So overall, you’d have to say the preseason is going rather nicely.
- A specific style is emerging
- No one is injured.
- We have breakthrough kids looking VERY good
- The morale looks excellent (noteworthy when you hear Mourinho squeal like a spoilt brat)
- There’s still a chance we might sign another name
There are still a couple of worries, the main one being that Aaron Ramsey still hasn’t signed a new deal. The 27-year-old is coming off the back of an excellent season, he’s finally fit, and he knows he’s likely hitting the peak of his dealmaking powers. He straight up wants Ozil money, his agent knows the fans and the new backroom team love his player, but once again, Wenger has left us in a situation where all the leverage is with a superstar player. Like an abusive parent who leaves the estate to a cactus.
The way I’d be looking at the Rambo situations if I were his agent is:
- £350k a week from Arsenal
- A deadline day move to a team with title-winning capabilities (CFC lingering)
- Roll into the final year of your deal and gamble on a FAT fee so you buy a nice flat in Cardiff town centre when you retire.
He doesn’t need to do anything else. He wins in almost every situation. Well, unless he breaks down with injury this season, but even then, people will take a chance on him. Maybe not on the £350k a week deal he thinks he deserves, because let’s be fair here, no club in Europe was prepared to give Ozil that until Ivan shit the bed. Aaron is a £200k week player in this market at the absolute tops, and he’d get that at Chelsea. Arsenal have the pay the premium to keep him, can we afford that after we went all in on Ozil?
I thought it was telling that Emery dropped Ozil the captaincy. Usually, I’d do a little vom into my mouth upon hearing a player with questionable commitment to the cause could be afforded such an honour, but if Ramsey says no to a deal, it wouldn’t be the dimmest move to focus Mesut with the captain’s armband. If we have ANY hope next season, it has to be with Ozil playing like he did vs Chelsea in the League Cup semi-final on the regular. It’s still a huge risk because you’re giving the armband to a player who gets tough away games off, you’re also giving it to a player who has questionable fitness in the backend of most seasons, but, a firing Ozil is unstoppable.
I’d be giving it to Guendouzi myself…
The second concern we have going into the new season is our center backs. Jury is still out with these guys in a new system, but I do have reservations about the desperate lack of pace across the board. Laurent K is not going to come back the same player, Sokratis looks very slow, Chambers is slow, Mustafi is fast but always a worry due to brain farts, Holding and Mavrapanos are the only two anywhere near where we need to be. A high line is going to be suicidal this season.
It looks like Emery is pushing for a 4-1-4-1 this season. We look to finally have two DMs in Torreira and Guendouzi. We have an abundance of bodies and names in Ramsey, Ozil, AMN, Xhaka, Elneney, and Smith Rowe through the middle. If we’re going to play a high-press, I’m not sure how Xhaka fits because of his lack of pace, but we’ll see. I really wouldn’t be surprised to see a breakthrough player as a mainstay by the end of this season.
We’re struggling with wide players, unless Auba is seriously being considered there, which feels like a huge waste of a world-class finisher. Mikki, Iwobi, Welbeck, Nelson and maybe Ozil feels a touch thin on the ground. We really do need to invest in an exciting wide player or at least a loan before the season is out. We still haven’t replaced Alexis, with a strong move there, we really will be looking formidable moving forward.
Striking options of Auba, Lacazette, Welbz and Eddie feels very comfortable. It’ll be interesting to see if the manager adopts a 4-4-2 at any stage this season, he certainly has an interest in trying it out.
“The 4-4-2 is designed more and more for zonal positioning. It’s less aggressive but is harder to get past. I am not ruling out the possibility of a 4-4-2.”
Hector Bellerin seems to be enjoying himself.
“As I said the other day, it’s all about learning the new system, about getting used to each other again and used to the new players,”
“It felt like things were clicking more today. Slowly we are coming more together – training every day with the new concepts we have is working better.”
Football is just like your day-to-day. If you have a manager who challenges you and keeps you thinking, the work becomes more interesting. Our players have been sleepwalking in a very comfortable environment, they’re now being pushed to their limits physically and they’re being stretched mentally. Emery is having to upgrade the way the players see the game, which is basically 10 years of neglect from the manager. I think that’s why he’s been so keen to bring in old heads, because they can help carry the message in the dressing room (and calm it when it goes wrong).
In other news, City lost Laporte, Mahrez and Foden to injury in Miami yesterday. I also watched Chelsea vs Inter yesterday, they had a great half in a very nice canary yellow kit, but looked quite average in the second half. Really hoping they start the season with Cabellero in goal. Two very winnable opening games… for once, being utterly shite could pay dividends.
Anyway, all very exciting. Let’s just hope we don’t lose Aaron to Chelsea. I’ll leave you on Arsenal playing out the back like heroes.
pic.twitter.com/S9qwl5DrRA— PM (@ThatGooner) July 28, 2018
*Barely played
“Then Ozil and AMN go on and have a blinders this season. The scenes on here”
Yeah, not happening.
The chavs must be smoking something very dangerous if the rumours of them putting forward £30M for Ramsey has any substance,absolutely no way that is acceptable in a market were the likes of Richarlison and Alisson are going for ridiculous amount of money Ramsey on his day is a world class talent and nothing short of a record sale for us should be considered,how does ox goes for 40M and Ramsey who’s twice the player is been touted for 30M? I trust our transfer team to swiftly tell them to stick their low-ball offer where the sun doesn’t shine I… Read more »
Can I ask where the Fock people are getting their numbers from re Ramsay being worth 180k-200k in today’s market ? He is simply not that good and if we get anything near £40mm then bite it off.
Regarding the original post, Perez as an additional wide player?”
Perez is shit, shouldn’t get anywhere the squad for the new season, awful player, he came on against ATM and stunk the place out and rightly didn’t get a look in against PSG
the small worry now is clubs who had any interest might now be put off haven watch him against ATM
“Replace they say”
Who are you going to find in the two weeks that remain? Meyer, the arrogant kid that no-one wants to sign? And you give shit to Ramsey’s discipline issues.
Rambo there quite a few good midfielders out there who won’t have the ridiculous wage demands Ramsey has.
Lol Ramsey can be replace alright but with the likes of Meyer,Nzonzi who are squad players at best and would be a step down..
The likes of Rabbiot, Milinkovic-savic, Kovacic, Thiago, Pjanic etc..would be an upgrade though
Rambo they can replace Ramsey easily if they wanted to. Easily. I mean I can’t stress how easy it’d be to replace him.
should read *not with
Ramsey would not be that hard to replace, what it would mean though if you had a steadier more solid type CM is that Ozil would actually have to pull his finger out and contribute more goals from midfield and we would need to buy a winger who could add a lot more goals from wide. The Ozil contract is the problem here, Ramsey knows what he is on and his agent is probably asking for a massive amount with Ramsey having been our player of the year. Thankfully though I don’t think there are too many players who could… Read more »
Been such a donkey commenting on the old post I preloaded earlier
lol Tallest I know that feeling
Cesc the problem Ramsey has is there are fear few players that play on his position and they don’t demand his wages. And from what I hear the club are not close to reaching an agreement. In fact I would be surprised if they are looking for replacements for him
!Ramsey would not be that hard to replace, what it would mean though if you had a steadier more solid type CM is that Ozil would actually have to pull his finger out and contribute more goals from midfield” Which is exactly why he would be hard to replace. Ozil is not ever going to pull his finger out because he is simply incapable. It goes against his nature – his very core – to actually consistently look to score. He would also be fucked without Ramsey because the Welshman is another – like Giroud – that actually gives his… Read more »
I care very little for Ramsey.
I strongly believe he’s hit his ceiling. Even with Emery, I think Ramsey might have an extra 15% to give. In the grand scheme of things, I’m unsure whether those outputs would be massively beneficial to Arsenal.
I’d let him go, take the money and go for Allan, Kovacic or players of that ilk.
What a load of rubbish. Your case for Ramsey being irreplaceable is because Ozil is shit? I mean come on. You can potentially replace his goals with Mhiki or I dunno an actual goalscoring winger that is needed and in terms of replacing him in midfield that’s easy enough considering the amount of times he vacates the position and given the fact that we don’t need the type of midfielder that he is. A term I use loosely
Marko – The goals are only part of it and this what fans like you can’t through your head. Ramsey is the only midfielder that consistently makes runs through the middle, which hugely important for team shape and making space for others, considering both Ozil and Mikhi naturally drift wide (polite term for bottling and disappearing from the game), so we have this complete nothingness just behind the main striker if we play two holders and those two wide. Even if you play Ozil number ten he still disappears wide. So yes, he is bloody hard to replace if you… Read more »
Ramsey is the only midfielder that consistently makes runs through the middle, Mhiki can’t make those runs? We need a one of the midfield two to do that? Cause you know we’re likely to go with a 4-2-3-1 going forward and in that scenario with our full backs likely offering width we need one of the two CM’S at the base making runs into the box like we need hole in the head. We need Aaron less and less. We don’t need him as a CAM because we have Mhiki and Ozil. We don’t need him as a CM because… Read more »
Paulinho I get the point about Ramsey making all those runs and I also recognise he is a very instinctive player when in opposition box. But my main problem with him has always been his inability to play any one position in midfield -neither suitable for CAM position nor suitable for CM position. Yaya,Gerrard could make runs but could also hold a position and dictate play.
Smith Rowe is like a new signing….
His technical play is also questionable and my god the way he slows down the tempo can be frustrating. These are real things too that he does
Ramsey should be getting a pay cut not a pay rise.
It’s baffling why Arsenal are stalling on a next to nothing player.
Arsenal should offload him regardless of the amount involved.
Pedro “I thought it was telling that Emery dropped Ozil the captaincy.” I always felt that Emery was a great man manager, he got Seville playing above their pay grade, in fact he did it at every club he managed. The big question every fan had was “how will emery get the best out of Ozil?” Then there was Uli Hoeness and Emery didn’t blink! Big hug for Ozil post WC and Hoeness assault, so he could feel the love. Then he hands him the captaincy (all be it in a friendly), to see if he would step up, he… Read more »
“Mhiki can’t make those runs? We need a one of the midfield two to do that?” No. You seem to think any old Tom, Dick, and Harry can just make runs like Ramsey. Newsflash: They can’t. Most footballers have zero interest in it, and even if you gave them license to they wouldn’t. Mikhi has nowhere near the same stamina, or athleticism or mental fortitude t o make those runs consistently. He’s a flake, which you would see if you paid any attention to his joke of a performance against Spurs at Wembley. He knows himself how important Ramsey is… Read more »
Why is Ozil portrayed as a victim when he’s a lazy **** of a player.
TR7 – Yeah I get your point, just can’t stand the trivialising of qualities that are pretty hard to come by in the modern game, and, on the contrary, continually portraying them as weakness.
Points to an extremely superficial understanding of sport in general. With that mentality a boxer would never throw a punch.
Paulinho
So how do you want to see us line up? Who occupies 3 positions in midfield and who are the forward players?
If Ramsey stays, Torriera, Ramsey and Ozil in midfield for me and PEA, Laca and Mikhi the front 3.
Ramsey’s goals return is minimal at best.
Let cull all remaining Wenger ‘project youth’ cult members from the club.
TR7 – First off I want to scrap the whole number ten thing. So more of a flat three with license for the other two to go forward. Ramsey, Guendouzi, Torreira looks good if Guendouzi turns out as good as I think he will. Would also like to see how a Ramsey Torreira would fare as a two in central midfield. Just to see how it copes defensively and whether they compliment each other in terms of combination football because I still think that is the most important thing: If your two deeper-lying central midfielders don’t work well together and… Read more »
“This is really daft. Our away record was bad after Christmas, and Ramsey barely in any of them due to either injury or being rested due to Europa League.”
Make that case for Ozil too.
In other of Paulinho’s post all I have seen is middle, runs, Ramsey lol. Almost like he’s a striker not a CM. The reason he should be binned ASAP
From what I have seen of the new manager he is quite demanding and expects an extremely high work rate from his players. Ramsey is not really a defensive minded player at all. The previous manager and the whole regeme was pretty lax , I feel You can see that,and everything isvallotbmore open as well.
Mystic – You’ve flipped-flopped on Ramsey again?
First he is shit and needs to be binned for Max Meyer, then a month later he is brilliant and will be great under Emery, and now he needs to binned again.
You’re all over the place.
You seem to think any old Tom, Dick, and Harry can just make runs like Ramsey. Newsflash: They can’t. Most footballers have zero interest in it, and even if you gave them license to they wouldn’t.
My god how do any of the big elite successful clubs manage without a Ramsey in their side. Considering he’s apparently the only one who makes runs into the box
Meyer for Ramsey? lol. Never advocated for that. Emery could make him better, yes. But your hard on for him makes you believe he’s perfect, I don’t. I would easily replace him for better. You think he’s world class. Go figure
Despite the Ramsey situation I am actually quite optimistic for the first time in years. There has been allot of stock been into Kronke, but if you look at the amount of money this team has wasted overpaying on wages, plus the amount of we spent Xhaka, Mustafi, Lacazzette, and Abameyang , I really don’t it has much to do with the owner at all.
I also think Emery can improve all of our 25 except maybe Welbeck but I also know that they could (easily in some cases) be replaced. Doesn’t make me a flip flopper, just a realist.
leon
“From what I have seen of the new manager he is quite demanding and expects an extremely high work rate from his players. Ramsey is not really a defensive minded player at all”
Extremely high work rate? There will be some players that will be exempt from this extremely high work rate you speak of. They are simply just not made for it. They were brought in by Wenger as technical specialist players and there is no way they can maintain extremely high work rate levels over anything like a consistent period.
Your Comment Here
Paulinho
“First he is shit and needs to be binned for Max Meyer, then a month later he is brilliant and will be great under Emery, and now he needs to binned again.”
You know how it is.
Players that don’t commit and extend are cunts and are expendable.
Players that are not up too much but do commit and extend are fine. They are ok.
Ramsey, Guendouzi, Torreira looks good if Guendouzi turns out as good as I think he will” Geeeeez Knee jerk ejaculation in full flow 19 year old Guenduozi with just about 2 friendly matches played thus far should be thrown into the starting 11 for a top club in this unforgivable league Folks like you are first to get the pitchforks out if a youngster were to be hung out to dry like that If anything a case like that would make more sense of a player who knows the league much more better and quite clearly has got what it… Read more »
I don’t believe this club needs a suger daddy at all. The club has just been very poor run that’s all.
All Paulinho makes in Barca is runs. He has just been binned. Who’s specialty is it to make runs at Madrid, City, Psg, and other clubs lol.
The calls for Guendouzi already are just a reflection of the sparsity of all round CMs at the club that are ready to go first teamers.
You’ve never really ever mentioned how you feel about how he’s refused to sign up for us Paulinho. Misunderstood or a bit of a greedy cunt? I mean don’t they know how vital his runs into the box are especially if we ever want to challenge again
Mysic – Yes you did, you talked him up, and advocated binning Ramsey regardless.
Not surprised you can’t remember because you talk so much shit it must be hard to remember all of it.
Pierre sounds even better with his chance created stats than Paulinho sounds with his mental fortitude runs
Yes I still talk Meyer up till now and still advocate binning Ramsey IF he doesn’t sign. That doesn’t mean I want Meyer for Ramsey genius.
Matter of fact, Ramsey ain’t shit but he’s not remotely world class and can be improved on. i think I have pretty much maintained that over the course of all my arguments regardless of whether I want him binned or not
Point out where I said he was world-class.
I said he will be hard to replace.
As I said,you talk complete shit.
Morgan Sanson of Marseille would be a good replacement
Been reading for a several weeks now a lot of people in this blog have high expectations, to say the least, of Mikki this season. How he’d be our star and will be our best player bar Auba possibly. How this is his season and he will show what a player he really is aka top player. Well, I’d just like to give my two cents on it. Guy has been having a serious fight with Iwobi for the worst performer in attack in both of our serious friendlies so far. All of Auba, Laca, Ozil, Ramsey even Smith-Rowe have… Read more »
Rap to be fair yes Mhiki has got some high expectations and yes he’s been poor in preseason I think though some of the expectations of him for next season stem from when he joined in January he ended up with something like 6 assists for us. There’s a chance he could kick on next season
I’m a great believer that luck plays an important role in how successful you are. With this in mind, let’s take a look at Mr Mourinho who, on a cold damp night in Manchester back in March 2004, saw his fortunes change for the better when Francisco Costinha equalised in the last minute, thanks mainly to a massive Tim Howard gaff, to send Porto through to the CL Final. We all remember Jose’s manic sprint up the touchline in celebration of the goal and, as we all know, the rest is history. Chelsea’s billions beckoned, whilst his reputation and luck… Read more »
Ishola it will take time for the players unlearn the bullshit that Wenger has drummed into these players. It will need a complete change in mentality
I mean Perez got hanged for his shitty 30 mins against AM, but Mikki, the fan favorite, has pretty done zilch and played a pretty nothing in two semi-competitive games but not even ONE bad word for him. Would like to know why do you guys think he’s struggling atm, at least from what I saw. I mean he is supposedly a player who should realistically be our maybe 3-rd top performer after Auba and Ozil. If he doesn’t really perform all that well, then by all means we’d have a problem. I just know that I’m not putting him… Read more »
Victorious – Not straightaway. However over the season i would like to see that type of midfield.
By the way, when AMN is playing in the championship in a few years I’ll have a little chuckle at your hideous overrating of him.
Continuation
On to MU where although bringing some success, he has managed to drag the club down with his stifling tactics and boring football.
He moans like a spoilt child and makes even the most positive of minds feel like ending it all.
I am convinced that had that massive slice of luck not materialized that night in Manchester, back in 2004, Mr Mourinho would not have had the success he has had.
I don’t know… I’ve watched a lot of Ramsey over the years, and apart from a ‘purple patch’ where he somehow played and did things that I wouldn’t have believed he was capable of, to me he could be characterized as someone who, through a debilitating injury, lost the promise of his youth. It’s like the emperors new clothes with this guy… I just don’t see the fuss. Years ago Bryan Robson, who was also bang average ( and also equally as injury prone) somehow managed to enthuse people that he too was a great player. Pedro, last year Ramsey… Read more »
‘I said he will be hard to replace.’
Equates to him being world class….or very close. which is not the case.
leon
” it will take time for the players unlearn the bullshit that Wenger has drummed into these players. It will need a complete change in mentality”
If only it were that simple Leon.
As said before some players are just not high work-rate kinds.
Some are. Some aren’t. And Wenger brought to the club a few technical specialist players who don’t fit the bill of high work rate.
You can’t change a players DNA.
You might get a bit extra from them but not overall and to any real lengthy period.
Considering that Ramsey’s most telling contribution this preseason has been a bachkeel giveaway that almost led to a goal in our box and a sht backheel in the opponent’s box when he should have scored, I’ll say sell.
Or put another way, if selling Ramsey and some more fringe players can help us get Fekir it’s a no brainer.
Now that Auba has become our goto left winger then we need to rev up the number of goals from midfield.
I, as a person won’t mind a 4-1-4-1 of
Cech
Mustafi Mavropanos Papa Monnreal
Toreira
Miki Guendozi Ozil Fekir
Auba
Ramsey is a bang average player. Not even worth what he’s on now let alone 200k or whatever it is he wants.
Of course I may be wrong with Mourinho, nevertheless there is one thing I do know.
Playing with a philosophy and mindset set around not losing a game, rather than going out to try and win, carries less of a risk.
Yes he may have many trophies and accolades to his name, but is he really that good?
Personally, I think he’s just one extremely lucky, overhyped, bastard.
Raptora Mkiki is too inconsistent. Snowflake someone said earlier. Well that would be another one then. He’ll have his good days then disappear. Sounds familiar? He had that really good season at Dortmund where the team set-up was tailor made for him. Not like that at Arsenal. He’s not going to be the main focus all the time like he was at Dortmind in that good season he had. You have to remember Dortmund were close to ditching him and were fed up with him before the coach decided to give him that licence to be more individualistic in his… Read more »
Pedro, last year Ramsey wasn’t particularly good.. was he?
No, he had a purple patch towards the end of last season.
“Playing with a philosophy and mindset set around not losing a game, rather than going out to try and win, carries less of a risk.”
Just like a CM that just makes runs into the opponents box as opposed to one able to control the tempo of a game.
Harry Kane top scorer, PL golden boots twice, was on 100k increased to 200k just before the world cup ..not to mention has won the golden boot again, albeit a lucky one..
We shouldn’t pay Ramsey more than 100k for his 8 goals a season.
“Equates to him being world class….or very close. which is not the case.”
Only if you’re an idiot.
And as I’ve said, Ramsey’s importance is increased because of the type of players we have in the squad. If we had top class scoring wide players his departure wouldn’t be as big deal, but we have inconsistent Mikhi and non-scoring meek Ozil.
If you could actually read properly and weren’t such a cock you would realise his importance is linked to that, not because he is some world class untouchable individual.
So now Ramsey has this rare quality of running into the box to score goals that a certain poster believes has disappeared from the modern game.
Too bad those runs and goals dry up when the opposition can hold their own. Ramsey is okay..but he does not possess any special quality that will somehow disappear ones he leaves.
He is a CM who wants to be a CF. That is not a compliment by the way.
“If you could actually read properly and weren’t such a cock ”
Lol, all these mouth breathers…
Mysticleaves on June 1st….
“I think also someone said Ramsey has been offered 130k pw but is holding out for 150k. If that’s remotely true Arsenal would be mad not to offer him the 150 and renew his deal. Ramsey is the kind of player that, with the right structure and positional discipline embedded will go on and be world class.”
In consistent Mkhi…the only thing consistent about Ramsey is that he will leave your midfield wide open while playing alongside the striker.
He is no Lampard or Gerrard nor Yaya…those guys scored goals while still being immense in midfield. The only time Ramsey has good game is when he scores.
Mystic – Turns out you actually rate Ramsey higher than I do.
Lol.
Ramsey stay or go not bothered.
All I’m saying is I don’t wanna go into an exciting season only to hear the silly commentator talking about Ramsey’s contract situation every game we play. Sick of that with the Ozil and Sanchez rubbish last season.
Don’t want it to be what Emery has to answer in every press conference either. This is Ramsey we talking about not some superstar.
Ramsey’s supposedly great season in 2013-14 showed Arsenal’s results were no different after he sustained a lengthy injury in December 2013…..
Receding – Thanks for that illuminating insight. Great stuf…zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Miki made more tackles clearances and blocks than Ramsey per game for us last year.
Do we want someone who runs forward at every opportunity or do we want an actual centre midfielder who picks his moments. Add in that he’ll undoubtedly miss 30 per cent of the season again through injury then I’m not that bothered really if he goes.
Interesting comparison between Ozil and KdB.
Ozil – games played 142, assists 50, big chances created 61
KdB -games played 101, assists 44, big chances created 53
Ozil – goals scored 27, big chances missed 24
KdB- goals scored 21. big chances missed 9
All of the defensive stats are identical.
KdB with around 35% less games played.
What are those stats telling you Raptora?
Two more stats:
Ozil – hit woodwork 6, offsides 67
KdB- hit woodwork 14, offsides 12
Stats are telling me that KdB is at least 33% the player Ozil is. But also that stats can be deceiving and that they should be looked at and taken in consideration. But they surely don’t show the full picture. Maybe around half of it.
Raptora, where do those numbers come from?
Stats are telling me that KdB is at least 33% the player Ozil is.
Mind blown
Pedro,
https://www.premierleague.com/players/4714/Mesut-Özil/stats
https://www.premierleague.com/players/4288/Kevin-De-Bruyne/stats
Their defensive stats are not even comparable! Ozil tackles a game, 0.8 (2017/18) and 0.8 (2016/17). De Bruyne tackles a game, 1.7 (2017/18) and 1.4 (2016/17) Ozil interceptions, 0.5 (2017/18) and 0.5 (2016/17). De Bruyne interceptions, 0.7 (2017/18) and 0.6 (2016/17) Ozil dribbles past, 0.7 (2017/18) and 0.8 (2016/17) De Bruyne dribbles past 1.5 (2017/18) and 1.8 (2016/17). Ozil assists, 8 (2017/18) and 9 (2016/17). De Bruyne assists 16 (2017/18) and 18 (2016/17). Ozil goals 4 (2017/18) and 8 (2016/17). De Bruyne goals 8 (2017/18) and 6 (2016/17). Those are defensive and offensive stats in the past two years when… Read more »
Kind of surprised about Ozil’s defensive stats that don’t look as bad on paper and are comparable to KdB who plays considerably more all round role for Man City, because he is that good at everything of course. In ~33% more games though. Truth is like always in the middle I guess. Still 33% is a not a small margin. Say a 20 goals to 30 goals striker is some difference. And KdB has been bettering Ozil’s stats in every department per game ratio. Especially in the last two seasons.
Raptora
It is a two way street as well because De Bruyne has far more responsibility at City than Ozil did at Arsenal.
He has to press all around that midfield clearly does much more defensive work, more dribbling and yet still scored twice as many goals as Ozil this season and got twice as many assists even though Ozil basically is allowed to just focus on attacking.
De Bruyne is just top quality though. What did City pay for him, £50 Million? What would he go for in this market?
Is Mourinho trying to get sacked before the season even starts?
I wonder how “big chances created” stat works in relation to assists. I guess that it can only be counted as a big chance created if the player’s pass led to a clear chance to score. If the second player converts the big chance created then it’s also added as an assist. But not every assist is a big chance created. Because the last pass before the goal (the assist) might have been a nothing pass in the middle of the pitch. Chance created stat is any pass before a shot was taken. Therefore chance created stat is a pretty… Read more »
Here are my two cents: For the past 4 years, our attack relies heavily on the combination of Ozil and Sanchez. Now that Sanchez is gone, our attack will be spread out and the pressure on Ozil in the final third will decrease. Our manager is pushing for pressing up top. Against PSG, our young guns were doing it very well. But Ozil and Auba will not tackle. I saw Lacazette and Mkiki doing a lot of tackling. Ramsey runs a lot but he doesn’t tackle either. Once Guendouzi gains another 10 pounds, I want him to replace. Xhaka. Xhaka… Read more »
Ramsey is not that great and is replaceable anytime. He should be sold and a speedy winger be bought. I don’t see any club paying him the money he wants. To me, he’s very inconsistent and we shouldn’t do the same mistake we did with Ozil wages. Ozil too should take a wage cut.
Sell Rambo and use the funds for an offer for Dembele.
IF that falls thru- likely then go for plan B wingers.
We can get about 40M for him. Please let us now make the same mistake as last time!
City offered 60M for Alexis but Stupid Wenger and Co decided to hold him but got their assess handed to them in the winter window.
Ivan and CO get your shit together. Just a few weeks left!
Paulinho, well found.
I see that mysticleaves has gone into hiding after that.
Ramsey is an 8/10 player masquerading as a 9.5.
Entirely replaceable and frankly if we sold him and didn’t buy any cover for his position we’d be OK.
We have enough a tonne of CMs from back to front now.
He’s not a DM, he’s not a top tier box to box and he’s not our best AM. What is he apart from expensive?
Just a good player whose reputation was hugely inflated by a single world class season and an otherwise consistently shit arsenal midfield that made absolutely anyone of reasonable quality look elite.
Sad but true.
Ramsey is so irreplaceably good apparently and yet I genuinely don’t think he should be in our starting 11. I’m happy enough if he stays for squad depth and maybe emery can improve him to be genuinely excellent but as of the past 3 years, Ramsey has achieved a grand total of zero for us. And before anyone blames the shit squad around him, look at some of the filth cesc/rvp has to play with and they were absolute quality week in week out regardless Ramsey is good but not in that quality bracket. If he wants over 200k flog… Read more »
Ok, let’s cut to the chase.
Will Ramsey stay, or will he go?
I say STAY.
Then again, I did pick Peru to win the WC!
Have to agree with china there, he’s not the “best” player in any position he can play (some will say Ozil at AM but that’s an ambitious sell when you consider ability).
In many respects it’s the Laca vs Auba situation, but where Auba going wide or paying with both is a viable option. Ramsey and Ozil in the middle of the pitch is a recipe for getting sliced open.
Have said all along if he wants a mega deal then goodbye from me.
Great insight says Paulinho who says Ramsey has a quality of running forward which is rare in football or whatever.. Unlike u I don’t keep track of half the shit you say cos I am not filled with my own self importance
And lay off on Maitland-Niles ..if supporters love him and want him to do well so be it. Stop with all your he will end up in the championship bit.. You really think you are some football guru when frankly 80% of what you say is nonsense dressed up as insight
Lol, Paulinho. I think you mistake me for people that call Ramsey shit. For the umpteenth time Ramsey is not shit neither is he world class. I think he can be improved with right tactics and systems.
My post on june 1st that you dug up actually confirmed that. Your are funny. Its you that thinks he will be hard to replace because of the runs he makes. I think he CAN be improved and go on and fulfill his potentials.
RR, I don’t live here. And I don’t see what i will hide for.
Ramsey is irreplaceable because he runs forward. That was the insight the great sage dropped yesterday.
Isn’t it sad a poster has to go all the wag back to June 1st to dig up a post someone else made…. Absolutely unhealthy behavior
Just like he went to dig up a post i made about Ozil…paulinho takes this place way too seriously.