Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain found himself in and out of the Arsenal first team during the course of the last season for one reason or another, because if he isn’t on the treatment table, the youngster’s inconsistency to perform is holding him back from really progressing at Arsenal.
After an impressive game for the Ox in yesterday’s 1-1 draw with Lens, in which Oxlade Chamberlain scored the equaliser with a very tidy chip, fans will be wondering if the Englishman will be able to keep it up going into the new campaign.
Speaking after the match, Wenger was full of praise for the young talent but was keen to stress that he is still a little cautious about the Ox. Wenger told Arsenal.com: “I’m still a bit cautious. He’s fully recovered but I want him to go through four or five games first to be completely reassured. You could see that straight away, when he came on, he brought something to the team. Let’s hope he gets through the rest of pre-season.”
You can tell by Wenger’s comments that one of the biggest concerns when it comes to the Ox is injuries. Chamberlain has been unlucky with injuries at Arsenal (isn’t everyone), but it has really affected his progression at the club. Chamberlain can be inconsistent and really does need to step up his game with grabbing goals and assists if he is to stay at Arsenal, but injuries have certainly played their part in not allowing Chamberlain to get a good run of games in the team.
There are still high hopes for Chamberlain, despite rumours earlier in the summer that he could be considered for a loan move away. However if he can stay injury free and get a good run of form behind him, I think Chamberlain can still develop into a star after a consistent season. Chamberlain has a big point to prove this year and it starts here in pre-season. Competition has never been harder for places in midfield and if the Englishman doesn’t impress sooner rather than later, than he could soon find himself being considered for the exit door at the Emirates.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here because even though the Ox looked impressive yesterday, he needs to show what he’s capable of on a consistent basis. This showcase was just 45 minutes and we need that kind of performance from the Ox week in week out if he wants to be a first team regular. Let’s not forget that he scored the only goal of the game against Chelsea in the Community Shield last year and look how his season went after that!
By AH
AOC should be loaned out or sold. We need our forward players to be scoring 15 goals or more per season.
The same thing he did against Manchester city last season during community shield. Don’t mind those British core players.
The Ox should be sold, his stats are shocking! A whopping two goals in the league over the last two seasons, and only 14 in five years is embarrassing! I’m not sure on the assists, but I know they’re really low as well.
I know he’s still young, but he’s very injury prone, and if you can’t perform playing at the highest level with the likes of Santi, Alexis, and Ozil, then he’ll probably never will. The Ox hasn’t improved in five years, and we need to learn from the Wilshere, and Walcott situations, amongst others. Wilshere is in his mid-twenties now, he rarely plays, earns big money, yet we’re STILL talking about his potential, and what has Walcott done in ten years to be on 140k! Do we really want to see the Ox on about 100k a week for doing nothing? Because his next contract, irrespective of performances, will be in that region.
We can’t get rid of all of our British players because of the homegrown rule, but barring Chambers, they’ve all failed for me.
ox needs to contribute this season or get sold. pre-season means nothing. didnt sanogo score a hatttrick in preseason once… yea, that says it all
@ThirdManJw are you a prophet or what.I find your comments very funny and I can see you are also one of the stats lovers.Some of you would make terrible coaches Arsene is light years better.To say we should sell Oxlade chamberlain based on his stats is pointless at this time.Yes Ox stats aren’t very impressive but that’s mostly because he’s always injured.He’s been very good in previous seasons prior to last season and he can improve his game and be world class.You don’t want to be selling a player like that.He can make it big time with us and would already have been world class if not for injury.The guy needs to play.Stop using stats as an excuse to why he should be sold or else you’ll have me look up the stats of some of the Arsenal starters and why they should be sold.
Also you said barring Chambers they’ve all failed for you.Ok now that’s your opinion.I for one think Gibbs,Wilshere and Ox haven’t failed but are blighted with injury.A player like Calum Cahmbers is getting worse on the bench.He needs to play for us to see his real quality whether he’s the real deal or not.We need to know.He should go on loan or be allowed to play more next season.I also don’t want to see Mertesacker in the line up again.What a terrible leader he’s been and I said terrible leader not player though I don’t rate him he’s ok.Arsene must have proper foresight and vision for this current team to succeed and that’s what he lacks.Also mentality of players is terrible I don’t even know how to describe it.We have small boys mentality in al most all games we play.
@kev
I like stats because they are factual pieces of information that cannot disputed, but that doesn’t mean I don’t watch Arsenal on a regular basis, because I do. I’ve seen plenty of the Ox to know that his only good attributes are speed, acceleration, and on some occasions, dribbling. That’s not enough to make a top player! He doesn’t score, he doesn’t assist, and his passing is awful at times, which is a real downer because he plays in a team which is heavily reliant on quality passing. You say he needs game time, but he’s played almost 150 games! That many appearances over a five year period, is more than enough time to see if he’s worth keeping or not.
You also mention the injuries, and fair enough I agree. Wilshere may have been world class by now if it wasn’t for the injuries, but the reality is, he isn’t though. His injuries aren’t going to suddenly vanish into thin air, and he’ll start playing 50 plus games a season. Even if a player is top quality or has huge potential, they should still be sold if they have chronic injuries. What’s the point of keeping them if they can never play? Surely we need to learn from what happened with Diaby, and Rosicky. I loved Rosicky, but he should have gone a long time ago.
As I said earlier, I like stats, but I base my overall opinion on a player/manager from what I see.
What about RVP? He was injury prone but Wenger stick with him till the end and it paid off.
Sure he turned his back on us, but the 2 seasons prior to his betrayal he almost single handed brought champion league for us and we sold him for 20M when he was 29….
AOC has so far been very
lightly used which basically
means Wenger does not rate him.
Wilshere is totally injury prone.
Should be sold before he drops
dead on us a total loss.
Leicester would be crazy
not to sell Mahrez.
Buy for half a mill sell for 45 mill.
That’s what I call good business.
Hope indeed………….. LiL consistency…….. Poor injury record!
This boy needs some time out in the sun!