Beat me to it
āInshAllah weāre going to build a team to be strong and win the leagueā - Elneny.
Translation: Elneny is outpraying Mo Salah for us to win the league.
Allahteta Knows Best
Allahteta
Stop before OA gets attacked by ISIS
There are only two central midfield positions at the moment and itās debatable if any of the current midfielders at the club are good enough to start in a team good enough to finish 4th.
Ceballos probably is, but even then heās still just on loan.
Xhaka, Ceballos, Elneny, Torreira, Guendouzi and possibly Willock and AMN, these options are not good enough.
Elneny will play too much, even with one midfield signing. I want to see two signings. One proven midfielder, and then a cheap gamble.
I guess your standards are higher than mine then. I think you can make top four with Xhaka and Elneny as 3rd and 4th choice. We almost made it twice with Xhaka as a starter.
You ācanā because the top 4 isnāt that special atmā¦ only City and Pool are top classā¦ Chelsea seem to be headed in proper directionā¦ ManU maybe as well. Spurs are nothing special and fading force imho. It would be tragic to get worse than 6th atm, but I also canāt really see us getting better than 4th simply b/c I think one of Chelsea or ManU will be good enough and gather too many points.
Basically AFC are looking at fighting for between 4th and 7thā¦ obviously outlier events happen so you never know, but we have the best striker in the league, a massively improving defense, and a manager who seems to know how to get this team functioning reasonably well, even if we are largely hard to watch most of the time (hopefully that changes with the additions this year).
The issue is looking at where we are weakest and where we have the most room for improvement, which is DM/DLP/CM/CAM (or just CM)ā¦ You get us two top players there and if things go right, we could be on our way to a team that actually competes for serious prizes.
I was talking about 16/17 and 18/19. To be clear I talk about Xhaka and Elneny on the bench. I donāt believe you canāt finish 4th and/or win the Europa League with Ceballos and someone else. The League or Champions League is a whole other story for that we need a lot more, not just centre midfielders.
Yeah you just have to give yourself the chance in those tournaments and in the league hope you can put together a special season. It is really hard right now with Pool and City both threatening 100 points these days - that is historically unusual though.
Since we made so many bad investments, Iād agree with you that we need a few more years of improvement before we can seriously discuss League or CL. Willian seems to be an astute signingā¦ if Pepe comes good, that will be hugeā¦ if these young defenders turn out to be great, we have a nice little squad building.
Heās one of those playerās like Ozil and Guendouzi maybe the likes of Mustafi and Cedric that can still do a job in the Cups and Europa League group stage for Arsenal along with some youngsters thrown in. And by the seasonās end is moved on to another club.
I donāt want to see him play many PL games this season, listen heās done well since heās come back in two games but heās not the answer to our problems there. But I wouldnāt be overly upset with him playing another season here as a squad player.
Starting to think this guy should start over Xhaka until we find someone else. Itās just so solid everytime. Does nothing extraordinary well (as is the case with Xhaka btw), but is able to do everything. Unlike the guy who always got the house keys.
If this guy was a spice he would be old dusty crushed pepper from Tesco.
Xhaka has been our best midfielder since Arteta came in. No chance we bench him for any of the current lot.
Thought he played well again tonight. Very good player to use in these cup games. Solid professional.
Ehh? He just passed it sideways and backwards all the time.
So annoying. There were several moments where forwards made good runs. Elneny looks up, sees the run, then decides: no. Iāll pass it sideways. Ugh.
People expect a squad player to be Toni Kroos esque.
Iām not claiming heās a creative genius. Like at all. The guy is simply fundamentally sound. Makes no mistakes, retains the ball, can recover possession, just sound. I think people donāt appreciate those simple things enough anyway.
Letās be real here. Xhaka aināt no Xabi Alonso and his passing doesnāt put him that much further than Elneny. Iād like to see how Elneny and Ceballos would do it.
Yeah there were points where Pepe would make a run expecting the ball and got nothing, felt a bit sorry for him