Mate you really need stop; you’re repeative and over the top it’s getting pathetic now it’s like itsonlyRaypolour on Ramsey thread all over again; on mdc you complained about one stray pass while Xhaka did the same no complaints. He performed well last night but like with xhaka. ludergrets played mostly on the wing so there wasn’t much to do, but the ref was terrible got a yellow for arguing after a foul was given for no reason.
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So DM’s don’t defend along the flanks? Lollllll
Talk about hyperbole, Coquelin isn’t even a player I talk about a lot on here, you’re only saying that because I made one post the other week when people were wanking it to hs tackles and interceptions stats against Ludogorets at home tempering the enthusiasm and it caused mass anguish among his his cult members. If you want to make the IORP Ramsey comparison with me best use my hate for Ramsey himself, but then hating Ramsey is a great sign of sanity.
Xhaka misplaced a couple passes but he also made a number of incisive balls (including a pass to Alexis which if Alexis was anticipating it/controlled it better could’ve/should’ve been an assist), it’s normal to misplace passes when you actually try difficult passes. Coquelin’s passing game is Flaministically simple at this point, and the moment I called him out on the mdc was when he made a nice left foot right foot shuttle and proceeded to play a terrible pass, which was literally the only moment in the game I can remember him trying anything whatsoever with the ball.
I really don’t dislike Coquelin at all and to say I do is to ignore the fact that I was one of the few people backing him to make it here from 2012 when I registered on. He has his use, I accept that under a manager like Wenger who isn’t tactically strong Coquelin is pretty much a necessity with Cazorla and that occasionally, when we are pressing well (like against Chelsea), Coquelin has some utility, as he’s quite athletic and a good ball winner of course. I’m frustrated with his development, of course, because I thought he had a bit more quality than it turns out he does.
None of that changes the fact that he was useless yesterday and that I really don’t like a Xhaka-Coquelin pivot, because Xhaka is a deep lying player who doesn’t stray much from his site on the pitch, so Coquelin’s two metre passes to him don’t really make as much sense as they do to Cazorla…in the moments you need someone to carry the ball a bit in midfield with that pivot you are kinda fucked. Add to that we didn’t have a decent press last night and Coquelin wasn’t winning the ball, and you get my comment that he was pointless, as he was.
And hence why I say I’d prefer Elneny to play with Xhaka, as Elneny has a bit more passing range/isn’t always going to make a redundant pass back to Xhaka/a defender, and can occasionally carry the ball a bit, and of course has the athleticism and defensive mentality that would seem necessary alongside Xhaka atm under Wenger.
Under Wenger
Under Wenger
Sheesh you can’t accept Xhaka has limitations. It has to be something Wenger does wrong.
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You’ve been at le coq for not being good enough to the point you fixate on the mistakes more so then anything.
Xhaka wasn’t the only one making incisive passes on Tuesday and that two meter pass to Xhaka is bs mate; or should we mention Xhakas five meter pass back to mustafi which was a bit of a theme as well? We get it you have you preference but seriously over the top much. Also besides the goal and a few pass Xhaka was just as effective as le coq.
Since you think le coq passing is crap I guess you don’t see him floating passes left or right from the middle to switch play, so we don’t become narrow or predictable on regular basis; nor the fact a majority of his go forward and not two meters to his partner.
And I don’t care about how in 2012 you were one of his advocates because at the minute you aren’t and that is what counts
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You have to give it to Cuellar once hes made his mind up on something he goes all in.
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The two things are not mutually exclusive Trioncito. Of course you would focus on one of them, though. 
I really didn’t think anyone would actually try to dispute the nature of Coquelin’s passing…that’s just denial, mate, it’s all there for us to see. My friend who defended him said that he’s a “shuttler” (shuttles the ball to teammates) and that’s fine, that he doesn’t see any problem with that. That strikes me as a much better defence than just playing dumb and acting like Coquelin has a wide range of passing or like Coquelin and Xhaka’s passing is remotely comparable.
here’s the stats, but like I said, surprised I even need to provide them:
Coquelin: 1.5 Accurate Long Passes/90 ---- 1.2 Inaccurate Long Passes/90
53 Accurate Short Passes/90 ---- 5.5 Inaccurate short passes/90
Xhaka: 4.9 Accurate Long Passes/90 ---- 3.5 Inaccurate Long Passes/90
72.1 Accurate Short Passes/90 ---- 6 Inaccurate Short Passes/90
https://www.whoscored.com/Players/89401/Show/Granit-Xhaka
https://www.whoscored.com/Players/69738/
I’m sure if anyone knows how to provide avg. distance of pass the stats would be even more telling. But that should be enough to at least begin working on your denial here…
So what you are sayin with goes stats is that Xhaka is a deep lying playmaker who is expected to pass more; I don’t get you point? So they have two different roles in the team then right or wrong?
Even these stats shows that they are two different types of midfielders, which on the whole require to do two different things in the team. I doubt Wenger will play Xhaka and Cazorla in the same team in big games because there are very similar, in the way that both are meant to dictate play.
So far all you’ve proven is a paculiar dislike for a player because he doesn’t fit your idea of how the team should function. Elneny is mixture of the two players hence he can cover both types.
Some good challenges today. Really shouldn’t start with Elneny though. No creativity what so ever lol
By a wide margin our best player today.
edit: Calum he is not supposed to provide any creativity, just get ball -> give ball to other player -> get back in position. I absolutely agree that Elneny got very little done in that dep. though.
I really wonder if 4-3-3 would been better away whenever we don’t have Cazorla with us. Ramsey does better in a 3 man midfield, Sanchez would’ve been wide, Giroud Central and we’d get that extra guy to work with to get the ball up into the final third. Maybe. Either way, we clearly lack creativity without Cazorla.
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Mourinhos tactic was to put a lot of pressure on Coq and Elneny so we couldn’t play through the middle. It worked like a charm because we had two guys out there with weaknesses in their game. Coq had some beautiful tackles but without Cazorla to feed it to when he wins the ball our midfield was nonexistent.
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Think you have misunderstood 
I agree and was mainly talking about if Elneny starts with him we have no creativity.
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Ah my bad 
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Is there a young Cazorla out there anywhere?
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He plays for Bournemouth :wilshere:
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Me and my buddy I watched the game with discussed the topic for most of the second half lol
In all seriousness though I know Xhaka would have been able to make some forward passes through the press, I’ve seen him do it a lot this season. He gets his head up and picks a pass. Elneny was just taking the piss today, only looking to pass backwards or sideways.
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Any particular reason he only got 10 mins this game?
Feel like the things we were badly calling out for by the spunds of things, could have been rectified by a guy on our bench. Made ne wonder why he isn’t getting more playing time. Dodgy tackles? Not used to the pace?
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Yeah he doesn’t seem like he’s got the most intelligence when he’s out there. I mean he picked up a yellow card within like 2 minutes of coming off the bench lol. Wenger probably doesn’t trust him in these big matches yet. Wenger the last couple years has opted for two more defensive types at the back in these away matches. With our record against the top teams I guess you can’t blame him for being happy with a point away.
I think Wenger just opted for the most conservative pairing in the hope of keeping it nil, nil, and snatching a winner. Bit of a poor plan really because with no discernible striker, and no pace on the left flank, meant that there was no counter attacking threat. Simply starting Giroud would have at least made his plan somewhat logical.
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