On 09/11/2020 at 08:57, ForeverCarefree said:

Willian signing for Arsenal would have made more sense if they had goal scorers throughout their team but they don't. 

He hasn't scored or double figures in the Premier League in 7 years so he wasn't going to start at 32 years old. 

He never assisted double figures either, 9 was his highest tally for Chelsea. For a player that's allowed to take so many set pieces that's a pretty shocking statistic. 

To be fair to Willian 2 assists and no goals after 7 games is pretty much what he normally delivers. His averages at Chelsea were 5 goals and 5 assists per season. 

Willian's Premier League career: 241 appearances, 37 goals, 41 assists

Ozil's Premier League career: 184 appearances, 33 goals, 58 assists. 

Combined wages are somewhere in the region of half a million a week. 

No wonder poor old Gunnersaurus was placed on furlough. 

This is Willian's stats across all matches and looks better.

The frustrating thing with Willian is on his day he is a truly world class player, his performance against Barcelona at the Bridge under Conte was one of the best individual performances I've seen in a Blue shirt in the last 5 years.

Once you see what he has in his locker you wonder why can he not be bothered to display those performances more often, he has a good work ethic and tracks back but at times it feels as though he is hiding his inconsistency going forward with his work defensively similar in a way an employee completes irrelevant tasks to hide the fact they are incompetent at their day job.

The tracking back and putting in goal stopping challenges for me is the difference between him and Ozil, I could not see Ozil doing that. 

When I say tracking, sometimes it is outrageous sprinting to get back and put in goal defying block.

 

 

3 hours ago, Strider6003 said:

The tracking back and putting in goal stopping challenges for me is the difference between him and Ozil, I could not see Ozil doing that. 

Attacking players don't need to be putting in goal stopping challenges, that's what the 6 players behind them are for. 

First and foremost their job is to attack, to score and create goals. When they're very good at their primary job you make allowances for them maybe slacking on the defensive side. 

That's why Hazard so often never had an overlapping fullback playing behind him because the left back was asked to concentrate on the defensive side to allow Hazard to flourish in attack. 

Ozil in his prime is one of the most creative players in the league, up there with a prime Fabregas in regards to quantity and quality of chances being created. 

An Arsenal side struggling to carve out decent goal scoring chances could maybe do with a little quality like that right now. Instead they have opted for a past his peak Willian and to play their best attacking goal threat out of position on the flank. 

19 hours ago, Slojo said:

It's a wannabe hardman act. Like Floyd said, he puts on this persona to get clicks but in person he's very quiet according to a lot of people. He took someone to court for swearing at him outside the ground, that's how much of a drip he is. 

I'm so glad we don't have a fan channel like that,  

Tbf, we do, we're just not sh*t enough often enough for them to go viral.

Edited November 10, 20205 yr by Argo

8 hours ago, Imran_CFC said:

The frustrating thing with Willian is on his day he is a truly world class player, his performance against Barcelona at the Bridge under Conte was one of the best individual performances I've seen in a Blue shirt in the last 5 years.

Once you see what he has in his locker you wonder why can he not be bothered to display those performances more often, he has a good work ethic and tracks back but at times it feels as though he is hiding his inconsistency going forward with his work defensively similar in a way an employee completes irrelevant tasks to hide the fact they are incompetent at their day job.

I think it's not that he's incompetent at the offensive part of the game but that he doesn't try to give his best on most games. 

I'd argue that he only performs well when he had to fight for his place and contract. The seasons where he put up good numbers are usually ones where we just changed our manager or his contract is up. 

Could he just be.. Lazy? 

7 hours ago, ForeverCarefree said:

Attacking players don't need to be putting in goal stopping challenges, that's what the 6 players behind them are for. 

First and foremost their job is to attack, to score and create goals. When they're very good at their primary job you make allowances for them maybe slacking on the defensive side. 

That's why Hazard so often never had an overlapping fullback playing behind him because the left back was asked to concentrate on the defensive side to allow Hazard to flourish in attack. 

Ozil in his prime is one of the most creative players in the league, up there with a prime Fabregas in regards to quantity and quality of chances being created. 

An Arsenal side struggling to carve out decent goal scoring chances could maybe do with a little quality like that right now. Instead they have opted for a past his peak Willian and to play their best attacking goal threat out of position on the flank. 

Very true, just Arteta's system looks very different. He doesn't allow anyone to be lazy, when I've watched I've even seen Auba come back deep. It's pretty obvious they're lack creativity big time, they could've done with Ozil a lot more than Willian, this is why a lot of Arsenal fans are calling for him to lose the job. Because they've been even worse than they were under Emery, despite Arteta winning the F.A. Cup and Community Shield, they want him gone the football has been that bad. 

4 hours ago, Slojo said:

Very true, just Arteta's system looks very different. He doesn't allow anyone to be lazy, when I've watched I've even seen Auba come back deep. It's pretty obvious they're lack creativity big time, they could've done with Ozil a lot more than Willian, this is why a lot of Arsenal fans are calling for him to lose the job. Because they've been even worse than they were under Emery, despite Arteta winning the F.A. Cup and Community Shield, they want him gone the football has been that bad. 

There was a Q&A with a couple of journos on The Athletic and one of the questions was "What’s been the most interesting tactical element/innovation of the season so far?" and Jack Lang answered:  

"Arteta’s Arsenal system intrigues me. He has found a way of having his best crosser (Kieran Tierney) miles away from crossing positions, his best finisher (Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang) miles away from the penalty box and his most creative player (Mesut Ozil) miles away from the squad. I’m being a bit flippant, but it’s not massively surprising that some of their fans have been scratching their heads recently."

It tickled me reading that but also he makes a fair point and it's surprising Arteta hasn't come in for more criticism. There's the argument for letting him have time to implement his ideas on the team but at the moment it's not abundantly clear what exactly he's trying to do. 

2 hours ago, ForeverCarefree said:

There was a Q&A with a couple of journos on The Athletic and one of the questions was "What’s been the most interesting tactical element/innovation of the season so far?" and Jack Lang answered:  

"Arteta’s Arsenal system intrigues me. He has found a way of having his best crosser (Kieran Tierney) miles away from crossing positions, his best finisher (Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang) miles away from the penalty box and his most creative player (Mesut Ozil) miles away from the squad. I’m being a bit flippant, but it’s not massively surprising that some of their fans have been scratching their heads recently."

It tickled me reading that but also he makes a fair point and it's surprising Arteta hasn't come in for more criticism. There's the argument for letting him have time to implement his ideas on the team but at the moment it's not abundantly clear what exactly he's trying to do. 

He's going the Jose 2.0 route. Ugly but winning football. Except he hasn't figured out how to get more wins

Sounds like Liverpool’s entire first choice back four are all injured, what a shame. 

 

32 minutes ago, Munkworth said:

Sounds like Liverpool’s entire first choice back four are all injured, what a shame. 

1 hour ago, Munkworth said:

Sounds like Liverpool’s entire first choice back four are all injured, what a shame. 

Allison is the key. Their defence did not stop Villa putting 7 past them while the keeper was out. So long as they have him they are ok imo.

1 hour ago, axman2526 said:

Allison is the key. Their defence did not stop Villa putting 7 past them while the keeper was out. So long as they have him they are ok imo.

Thank god our club isn’t like that! Oh wait...

 

 

 

Some comedy stuff in Spain - Switzerland:

 

Thats a ridiculous handball, its gone beyond a joke now.

2 hours ago, dkw said:

Thats a ridiculous handball, its gone beyond a joke now.

Agree, the first penalty was ridiculous. Do refs and VAR expect footballers to have eyes in the back of their head.

RIP Ray Clemence. Decent keeper who played for two of our rivals.

40 minutes ago, Boyne said:

Agree, the first penalty was ridiculous. Do refs and VAR expect footballers to have eyes in the back of their head.

It’d be easier if they didn’t have arms. Kepa would be ok playing outfield, the ball never gets near his hands!

18 hours ago, Munkworth said:

It’d be easier if they didn’t have arms. Kepa would be ok playing outfield, the ball never gets near his hands!

I think Southgate is truly one of the worst England managers, but will somehow keep his job due to the overrated WC performance. 

I know it's just a rumour, and the Express is a pathetic excuse for a source of any news, but this made me laugh:

Quote

Barcelona are considering a move for Arsenal and Germany defender Shkodran Mustafi. 

How much will Arsenal have to pay them?