Has Elneny earned a regular start in Arsenal’s first team?

Arsenal were looking in danger of being eliminated from the Europa League by CSKA Moscow on Thursday night, until Mohamed Elneny popped up to give Danny Welbeck the chance to put us back in the game, and in most peoples eyes the Egyptian was our best midfielder on the pitch that evening seeing as he also fed Aaron Ramsey for our equaliser as well.

Even Arsene Wenger praised him after the game, saying: “He a super-popular player and everybody inside the club loves him,”

“But he’s not only loved, he is also a very good player and he showed that in Moscow. I never wanted him to leave, I always wanted him to stay. I must say that we had demands for him but he always wanted to stay too.

“In the second half in Moscow he played in defence and then afterwards, when he moved back into the middle of the park, he gave assists. He works hard and is generous. Overall, I think he did very well.

Elneny was only playing because of Granit Xhaka having the flu this week, and with Ramsey and Wilshere and the injured Mhkitaryan normally being higher in the pecking order he rarely gets any starts in the Premier league matches.

He has only started 7 times in the EPL this season, but should he now be given more chances by Wenger?

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36 Comments

  1. Well since El Neny was given a new contract we might as well play him now, preferably over Wilshere. However, come next season if we want to challenge for the premier league and champions league (and am assuming that is what this club is about), then guys like backpass El Neny should not be anywhere near the squad. We must be brutal and clear out the deadwood this summer. Pretty much the whole defence bar our leftbacks need to go. MUSTAFI must be shown the door alongside either or both of Holding and Chambers.

    1. All our players make back passes Which should make you think that maybe that is the instruction from the coach.

    2. Players who should never play for Arsenal Again this season – Konsienly, Mustafi, Wilshere…players who should be given new roles as we face Atletico and Man United –
      Monreal and Elneny (New CB Partnership), Kolasinac – Left Back, Bellerin – Right Back, Midfield four, Xhaka, Ramsey, Ozil and Mkhitaryan/Welbeck/Iwobi; Forwards – (Lacazette and Aubemeyang (EPL) and Lacazette and Welbeck(Europa)… Operation (Ozil Attacking Midfield, Ramsey – Box to Box, Xhaka Defensive midfield, Welbeck – Free role Supporting from the Wings in EPL and going in as support Centre Forward in Europa) – The Best Pattern 4.4.2 or 3.5.2. Wenger has been on a mission to keep our best players away from each other. He Kept Giroud from Sanchez and Now he wants to keep Lacazette, Welbeck and Aubameyang from each other…

  2. Let’s not go overboard over one performance.Elneney is bang average in his Premier League outings and nothing more.Agaist the Spuds at Wembley he was given the job to protect the defence and in the Second Half he was anonymous as they completely over ran us.He is a squad player and nothing more.If Wenger felt differently he would have used him more and when you think of the second rate performances of both Xhaka and Wilshere this season that really does sum it up.

    1. You can’t really judge few of our players until you see them playing under a new coach. Mo is one of them.

      1. With respect I believe we all know how good a player is after 2 seasons and Elneney will NEVER be more than a squad player in a side that is considered competitive enough to challenge for major honours.We have seen enough to know he is committed and tries but he has the one thing lacking that is needed at the highest level.ABILITY

  3. For this season maybe
    He is a hard worker but he is bang average. However he could be one of our best central midfielders sadly

    If we want to stay at 6th place next season then yes start Eleny

    If we want to compete with the best then we need to sign two top central midfielders

    1. To be clear. I think Eleny is a hard worker and he makes an excellent squad player. Just not a permanent Starter

  4. Elneny is a quality squad player, nothing more really. But how Xhaka constantly plays ahead of him, or any other central midfielder for that matter (even youth teams players) is beyond me!

    I would stick with Elneny for the rest of the season, and bench Xhaka.

    1. Xhaka and Ozil are like Beckham, highly marketable. Arsenal can get a lot of profit by selling these expensive players’ merchandises

      How often do these highly paid players shine in a tough away big matches? They tend to disappear and often do not do much to pressurize the opponents

      1. Although I agree with you about marketability, the problem is that Wenger constantly lets players contracts run down, thus losing valuation. I am so glad the board are FINALLY starting to tear control away from the clutches of Wenger, only wish they would have done it earlier!

        1. YES. A DECADE AGO and rising every catastrophic day this old has been stays clinging to his job, like a drowning man clings to a log that is about to be torn from his incompetant, desperate and arrogant grasp.

    2. They are both bang avarage 😀 honestly. At least Xhaka is good looking that is why maybe he get the nod ahead of elneny hahaha and crowd love xhaka rememebr every time he is near they shout shoot (not sure if it is opposition or our fans 😀 )

  5. They almost sold him out to Leicester City before this season started, but he did not want to go. I have been telling you guys that he has been improving with his brave forward and timely passes

    As the most hardworking players in the field, his and Welbeck’s presence are crucial in big games, whereas silky and expensive players like Ozil tend to disappear. He might not be as expensive as Xhaka, but I reckon he could be Arsenal’s invisible wall like Gilberto Silva

    1. he plays a few decent games and now he’s a future arsenal legend? Being better than Xhaka is not very hard. There are midtable teams with better CDM’s than him. I agree his presence is welcome when others go disappearing but he’s not good enough to start. If we get back into Champions League Elneny will not be able to play at the high level required to go far in the competition. We cant get carried away with players just after a few string of games. These are all the same players that played very poorly for 3/4 of this season. We can’t be so quick to forget all the bad performances this season just because we picked it up after we lost out on every other competition.

      1. But Elneny didn’t play for most of the season in PL so that point doesn’t make sense.

        He is hard working and can play (pass for Welbs first goal was great) but he should not be anything more than a squad player ( though every team needs them by the way! )

        If somehow we get back to CL and competing in PL then we will need players like him for league cup and away matches like Newcastle where some of the classier players often go missing as has been said.

  6. I’ll wait until a new manager gets to assess Arsenal’s current squad and decide who he wants to keep or replace.

  7. We need hardworking and determined players….

    he will make a good squad player….

    playing him at centreback has improved Eleney alot…..

  8. He’s not the best player, but i think a bit better than some make him out. Not saying we don’t need a DM, but he wants to be at Arsenal, and was willing to fight for a place. I admire that over spoiled Wenger children who shun £90k a week, or whine about “other priorities” while demanding massive pay raise for occasional performances between injury layoffs.
    Elneny quietly went about his business, doing his part.
    I would love to see what he could do given a real run of games. Wilshire has given club nothing; he was on the grass so much thought he was humping the pitch.
    Ramsey is not the CM we need either. 10 yrs at club and he’s another Walcott for me. It’s my opinion, I’m sure others disagree, but hey it’s a forum.
    Rabiot at PSG would do for me, or someone to bring technique to the midfield since no Santi.

    1. Spot on comparison with “spoiled Wenger children who shun £90k per week”; this the reason Arsenal’s comparative wages bill is so high. Elneny is a quiet achiever, doing whatever the Manager requires, is improving every match and appears proud to wear the shirt.

  9. Looking at the work rate of Elneny he as improved to be sincere. From my own perspective he’s going to be a better and important player for us in the coming seasons!

  10. I think Elneny had good game and his assist were master class. However it doesnt change that he is avarage most of the time. I believe he could improve, but i still see him as squad player. He is limited, but hardworking wich i like. Xhaka was also better this season so it is hard pick (still win beauty competition to be ahead of elneny). Still better than our future club captain. I have no idea why Wilshere is still in the club.

  11. Elneny and Wwlbeck were our two best players against CSKA. What THAT says is about the squad being way sub -par , rather than those two being even remotely good enough. I keep telling fans on here- and so do many others like Phil, Quantic Dream and several others – that this Wenger squad is second rate(at our best, even) and virtually all bar perhaps five or six, plus the very young fringe players, should all be got rid of as soon as the new manager can replace them. The entire defence, bar Monreal. is complete rubbish , IMO. Elneny and Welbeck are NOT of Arsenal quality , at least not of Arsenal – UNTIL WENGERS last few years -quality. It is deeply depressing how so many still fool themselves, rather than call for positive change, which means WENGERS SACKING. THIS AFTERNOON!!!

    1. You add to the team the right quality of player and it makes a difference each time. If we had Liv’s team you would say very similar, Atletico’s team the same, Juventus team you would say the same. Because every player on those teams are not star quality, very very rarely would you see a team that every position is star quality. We are not Madrid, that’s why I used those examples, but there’s plenty more. That’s before we even talk about squad players. What do you think it is fantasy football. Just scrap and spend half a billion, yeah sounds easy. Do you not think it might be more difficult than that, at Arsenal, Juventus, A Madrid and the likes. You say second rate like we’re a bonafide first rate team. We need to improve yeah, but I don’t think you would know how to go about that judging by your plentiful complaints.

  12. I seriously don’t understand the hate on Elneny. The guy is pure class. But if you compare him with Modric or Cazorla then you are just retarded.

    Elneny is the kind of squad player we need, he loves the team, good vibes, even off the pitch players has only said good things. He is the hardest working player after Sanchez in recent years, and I have to say he is pretty consistent recently

      1. Elneny in the same class as Cazorla?And you wonder why we have a divided fanbase?Its all about expectation levels.and anyone who seriously believes Elneney is the standard we should be setting are really settling for a club at the level of West Ham.FFS WE ARE ARSENAL

  13. Elneny is a very tidy and neat player, but I feel if he was able to raise his tempo and do it all at a quicker more aggressive pace he would then be in contention. But it’s not something that is easy to do for whatever reason, players like Elneny Ozil just have their own rhythm and only up it occasionally. That last game I was willing our players to just get on top of them up the bloody tempo but too many of them were either tired or out of sorts, then Elneny start chasing down the ball down and in the 70/80 odd minute he chased it from our area all the way back up to their GK pressuring each man all along the way. That’s what I want to see from him, also his accuracy is top notch so he should be more confident trying through balls, not just defence splitting ones but ones like Cazorla would do to put a player in a good position to then put the striker through.

    I read Mkhit is not gonna be fit for the semi, that’s a huge blow. I could have sworn the time frame was gonna see him returning for at least the second leg, but I thought he’d be back in time if I’m honest. Seriously, we really need him to be fit.

  14. Welbeck, Elneny are players that start if you wanna finish outside top 4. Great they are playing well now, but as always we get carried away when players string together 1-2 performances. Welbeck is known for poor finishing and all around being below average. Elneny’s play mostly consists of side passing. Won’t win you EPL, will get you absolutely nowhere in UCL. Elneny is fine for a squad player and to finish season with. But a major upgrade is badly needed. He’s miles away from top class

  15. Elneny is a reasonable squad player but better than Xhaka
    He is not the kind of player that is going to drive us onto success though.
    Neither is Wenger but there you go…

  16. Eleny didn’t really need to do anything to earn the start, wilshere has been poor.
    Same for lots of other position, ozil, Ramsey, mustatfi, bellerin. If you look at our bench, no one is there to really challenge their gaurrantee start status. players like iwobi and holding are just not good enough yet

  17. Elneny is a good player and should play alongside Xhaka in front of the back four. Frankly, Jack looks finished but obviously Wenger will persevere with him.

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