth team, even though it’s clear they weren’t good enough.

Next season we won’t have a single midfield player worthy of playing for a top four club.

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He certainly has talent but as time goes by the pressure on him to actually improve his game considerably will only get bigger and once we don’t have the likes of Alexis or Özil anymore in the team to compensate for his shortcomings he’ll have to take more responsibility on actually making an impact and that includes a much better decision making and overall play.

Only time will tell but if current Iwobi is going to be the team’s level in the future I have not much hope for a bright future.

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Almost every time Welbeck touched the ball it literally bounced off him and our attacks broke down. Iwobi is actually a very good ball carrier. Him and Jack were our most composed players last night. Even Chambers to an extent which was a shock. Agree the comparison with Forehead is well off.

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