Wenger keeps faith in Iwobi to give Ozil a rest

Arsenal’s 19 year-old Alex Iwobi is looking certain to become a regular Arsenal first team player next season, as Arsene Wenger has been slowly integrating him into the squad. The nephew of Jay Jay Okocha has only made five subsitutes appearances in the League, but as Wenger thinks his best position is at Number 10 he has to push Mesut Ozil out of the way first!

But Wenger has started Iwobi in every round of the FA Cup to give Ozil a rest and today will be no different as Le Prof will save our German maestro’s energy for the trip to Barcelona in midweek. Wenger even named Iwobi as the Arsenal player to watch in the pre-game preview. “A modern, top, top player is a guy who has a good combination of humility and ambition – humility off the pitch and ambition on it,” Arsene said. “That makes real champions.

“Alex is a guy who provokes in his game and provokes mistakes from the opponents with the vertical way he plays.

“That can be expressed on the flanks or through the middle. In fact when he was a youth-team player, he only played on the flanks and I put him in the centre because I liked the way he read the game and the speed of his understanding of the game.

“That is why I would put him in the middle, but he can express his talent in every single offensive position.”

Wenger obviously has very high hopes for the Nigerian international, and his versatility will make him become invaluable to Arsenal in the future. If he carries on with his excellent performances in the FA Cup, I am certain that we will see Iwobi on a much more regular basis in the next campaign….

Tags Iwobi Watford Wenger

15 Comments

  1. If I was Wenger I’d play Ozil against Watford and play Iwobi at Barca. we have a realistic chance of progression in the FA and I don’t think we can say the same in the Champions Legue. rest Ozil for next weekend. if I was Wenger I’d also play some of our fringe players against Barca. they are hungry and you never know the outcome.

    1. yea that explains why the likes of Kante and mahrez are hungry…….they know where they came from and where they are going!

  2. Iwobi is an intelligent player.what I love about him is his quick and incisive passes just like Ozil, he doesn’t slow our game down unnecesssarily.can’t wait to see him play again today

  3. Iwobi gets his chance
    because everyone else
    who could play there is injured
    Cazorla Rosicky Wilshere
    Chamberlain Zelalem on loan
    while Ramsey is needed on the wing.
    Chamberlain in his 5th season still looks like an Academy player.
    Walcott in his 10th season and is still a bench player.
    Wilshere in his 8th season and still way short of the 10 shirt.
    Wellbeck in his 6th season and barely a starter.
    Gibbs 7th season and a squad player at best.
    One wonders how many of these players would be in the team
    if they were not protected by the English quota.
    Hopefully Iwobi can be the first player
    from the Hale end academy to actually succeed.

    1. Even if Ramsey isn’t injured…… I won’t have him on my list for selection……. Likewise the Ox

  4. So this is why we have no real strong characters in the team, Wenger is looking for humility in his players. A team full up of the same personality traits is not a good idea, hard to explain why but it doesn’t sound like something you should be aiming to do. I know Fergie gathered info about how a player behaved and what he is like when with the other lads – Popular – Funny – Angry – Sarcastic – Mischievous – Arrogant – Humble etc etc. Id say it is good to have a defender who is angry allot of the time, or is easily angered. Vieira was like that, then he used it to his advantage. Team moral, it would be good to have some jokers esp mischievous ones. Looking for a captain popular and angry come to mind. Striker, Arrogant of course. Humility, hmm.

    1. Football Managers speak
      in cliches 75% of the time.
      The other 25 % of the time
      they speak in riddles.
      When the manager is a poor English speaker
      like Wenger it’s even worse… its torture.
      Honestly in 20 years of listening to Wenger
      I don’t recall him saying anything of any value at all.
      David Byrne described football manager speak perfectly
      “Your talkin a lot but your not saying anything”

  5. Davidnz is really pissed today!
    Why bro, why???
    You have so optimistic since last month, why the sudden change???
    Everything will be fine!

  6. hahaha……..it’s getting to him…….. Everyone (well not everyone *winks*)is starting to get fade up of the same old same old game wenger plays

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