I’m far from the first person to say this, but I think it is pretty evident that having Iwobi ahead of him instead of Sanchez is making a big difference to his performances. Iwobi does very little defensively which leaves Monreal completely exposed, either having to deal with a tricky winger 1 on 1, or even having a winger and full back doubling up on him. Unlike Iwobi, Sanchez made Monreal’s job much easier.
This could be the beginning of Monreal’s decline, but I think we’d have hardly noticed it had Sanchez still been playing in front of him and offering some support.
We have played our best football when one of the winger is an attacking midfielder who works in the channel rather than by the byline. Be it Nasri, Cazorla, Ozil(first season), Ramsey or now Iwobi.
Having one of the fullback is bound to happen.
I guess that’s a risk we have to take if we wish to play effective attacking football.
Bellerin’s recovery phase would be helpful in this case but since Theo can only operate on right, Monreal is the victim.
Ofcourse we can do with improvement but i won’t consider it a hole like i do with right wing.
Well his stint on the left last season worked for like two games and failed miserably after that. In fact his place in the team entirely hinges on the team available around him. He’s useful only when we play in a manner which suits his ability to drift from right to centre seamlessly.
In game swapping for few minutes is one thing but Theo is just not good enough to do that the whole game.
He has specialised one way of playing & changing his course will not do us & him any good.
I think he and Walcott should have started on the wings today in retrospect tbh. With those 3 CB’s in defense our team was just screaming out for more pace and direct play on the wings. I think with Iwobi playing as bad as he is, Ox just might find himself back in the starting xi. It’s either that or Giroud back in at CF and Alexis to the left. I’d prefer the former though considering we’ve played well with a smaller pacey front line recently.