Match Reaction - Sutton 0-2 Arsenal

[Power n Glory]

I honestly dont think Iwobi should be starting for us. He is like Denilson on the wing, gets the ball, cuts inside and passes it to Montreal or one of the CMs. Even last night against an old and chubby RB, he didnt try take him on or even shoot, he gave the ball away and didnt do anything with it when he had it.

Peres and Welbz should be ahead of him. The issue i think started was when we offered him 2 contracts in the space of a few months (he signed two new deals in the same season if i remember correctly). Where is the incentive for him? does he get told to work on his crossing/shooting/dribbling? is he under pressure for his spot? NO. As a big club, our left wingers/wide men have always contributed with either goals, assists or at the very least moments of real magic that turn games. Iwobi is a neat and tidy midfielder but he should not be starting for us, simples.

It’s our boneheaded manager. After all these years, he still keeps trying to squeeze a central attacking player into that wide position. He did it with Rosicky and Nasri. He’s done it with Jack, Ox and Ramsey. He’s at it again with Iwobi. We had the exact same problem where we had players on that side that weren’t taking on their man and just passing the ball side to side.

Good point about the contract as well. It’s another mistake the manager keeps on making. There was no need to bump up Iwobi’s contract after he just signed a new one. No idea why the Board aren’t questioning this sort of thing. It’s wasting money.

[Marc Overmars]

Agree about Iwobi. I don't see much end product right now, he's naturally very gifted but quite rough around the edges. Though at 20 years old you don't really expect the finished article of course.

Welbeck and Lucas should be starting most games now.

[Gooner23]

He is a promising young player, but needs to be protected to a certain extent. But I do share concerns over his end product which really needs to improve. Maybe a little bench time may help him re-focus.

Welbeck, Lucas & Alexis should be the first choice front three for the remainder of the season. I suspect Wenger will just stick with Theo and Iwobi on the wings though.

[Özim]

Ah the old new contract when you've achieved nothing chestnut, honestly why would you keep offering kids new contracts without them earning them time and time and time again after being burnt by this so many times before, down to the manager again, sorry but the guy is amateurish in almost everything he does these days, it's borderline embarassing.

[selassie]

It was a little bit "meh-ish". We did what we had to do though made quite hard work of it TBH.

As others have said, I thought Lucas was our stand-out performer again.

[Niall_Quinn]

Agree about Iwobi. I don't see much end product right now, he's naturally very gifted but quite rough around the edges. Though at 20 years old you don't really expect the finished article of course.

Welbeck and Lucas should be starting most games now.

He won't do that because both players are too direct. If you have watched Perez, he has a tendency to bring the ball forward, sometimes at pace. He often misses the square or backwards pass, mainly because he spends a lot of time facing the opposition goal rather than his own. He also has that habit of pushing the ball on and going past an opponent when a simpler back pass has the higher chance of retaining possession. A lot of multi-pass triangles break down around Perez, sometimes before the first triangle has been completed he'll have lost the plot and be off up the pitch again.

Welbeck has the same or similar problems, compounded by the fact he often drifts into the opposition penalty box when crosses are coming in rather than staying around the edges and looking for opportunities to start passing triangles. He also wastes a lot of energy by running and I've noticed when he starts doing that then other players lose their discipline and start to run too.

Add Alexis into this and I can't see how we'd make our possession system work. Half the time we'd be stuck up the opposition end.

[Power n Glory]

He is a promising young player, but needs to be protected to a certain extent. But I do share concerns over his end product which really needs to improve. Maybe a little bench time may help him re-focus.

Welbeck, Lucas & Alexis should be the first choice front three for the remainder of the season. I suspect Wenger will just stick with Theo and Iwobi on the wings though.

Wenger has to go in order to protect him. He should be developing his game from a central position as number 10. To play wide, he'll have to develop a new skill set and learn how to take on players, beat them consistently and learn how to whip in a dangerous cross. Under Wenger, that’s not going to happen.

Walcott has been here for 10 years and Wenger hasn’t taught him how to dribble and although his crossing has improved, he hardly crosses during a game. Ox has been here over 5 years and despite being a better dribble than Walcott, he’s an inconsistent dribbler and when he does manage to get past his man, his end product his poor. We saw a glimpse of that yesterday when beating his man down the wing only to play a poor cross.

I don’t blame the young players for their flaws that much because they’re learning under Wenger and being advised by him. The majority of them are clueless to what their strengths are, their best position or what they should be working on to improve their flaws. Iwobi may get lucky if this is Wenger’s last season.

[AFC Leveller]

He won't do that because both players are too direct. If you have watched Perez, he has a tendency to bring the ball forward, sometimes at pace. He often misses the square or backwards pass, mainly because he spends a lot of time facing the opposition goal rather than his own. He also has that habit of pushing the ball on and going past an opponent when a simpler back pass has the higher chance of retaining possession. A lot of multi-pass triangles break down around Perez, sometimes before the first triangle has been completed he'll have lost the plot and be off up the pitch again.

Welbeck has the same or similar problems, compounded by the fact he often drifts into the opposition penalty box when crosses are coming in rather than staying around the edges and looking for opportunities to start passing triangles. He also wastes a lot of energy by running and I've noticed when he starts doing that then other players lose their discipline and start to run too.

Add Alexis into this and I can't see how we'd make our possession system work. Half the time we'd be stuck up the opposition end.

That's exactly it mate.

The reason he plays "technical passers" all over the field is so he can have 60 percent possession and use to show we dominated. Even last night against non league part timers we kept passing it sideways and backwards instead of playing it through to Perez (who was complaining to Montreal that he wasn't getting enough service). I bet you he wont play against Liverpool though.

[Letters]

He only ate ONE of the pies

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/...wayne-12633801

[Niall_Quinn]

Stupid arse bookies shouldn't be offering stupid bets on pie eating. They deserve to get conned if they want to piss around like that.