One game behind the bench and you already know more than most Arsenal ITK’s. You should start a twitter feed man.
Three games.
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I think I know what your angle is but I completely disagree. Our central midfield depth right now is insane, not far off being as good as it ever has been in my time as an Arsenal fan, no way is losing an in form member of that number a blessing in disguise.
Xhaka will get his place soon enough, we don’t need to be wishing for our purest DM to be out for a sustained period.
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Damn you got some comfy cozy seats. Remember I was always kind to you.
Three games. Can deal with that.
He’s imperative for CL in my opinion.
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Really hope that this injury isn’t long term as Im enjoying the depth and flexibility options we have in the centre of the park at the moment.
I know what you’re getting at, but not really. It increases the minutes and dependancy on Cazorla and Xhaka. Which takes a toll on their bodies and could lead to them getting injured. I don’t think it’s a coincidence Arsenal had a lot of injures for players who played the same position.
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Any news on the extent of his injury?
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Should hear about it today or tomorrow.
I fear the worst. Thank fuck we have adequate cover.
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Hope he is ok. A lot of underrating his contributions recently going on. He was a big part of disrupting Chelsea yesterday until his injury, at which point the tone was set and we were already on our way to winning. The good thing is we actually have cover in that department so from an injury perspective it is perhaps the least damaging one in the whole side, but he is still an important piece of our season I feel.
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If Coq is injured for a few months what would you guys have as a first choice CM pair?
We seem to be spoilt for choice!
I’d like to see El Nenny + Xhaka or Santi + Xhaka…
Not sure if Ramsey can play the CM role well - he was poor last season due to his tactical inadequacies but he may forge a good partnership with Xhaka?
I’m somewhat a fan of Coq’s so in a perfect world I’d not like to see him hurt, and would like to have him as an option. But we don’t live in a perfect world, we live in one where Arsène isn’t able to recognise that Xhaka and Santi has to be our first midfield pairing. I’m not as sure as some that that was just going to naturally change. Especially after a performance like yesterday’s–we know when Arsène has some success with a lineup he is not wont to change it–I think we would’ve seen that as the primary midfield pairing for a while. Now he has no choice but to play Xhaka-Santi, and the reason I say blessing in disguise is because I think he’ll quickly realise its viability/we’ll quickly reap the benefits, something I’m just not sure would happen if Coq was around.
Xhaka is our purest DM for me, btw.
But yeah, I agree, it’s not the most ideal scenario, ideal would be to have Coq as an option off the bench or for select games, but I’m not as confident as some are that it was going that way.
I do worry, of course, that Ramsey will get another chance in the middle because of this, either with Xhaka or with Elneny, and that is a potential reason for this not to be a blessing in disguise at all but rather a bad thing.
We shall see how it plays out.
Xhaka is our most well rounded DM, but Coquelin is the purest imo.
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Really comes down to what one considers a DM in the modern game.
These days DM’s and particularly those considered the best in the world are much more than mere destroyers and have a varied skill-set apart from breaking up play and making interceptions.
However, I agree Coq is likely the purest DM we have, although Xhaka is the superior player.
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Why is there such an immediate need to play Xhaka?
Having bought a player for 32m, Wenger isn’t going to go an entire season without playing him.
Coquelin has done well so far this season & if Wenger thinks he is needed to let Cazorla do his thing; then is it not ideal that Xhaka is eased into the side, rather than thrust into the side.
In perfect world of fans, Wenger would not have selected Iwobi last season, Wenger would have sold Walcott, Wenger would not have played Alexis as CF, Wenger wouldn’t have played Cazorla in midfield etc etc; so i don’t understand this looking down on Wenger’s judgement.
I understand players like Ox, Ramsey etc. where you would think their injury is blessing in disguise but Coquelin man.
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Oh lord. Where to begin.
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I feel we could handle 2 months. Hopefully it’s not more
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Hopefully its no more than 2 months, which is still a significant blow.
Big blow. He was in superb form.
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Players are going to miss games during the season. It’s up to Wenger to manage the minutes of Xhaka, Cazorla and Elneny correctly and make it work still he (and Ramsey) is available again.