Really was a superb assist. He was probably brought on really to make sure Xhaka didn’t pick up another yellow, but nonetheless, even in a short sub appearance, if you can come away having done something important like that assist for the team, then it’s job well done.
He reminds me in a way of Edu. Unsung, unassuming, but chips in with an important bit when you really need to. Good going Elneny
Elneny is a valued member of the squad in my eyes. He should have featured alot more earlier in the season rotating with Santi. He does the basics of the CM role well, keeps it simple, generally efficient, good work rate with a decent ability to read. Which is largely where Ramsey has failed.
He’s average as a player but that isn’t a bad thing per se. If he wants to move to the next level needs to improve his technique and intelligence
I effectively put a handy squad player and does most things well but nothing outstanding. Not sure what should start ahead of Ramsey means ? Both of them are squad players in my eyes.
He’s pretty ordinary but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being ordinary at pretty much everything if it means you don’t really have outstanding weaknesses and he’s also young enough to have room to grow and it’s easy to forget his experience is from Egypt/Switzerland so he should naturally improve in the PL.
I have a feeling if he was getting the starts he could evolve into a very good player but I don’t know if he’ll ever get the chance. I think if we ever need to rely on him in a crisis though he’ll be reliable for us.
We have enough midfield bodies now. The only change to our midfield will be Cazorla’s age catching up with him and in that scenario Wenger has a call to make. I think Xhaka will turn into the king of our midfield in the same kind of way Fabregas did, so at the end of the day it’s going to be which player is most suited to playing with him and with some improvement I think Elneny could be that guy in a similar fashion to how Flamini just felt like a perfect fit for Fabregas.
Hard to truly define how great or bad he could be but from the sample size we’ve seen so far, it’s fair to say we have him at a happy medium, a fairly well rounded player. There’s no over the top flashiness about him; back heels, side line cruyff turns and blond ‘elite’ fucking hair cuts. Just engine + distribution. Simple and efficient.
I agree on what @Craigie is saying about him being a perfect accompaniment to a player like Xhaka in the future who seems to have a higher skill set than him. It’s important too because throughout Wenger’s career, he likes to have a consistent pairing centrally (Fab/Flam - Arteta/Ramsey - Le Coq/Cazorla) and the players ahead of that pairing generally place themselves due to form or balance.