Match Reaction vs Tottenham (home, FA Cup).

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Steve French

When it is going well, people tend to accentuate the positives and vice versa when it is not. Over the past couple of days, some people have been going nuts about Gnabry. Understandable as he had a fantastic match, but he is still a kid and the challenge for him will be maintaining that kind of form or regaining confidence when things don't go so well for him.

---

I understand that but Spud fans tend to overrate their players even when things aren't going well. I'd bet money that 9/10 Spud fans would say Dawson and Lennon are better players than Merts and Walcott. They're a very odd bunch, much like scousers.

I'm surprised Levy spunked all of the Bale cash so quickly. I thought he was smarter than that. They'd of been off just buying two really good players instead of trying to integrate 5/6 decent players all at once.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Özim

That's the impact big signings have on clubs, something many people didn't seem to understand before. The signing of Ozil may just be one signing but it's created a buzz around the club which has filtered through to the players and made them raise their game.

Some people have been saying this for years.

---

Our players have also naturally just got better, young players tend to do that.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Özim

That's the impact big signings have on clubs, something many people didn't seem to understand before. The signing of Ozil may just be one signing but it's created a buzz around the club which has filtered through to the players and made them raise their game.

Some people have been saying this for years.

---

Some people have been saying that we didn't just need one big signing but that we were miles away from a side that could win the title and needed quite a few major signings if we were to compete...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Letters

Some people have been saying that we didn't just need one big signing but that we were miles away from a side that could win the title and needed quite a few major signings if we were to compete...

---

Not so hard to understand given our performances in the last few seasons tbh. The Ozil signing has clearly had a bigger impact than most thought, though some of the other players have also improved dramatically which couldn't have been predicted.

It's halfway through the season right now and there's a long way to go, I still personally think we need 1-2 more players to win it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Grebbo

Our players have also naturally just got better, young players tend to do that.

---

That's true some of them have, I think that has been aided by their excitement of playing alongside a player of his quality as well.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Özim

That's true some of them have, I think that has been aided by their excitement of playing alongside a player of his quality as well.

---

Signing Ozil certainly helped but I'm not sure how much. It's difficult to calculate. Merts has clearly got better through learning the league, Giroud was always going to be better in his second season. You've then got youngsters like Chesney and Ramsey who have just naturally progressed and sicknotes like Rosicky and Wilshere have been relatively injury free.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Özim

No.

Gnabry's talent is there for all to see, he'll have bad games but his talent can't be questioned, his pacey attacking is something we've lacked a long time.

Wilshere on the other hand I've never understood the hype about, he's not a top talent IMO, having seen plenty of him he's not a matchwinner and doesn't seem to possess any really special talent, if he wasn't English noone would give a monkeys about him, based on what I've seen of him so far I don't really rate him that highly, in addition to that his behaviour is questionnable.

Ox-Chamberlain I do rate highly despite him having produced little so far, but the talent is there for all to see, likewise with Gnabry, it might not work out for him but he certainly has something special about him.

---

What a load of crap. Sorry, but you have only seen glimpses of Gnabry and to a degree AOC. Yes they have potential, and bags of talent and I can see them being incredibly good players, but the same is true of Wilshere.

Jack, whilst a couple of years ahead in terms of seniority and playing time, isn't yet consistent (various reasons fos this IMO, not least over a year out through injury...nb see Ramsey). But to say he has no talent :lol:

I really don't get you sometimes. If you honestly believed that, I would seriously consider your ability to read a football game. But as I think this has more to do with your stubborn likes and dislikes, I won't let myself get too in depth about it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Özim

The problem is most players throughout their career have one of these stand out matches where they run the game, this season he's been more miss than hit for me, he's given possession away a lot and not really done that much in the attacking area of the field either, you see the occasional dribble and occasional decent pass but they are few and far between.

There's a lot of talent in our midfield, we can now throw in Gnabry who was absolutely brilliant yesterday and gives us another dimension to our play, sure he's still learning but what I love was the pace he injected in our play, too often with the likes of Wilshere the attacking play is so slow it's painful, to have a thrusting midfielder like him is a big bonus IMO. Rosicky also loves to drive forward and by playing a pacier game we also maximise Ozil's strengths (and Cazorla also seems comfortable breaking forward quickly).

Then we have Ramsey who's been great this season and bagged a fair few goals the the preferred defensive midfielders Arteta and Flamini and I start to question where Wilshere fits in other than being just a squad player at the moment (especially when Ox-Chamberlain comes back as he's another with bags of talent). He needs to develop his game and fast because he's getting left behind IMO and being made to look more and more ordinary by those around him.

If he is to play as defensive midfielder, he'll need to up his game considerably and improve his tackling, stop giving away simple pases and be far more disciplined, I see little evidence that he's doing that at the moment.

Thus far I don't see much development, of course he'll always get a break from the people desperately wanting to see an Englishman break through and succeed, by personally I don't care about that, I prefer a player to break through who makes our play better and more exciting to watch, from what I saw from Gnabry he could be that player, for me our play was much more like the play of 8 years ago which I'm all for.

---

Wilshere is having a bad patch and he wouldn’t be first on my team sheet. When he first bounced on the scene he played with intelligence and awareness. That seems to have gone and he keeps giving the ball away. Unless we’re short on numbers in the middle of the park, he should be playing from the bench and made to force his way back into the team. Even though he’s looking shabby today, we don’t know how he’ll look next year. I think it will suddenly click for him. Or at least I hope.

Gnarby looked like a nothing player when he first bounced on the scene but then all of a sudden he’s had this performance and he looks like the real deal. But saying that, I remember when Ox made his debut and the excitement surrounding him. The following season he was disappointing and was nothing like we saw the season before. You just don’t know how players will turn out. I still remember Denilson’s debut season. He was terrific and seemed to play with such intelligence but could also tackle with aggression. I have no idea what happened to that kid. We also have Ramsey as the reverse of that. Wilshere will have to work his butt off to get back to his best. It will be hard for him to win his place back if he loses it because I think Wenger is done with the charity. Days of players like Denilson racking up over 150 appearances without doing anything of note are over.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Power_n_Glory

Wilshere is having a bad patch and he wouldn’t be first on my team sheet. When he first bounced on the scene he played with intelligence and awareness. That seems to have gone and he keeps giving the ball away. Unless we’re short on numbers in the middle of the park, he should be playing from the bench and made to force his way back into the team. Even though he’s looking shabby today, we don’t know how he’ll look next year. I think it will suddenly click for him. Or at least I hope.

Gnarby looked like a nothing player when he first bounced on the scene but then all of a sudden he’s had this performance and he looks like the real deal. But saying that, I remember when Ox made his debut and the excitement surrounding him. The following season he was disappointing and was nothing like we saw the season before. You just don’t know how players will turn out. I still remember Denilson’s debut season. He was terrific and seemed to play with such intelligence but could also tackle with aggression. I have no idea what happened to that kid. We also have Ramsey as the reverse of that. Wilshere will have to work his butt off to get back to his best. It will be hard for him to win his place back if he loses it because I think Wenger is done with the charity. Days of players like Denilson racking up over 150 appearances without doing anything of note are over.

---

Agreed.

EDIT: though I should say, he's looked pretty decent the last few games.

I think he needs to get back to the basics and keep things simple. He’ll take two or three touches when only one is needed, he’ll try to dance through players when a simple pass is needed and it’s costly. It slows us down and we usually end up getting hit on the break whilst he’s laid out on the floor. It’s very frustrating. When he first arrived on the scene, his dribbling was fantastic and he’d skip past players with ease. I thought he’d be better as a winger and couldn’t imagine him being much better in the centre even though that’s where he played in the reserves and where Wenger kept saying he’d play. When he finally stepped into that role, he was good and I was surprised by his work rate. But he really needs to work on his passing and shooting. His end product is lacking but even if he’s not racking up Cesc numbers for assists or hitting screamers like Ramsey, he can at least learn from Rosicky and just speed up our game. Be that vital cog in the system that speeds our game up and can control the midfield. When he takes too many touches and tries to dribble too much, besides losing the ball, we miss opportunities to play the smarter pass that can move us from defence to attack. It may suddenly click for him next year but Wenger doesn’t have to overplay him like last year.