I’d say Wilshere is more Cazorla-like and because of that his more natural successor.
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I agree.
If it was a choice between Ramsey and Wilshere i would have Wilshere.
He is a better all round footballer, more dynamic and makes things happen, the only problem he has is his constant injuries.
They are both two of our longest serving players and are on massive wages, so the fact they cannot be relied on, either for fitness and consistency, means they should be squad players than first team regulars.
Like Walcott and Chamberlain, both Ramsey and Wilshere don’t seem to be able to hold down a regular starting place, so maybe we should keep a couple of them and sell the others.
We could easily get 30m for Ramsey, so why not sell him and put the money towards a player that we need.
At this stage I rate Elneny ahead of Ramsey in terms who should be featuring more often in central midfield. I’d like to see Santi rested and Elneny rotated in more often too.
Ramsey is a utility player at this stage: His directness from midfield will be useful against relegation fodder who sit deep against. He can do a job on the wings too
I think the club feels like they invested to much in these players to get rid of them.
One big name will go from the central midfield area in the summer, next summer at the latest. Okay we shipped out Arteta, Rosicky, Flamini: two of those barely features anyway and weren’t even making the 18, the other was bit part.
In come Elneny and Xhaka, plus the injury load lightens somewhat compared to the average state it’s been over the last half decade. There are too many pieces for the jigsaw, I’m surprised we haven’t had more mouthing off in the press already about someone “considering their options”. I guess Wenger runs a happy camp after all.
Anyway, Cazorla will sign a small extension and stay on a bit longer. Xhaka, Elneny, Coquelin, Ramsey, Wilshere is at least one too many for a congested midfield, I think it’s Wilshere that gets cut loose unless he has an amazing season. Coquelin’s been exceptionally patient considering his backstory, I can see him being the one most likely to agitate soon though.
If Wenger restores Ramsey to the wider position as expected, then Walcott and Chamberlain have decisions to make. Not forgetting Danny Welbeck, another WengerBoy. Too many WengerBoys to fit into the equation, that’s the problem for him. He’s going to have to knife one or two of them sooner or later.
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Elneny is probably the player with the lowest ceiling though. Wilshere and Coquelin actually have specific qualities and provide tactical varierty. Elneny and Chamberlain would be the first ones to go in my opinion.
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After the Euro’s playing behind the striker, I just don’t know if Ramsey has the mindset to play in the ‘two’ behind Ozil. You need to be very disciplined in that role, as all of Coquelin, Santi, Xhaka and Elneny have been showing.
I only see two positions for Ramsey - CAM or out on the flanks. Would not be surprised if he is used more of a back up to Ozil, or coming off the bench a lot.
…Till injuries kick in of course.
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Ramsey isn’t a good 10 though, he’s not great with his back to goal as he doesn’t have feet like Iwobi or Ozil to receive in between lines and play quickly. He does well for Wales because of their counter attacking style, one thing we do know Ramsey is good at is attacking space and the free role he’s (& Bale) allowed benefits him in this regard.
At the moment, I see him being most useful from the wing and 10 if we really need him to be (Ozil > Iwobi > AR), but we’re fucked if that becomes a necessity in the league.
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I understand what you’re saying but our 10 doesn’t really play with his back to goal that often though. Ozil is always drifting around almost like a free-role making sure he has space before he receives the ball.
Ramsey would not play in that fashion though. He’d be more like an energetic Lampard if you like, making late runs, clever runs because Ramsey can do that, he comes to life in the final third. It’s the rest of the pitch that lets his game down for me.
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If you want to accommodate Ramsey and give him a Lampard like roll and give him the freedom he has at Wales, we’d need to change the midfield from…
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…to this…
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or have a flat midfield and sacrifice either Cazorla or Ozil or put one them on the wing. I’d rather have Ramsey on the bench. Cazorla as the number 10 when Ozil is absent makes much more sense to me tbh.
People always say this, but when has it ever played out like this when Ramsey has been the most advanced central midfielder? Every time he’s played in this position, whether it be Liverpool this season, Newcastle last season, or 11/12, he’s always just done a very poor Özil impression/impression of a typical #10, and didn’t come from deep at all.
Part of that is not his fault, of course, it’s down to the fact that our tactics/system in general isn’t anything like the kind of systems where a ‘trivote’ is played or an 8 is the highest central midfielder.
Anyways, point being, in our team he’s just not a good option as the #10/highest CM in the 3.
He’s useful to us as an ‘interior’/false 7 on the right, but he publicly states he doesn’t like this position. We should look to sell him to Inter or Milan, IMO, two teams looking for big names and willing to pay cash, where he can maybe find his level as a counter-attacking advanced CM similar to the role he plays with Wales.
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Just wanted to point out it took Ramsey 4 minutes to get an assist. Pogba hasn’t assisted in 7 matches. Just more proof that Arsenal employ every good player that exists ever.
:santi2:
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The sad thing is I know you believe this deep down lol
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Lol no. For example I’ll admit Messi is probably better than Ox. Although he plays in an inferior league.
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It’s the probably part that worries me the most lol
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Where does Pogba actually stand in the best league midfielders list? Guy is a whole lot of hype at the moment.
Despite that result he was clear MOTM vs Burnley, not denying he has been very poor thus far though.
How many league games has he played this season? 7? 8? In a team that has won 1 in their last 7 league games with a manager who has no idea how to line his players up or who to pick. It’s hard to judge Pogba when he’s just spent 4 years playing in Italy. He’s young and he needs time to adapt to his new surroundings and it’s not helping that he’s playing in a team seemingly in disarray right now.
tbf to Pogba he would have had a few assists if Ibrahimovic didn’t keep fucking up with his shots.