Last season after scoring against Brighton there was talk that Iwobi should replace Ozil. Now those same people are saying he should be starting on the right of midfield instead of Ramsey based on a couple of decent performances.
Some Gooners suggested Arsene Wenger was scared to drop his star player, while Emery is now being accused of trying to indulge the Welshmen in a bid to get him to sign a new contract. In reality could it simply be that Iwobi is not good enough? This is now the Nigerian’s 4th year since being promoted from our academy. At no point has he shown the consistency to suggest he belongs at this level.
In fact looking at his statistics it is insulting to what Ramsey has done for us that there should be a debate based on a MOTM cameo against a Ukranian club. Last Thursday was the exception to the rule, with him not showing the mentality in those type of cup games to take the game by the scruff of the neck. While an argument should be made that Rambo does not belong on the wing or that he should return to a CM, that doesn’t mean you drop him for a weaker option.
With no guarantees he will be a gunner next year, it’s obvious why Ramsey might not have the support he once did.
The board will not be negotiating a bigger salary for a man who is not first choice in his favoured role. But that does not mean Iwobi is the answer. His job is to score or assist goals. His record in those areas is poor, with it too easy for his confidence to evaporate. We were told for years he played better for his country yet he choked at the World Cup, dropped after one game when the pressure got to him. Ramsey meanwhile can point to being a match winner in 2 out of the 3 FA Cups he has won. It’s hard to envisage Iwobi ever having that kind of moment at Wembley.
While we are one of the worst in extending contracts, there’s a reason why getting Iwobi’s signature didn’t create a saga. He must have been very grateful that those in power still see him as an asset for our future. That’s what is worrying ….
It’a hard enough to get Stan Kroenke to put his hand in his pocket. I demand the American spend millions to replace Ramsey when the time comes. Us trying to convince ourselves we already have a suitable standby just gives him another excuse to save money. Iwobi will start in the League Cup in midweek. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to demand he be one of our best players against Championship opposition. If he’s surrounded by youth, he should take responsibility. He should be using the tie as an opportunity to get noticed. If Brentford take the lead, his head shouldn’t go down.
If he can’t do that, then don’t tell me he should be ahead of Ramsey.
Dan Smith
Well Iwobi is Iwobi. He could be different under this new manager. He is needed in the team. You said “MOTM cameo against Ukranian club” It shows that he’s very good and needs confidence and consistency. That so called Ukranian club scored 2 against us.
Iwobi was also very good against chelsea in the first half, a match we only lost because emery made the wrong substitution at halftime and also because we had Ozill in midfield againest Kovacic, kante and Jorginho.
The problem at arsenal is players who are a jack of all trades and a master of none.
Iwobi is a specialist wing playmaker and is the best winger at the club as evidenced by wenger is decision to sell walcott,ox chamberlin, lucas perez ,joel campbell and retain iwobi.
The problem with ramsey is lack of a specialist position.
He is not a good no 10, as you can see our attack has not clicked since he moved to no 10, but he does track back and provide some physicality in the middle of the park.
Ramsey is not a good no.8, as his distribution from deep is not good although at no.8 he can arrive into the box and score goals only when he has a holding target man like Giroud which lacazzete or aubameyang arent.
To me ramsey should be on the bench.
Now ozil is a good No.10 . But he doesn’t score or care enough when he losses the ball and tackles like a woman as mourinho said.
Ozil on the wing, i would rather have iwobi or welbeck their.
The coach needs to see that we have not had a match in which we are convincing and we just scrapping wins.
Same problem with xhaka, Good at passing but shit at recovering the ball when he losses it.
The team has not balanced and iwobi or ramsey is not the problem.
It is the coach, playing ozil,ramsey and lacazzette out of position.
Sorry to go immediately off topic but apparently Garth Crooks has taken issue with Laca’s celebration after scoring a magnificent goal at the weekend. It’s a pity he doesn’t criticise Dele Alli’s gang related hand signal’s. Maybe it was quality of the goal that upset him.
Carr to explain? Saw nothing wrong in it but in todays ❄️ time everything is somehow offensive
Yeah, Crooks uses any scenario to have a dig at Arsenal in comparison to alli’s celebrations. Is that ok?
Sorry, maybe you don’t know but Garth Crooks is an ex Spurs player.
Rubbish player, rubbish pundit. No bias here honest!!!
Laca should take his critisem as a compliment then and do the dance more often now, lol.
Crooks is the most useless annoying pundit there is and I don’t say that cos he’s a spud but cos he’s a useless spud.
Well said Declan
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Kenny , Please take no notice. I have a friend who has worked at the BBC in sports and knows Crooks. He is widely considered an oddball at the BEEB. That is why Crooks has faded from sight in the media. Even such as Lineker , apparently, consider him strange.
Thank you Jon
He is weird, he’s an ex tott but the way he talked about Wenger and Arsenal he sounds more Gooner like than some in here. I often found his behavior a little odd.
Typical of a crook. Oh, a bunch of them.
Yes, because he has good skills, stamina and physical attributes
But while the no 10 position is occupied by Ozil, Mkhitaryan and Ramsey, I think we would see Iwobi more in the wings and I saw that he has shifted up his gear there
Ramsey is overrated while Iwobi underrated. Both are squad players at best and not good enough to be starters at top teams who aim a cl place. Our youngsters who are going to come at age soon are showing much promise and talent than both of them and Arsenal needs to make sure to provaid these players with the experiende they need to develope their potential to the fullest. Smith-Row, Mateo, Niles, Nketiah etc are all great prospects.
Anyone can be a replacement for Ramsey even a player from Ladies eleven
Now that’s too much
Ramsey is almost tireless. Therefore I foresee we would see more exciting stuffs coming from him, if he keeps starting at the no 10 spot
Tireless ?more like tired ,I keep hearing that he’ works hard and presses ,I have never seen this .
He’s a busted flush who should have been sold in the summer and for him to be in the starting 11 and has a number 10 is laughable .please don’t confuse a player who looks busy with a player who actually does something in the game .
Well said, I agree completely. Found it interesting the author didnt mention Maitland-Niles as a replacement for Ramsey, rarher than Iwobi. Even after mentioning Ramsey as a CM still didn’t mention Ainsley.
Personally I find him better defensively, technically, and better all around CM tool set.
Hopefully he’ll return healthy and provide competition for the overrated one.
Couldnt agree more mate , AMN is the one player we have who I’m excited about ,abit like Diaby and cesc when they were coming through .
Like you said he’s so much better defensively,seems to have power pace and good upper body strength ,and cm should be his position ahead of anyone that’s how much I rate the lad
Really hope AMN gets a good run of games in the CM position. Whether competition with Guendouzi or Ramsey I think AMN has shown enough to earn an honest competition.
I’d go so far as to start AMN over Ramsey who still hasn’t or won’t sign. Great chance to sell Ramsey by showing he’s certainly replaceable, and showing youngsters like Smith-Rowe and Nelson that hard work and improvement is rewarded.
Ramsey has yet to perform on level with the wages he’s asking.
As a squad player yes or until he can convince me that he is a top quality central midfielder
But in the meantime we need an upgrade to Ramsey and Iwobi if we want to compete with City, Liverpool, Chelsea, United, Spurs. They all have central midfielders who are better than ours (not including Torreira)
That kid Iwobi is from a family that is through and through Arsenal. His dad is a top lawyer in Nigeria who loves our club. To leave us he would need to convince the old man the sense of it. He plays everywhere he sent much like Ramsey was before money mania.
If that’s the case, it’s good to have him as a pure Gunner in the team, rather than having a bunch of mercenaries that play half-heartedly
Hearing about Nigeria reminds me of the sweet Chizaaaa and Hafiz Rahman
I am hoping ramsey leaves in January so we can get something for him and replace with a better player but a wide player. Judging by the 4-2-3-1 formation we will be playing moving forward, the most important thing to be considered is the balance of the squad. Right now, we have a very unbalance squad, bunch of center strikers and central midfielders no quality wingers or wing forwards. I think we should be looking to get a right winger preferably a left footed one for the right wing so ozil can play consistently in the no 10 role to prove his worth before we decide his future in the summer. Ozil and mkhi should compete for the no 10 role while aubameyang should stay as the left wing forward till the summer too. With xhaka and torreira as the sitting two, we would have a better squad balance. Iwobi is doing good right now but we just can’t rely on him as a starter.
Ramsey’s only in that role because Emery is trying to let Ozil know just how much importance he puts on pressing from that area and protecting the CM players too. He puts allot of importance in that stuff because if its about creativity over everything else, well then Ozil would easily have the role. So too would Mkhit. Its a good opportunity for Mkhit to try and claim it for himself. I wonder if Ozil will try and take the bait, and just press and track back as best as ever he did.
Ozil is past his best, he switched off years back the game is evolution has made his type obsolete.
You cant have a no.10 who can’t track back into the midfield ,tackles like a woman and most of all he does not score enough because some goals involve scrapping and this dog doesn’t scrap he runs from every fight.
Even aubumeyang on the wing is making an effort to track back, over paid ozil doesn’t care.
He doesnt turn up when it matters and is a flat track bully.
Benlux, to the point and showing realism. Pity Phil and Sue will never accept your truth. There comes a time when you have to say enough is enough. If someone doesn’t WANT to try and fight for the shirt, as Ozil clearly does not, then he must forfeit his place. You cannot hope to justify a place based almost entirely on the odd (and long ago now) occasional sublime form he has shown. But never regularly and never enough. Frankly, he is conning wages in Walcott style. And what is more, most of us recognise that, even though Phil and Sue won’t.
There is no doubt Iwobi has shown an urgency and keenness this season in the games he has played.But in my mind he will never offer us the class and talent we require to be considered a top team.He will get game time over the course of the season but he will never be a first choice starter.Why?He is not good enough.
Phil, Inclined to agree and I have never thought Iwobi good enough. But with the decline of your poster boy, Ozil and Ramseys long inconsistency behind him and his well documented weaknesses in his play, we have little cover right now. I have huge hopes for AM-N, long term but he is injured. I see this as last chance saloon for Iwobi, BUT with Ozil being awful this season and Ramsey too, I would play Iwobi this week-end and see what happens. The real truth is that our midfield creativeness, with Ozil not trying as he should, is sadly lacking,. We need new players but we have got Kroenke as a huge handicap. Huge sigh!
Jon
I concur with you and phil on this
Infact I would even take a mannequin in the starting 11 to replace Ramsey
He doesn’t want to do the dirty part of the game
Arriving late or unnoticed was his trade mark but staying up top all game is a waste of a player
Ozil is ozil and I have never been a great fan. He is unpredictable and you never know if he will turn up.
Well JF thank god you haven’t suggested Iwobi is a better player than Ozil.That really would have been the biscuit for me.I will defend Ozil over land and sea (and Leicester) all the time he is continually being played out wide.Especially with Ramsey being given the No10 role.He is not a wide player.He has proven how ineffective he is when played there not only this season but when Wenger forced him out wide again mainly to accommodate Ramsey.For the life of me I just cannot fathom out why two successive Managers are forcing our most creative player away from the areas where he is needed and most effective.Ozil is not a workhorse.He is not an up and down player.What he is is a very creative footballer capable of improving any team he plays in.He has proved this in the past and can prove this again.But only when he plays centrally in a free role.
Stick Ramsey out wide and see how it affects his game.Its not been that good this season as it is so what it would be like if he is played out there and expected to perform I can only guess.
My guess it will soon come down to the Manager having a straight choice between Ozil or Ramsey who plays as a No10.Its obviously not working for them both.Ozil is just not effective when played wide.Ramsey is not capable of being a playmaker.If Emery plays Ramsey in central midfield in place of Xhaka then this is his more natural position.Will that effect the balance Emery seems to prefer with Torreira and Xhaka?Again I’m not sure.Xhaka has shown improvement this season but Ramsey is more reliable and more effective driving from midfield.
JF-I’m not the Manager.If I was I would not play Ozil in any position other than as a No10.
Phil I would not start either Ozil or Ramsey right now. Their perfs do not justify a place. All players, whoever they are , must audition in front of the manager and fans , week in , week out, to keep their place . If they do not cut the mustard, no matter what excuses are made for them, they should give way. In Ramseys case to someone who will play for the team. In Ozil’s case to someone who will sweat his guts out, and not float around avoiding contact and avoiding fighting for the shirt. I will not make excuses for players , like OZIL, merely because, once in a blue moon they show sublime talent. Either you do it regularly OR you don’t! If you don’t, (or won’t in Ozil’s case) another player should take your shirt. God knows, Phil, you and I knew better than any, how Wenger always played his favourites and look where that got him. And the club. I will not put up with Emery doing the same thing and I am certain he won’t, once he knows the players strengths and weaknesses like us long term fans do. He is still finding out. WE know already.
Hi Phil although I agree with your comments and n ozil re position he is also failing at some basics which frustrate me. Tackling and I’m not talking about a 50 yd sprint to falls just basic 60/40 his way he loses
He does have talent however I’m not sure if he cares anymore to go above and beyond
Can’t argue with that and Emery will demand EVERY player digs in when we defend.Ozil can’t tackle but he can still pressure and drop back when needed.Lacazette has discovered it in his game and it was him robbing Zouma that ultimately set up our second goal
I have never seen Ozil challenge for 50/50 ball in Arsenal shirt talkless of winning it……
Stop defending him
he is a liability, a luxury player for goodness sake…….
He Was just walking around the pitch against Everton,
I can’t stand him been my teammate…..
Smith Rowe can do better…
is time Emery start been ruthless and brave
The fact you don’t actually PLAY for Arsenal means Ozil will never be your teammate.And don’t start telling me who I should defend and who not.I believe Ozil is a sublime footballer who is able to offer so much to the team if he is given the free No10 role in the side with pace and movement in front and at the side of him.If you want a player who runs into walls and crashes into tackles then sign Flamini.
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Aaron Ramsey should not get anywhere near Arsenal’s bench, let alone the starting eleven, until he signs the contract in front of him. If he doesn’t then sell in January.
One of the positive things out of the win against Everton was Socrates getting stuck into Mustafi, when Mustafi’s mistake led to Socrates having to take a yellow card for the team and get the injury, which later caused him to leave the field. Should be more of this to make players take a look at themselves.
Agreed phil, lets hope the work ethic spreads
Agree completely.
Cazorla, Rosicky, Viera had the necessary quality
Iwobi hasn’t convinced me yet
At the moment I consider him to be a very useful and good squad player.
He has definitely improved under Emery
I’m very open minded
BTW- Xhaka and Ramsey are not of the necessary quality to win the PL either In my opinion
Innit..you make sense..Iwobi is good, just has got to grow into the game. .confidence is key.
I dunno what you guys are looking for to say a youngster is not good enough..this season Iwobi always seems to know what to do with the ball. The boy is a sponge of raw talent..he just isn’t confident and I’m sure you posters and the press are part of the reason why. He is easily our most skillful player right now, and the motm cameo against a Ukrainian top clyb had Aubameyang involved..what’s wrong with all of you? Why can’t you guys support this boy to bludgeon into the top player that Emery saw in his first training session that informed his new contract? When we push him out to another club and he develops we will have ourselves to blame. Ramsey is hogshit for class on the ball compared to Iwobi..and he was left on the bench in Russia because the coach is clueless..he qualified the damn country for the mundial!
“he will never” is a statement we can not take to the bank
With our surplus of number 10s, the last thing we need is for Iwobi to replace Ramsey. Let Mykitarian, Xhaka, Ozil and AMN fight it out. Let Iwobi concentrate on giving us width like he’s done the last couple of games.
I must be the only one who thinks Cazorla was not suited to a CM role, too many people think we can stick Ozil there now or Mkhit. We can’t because they aren’t suited to it. We got ran straight through too many times when Cazorla, Wilshere, Ramsey, Coquelin,, Rosicky, were the top choices. And it was only physical qualities, any team with decent physicality ran right over us. Going forward yes it looked great, Cazorla would dribble and dribble and twist and turn, he looked very good. Coquelin you just had to keep away from the ball. Defensively we were too easily dominated, positioning was poor because allot of those players are final third players, just like Mkhit and Ozil.
I agree completely, I remembered how carzola used to score/Assists with both feet, long and short range shots with many motm performance,but because our record singing (ozil) he was shifted to wings and later to the CM position and that affected his game,though he was still good but wasn’t as effective as his first season in the final 3rd position.
What is lacking in this team that needs urgent attention is our lack of true wingers who can twist,turn,drive the ball with pace and energy and cause series of problems to the opposition defence like sterling, mane,sane etc.
That should be the first target in January because most of these lads have shown they lack quality on the ball and are afraid to do something special except safe passes here and there.
Failure to address this means we will get battered by all big teams again.
nope we already have enough cms, and a couple of young talented upcoming ones. there’s just no place for Ramsey in our midfield anymore. I thought he’d kick on this season and really take on a leading role in the squad, but he’s just slowly fading out. give the young guys a chance, and let iwobi focus on the wings
Like you JF i feel AMN will develop into a quality central midfielder and I look forward to him playing in tandem with Torreria in the not too distant future.With regard to Iwobi,I would really like him to make it with Arsenal as he gives 100% every match and does possess the energy, pace and power which is needed today in the Premier League.However he currently lacks composure in tight situations and like Phil says his role at Arsenal is likely to be limited ,at least for this season.
I am liking the concept of Iwobi being backup for Aubameyang on the left; they both can drive at players and cut in, they both have pace to burn but where Auba has the end product, Iwobi lacks this but has greater strength.
IF and this is a big IF, IF Iwobi can gain consistency then could he be the long term replacement for Auba? Auba isn’t getting younger and who knows how fast he will decline once over 30. He may not… He may. This could be a good safe ‘cheap’ way of securing the not scenario.
I think Iwobi being able to cover Auba will also mean Emery can bring Auba off at 60-70 mins in the EPL game prior to UEL games so Auba can start as a CF in them, giving Laca a bit of a rest.
From what I read about other peoples comments, I get the impression that most people consider Iwobi a wide player so not a replacement for Rambo, kinda makes this article… Flawed? ;P
Jesus is this a trick question??? I know Ramsey set up both goals yesterday, but other than that he did nothing, in fact I thought he was pretty crap! Iwobi…. I’m not a fan… yes he’s fast, but there’s no end product…. he runs & flaps then looks lost & doesn’t know what to do with the ball..Will that change anytime soon?? Who knows…..
Club plays poorly but wins anyway, sometimes that’s called the difference between a champion and an also ran. Give the boy some credit, in the end he made as big a difference to that game as anyone.
I’m sure many will agree that Niles looks more fitting for a CM role than Iwobi, Iwobi likes to hold onto the ball and dribble it a bit. Niles ticks more boxes, the lad can play and he’s naturally aggressive whereas Iwobi is strong but he’s not really aggressive at all. Niles looks for danger, Iwobi that isn’t his game he’d have to be taught that. No, I see Iwobi as a standby for a playmaking role or wing role, just a standby though because I don’t believe he has enough desire to make a starting position his own on a title chasing team.
I think Smith might actually pass Iwobi soon enough, the way he runs into that space just outside the box and drags about four players towards him, that’s intelligence for you.
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Goals scored in their first 500 minutes playing together:
Aubameyang & Lacazette: 11
Agüero & Jesus: 11
Lukaku & Sánchez: 6
Wright & Bergkamp: 3
Henry & Bergkamp: 3
none should be starters for Arsenal… Arsenal needs a proper quality winger, but in the maintime or before January…Mkhitaryan should be played in RW.
Ozil n Ramsey compete for CAM
Iwobi as impact sub/backup player to Aubameyang on d left or in Europa games when Auba is utilized centrally.
We are a team with no natural wingers or even natural inside forwards such as Hazard or Sanchez or silva etc. But Unai insists on playing 4231. I really believe there are better formations that he can try for a team with no wingers and get the most of the players. We have Ozil who can only play CAM, we have two top strikers and we have Ramsey who is really a b2b. So the obvious choice to get the most of these players is a 442 diamond and from time to time when we need to play a single forward we can play 41221 with Ozil and Mhki as the two Cams behind a single forward.
Ideal 11 for me is
————Auba – Laca———-
—————-Ozil—————-
——–Ramsey-Guendouzi——
————-Torreira————–
Moreal-Holding-Sokratis-Bellerin
—————Cech—————–
Better if its a 4 3 3 like liverpool
I like your team Dr.D. No xhaka or Mustafi
I might have liked it too, but for BELLERIN being included. Can’t stand defenders who simply can’t defend.
OT: Welwide is still well wide. Bambi on Ice. Against Leicester on a counter attack he was running with the ball and had two options to pass left or right. Option 1; Left was Iwobi, who strikes with his right leg and being on the left it would have taken him couple of touches. And you dont trust Iwobi with scoring. On the right there was Laca and Bellerini two players. Laca the goal scorer was in a good position to score with a perfect pass laid out to him. Laca is 90% guaranteed. And what Welwide chooses is beyond me he chooses to pass to left to Iwobi. Iwobi completely fluffs it. How?.. how? how? I just cannot fathom it.
You dont like Iwobi, stop hiding it behind ramseys back.
Ramsey has had how many years to prove his worth, 8 plus years and still yet at best he is still average. Why drag Iwobi into the shit. If you have a problem with the lad, state it dont bring up world cup issues as yastic to justify ur claims thats lame.
From Iwobi discovery year till last year, arsenal was a failing episode, team had no character, no shame, no leadership, zero motivation and in your own assertion. he should be the hero or show he has it.
its fine if you dont expect much from the lad, Emery has revived back what Wenger saw in the kid and it will come good before the season ends. This is his formative years and emery would make a machine out of him, ramsey is wasted anfd gone. In coming seasons iwobi would have the same chance ramsey had at wembley and bet your balls he will deliver.
lets give iwobi a chance to prove himself..
players need to play to prove and improve
Iwobi is better than Ramsey and contributes more to the team than Ramsey. Ramsey deserves to play in the championship. I hope Emery would be ruthless and drop under performing players to the bench. Mikhy7 would do far better in that #10 position than Ramsey is doing currently.
They’re completely different players. Iwobi has the ability just cant find the form. Ramsey cant replace Iwobi, the same way Nelson can.
Iwobi may have choked at the World Cup but Ramsey didn’t even qualify for the tournament.
You just can’t judge a player on his World Cup form.Even Messi has never really done it on the tournament despite the ridiculous decision to award him the Player of the Tournament in 2014.To be fair to Iwobi Nigeria were pretty awful in Russia so it’s not all on him.
There IS improvement in his game this season but his quality is not good enough for anything other than as a squad player
Iwobi or Ramsey – is that neccessarily a real question? They are very different players. In theory we could play with both of them or without both.
We are in a process, where we need our midfielders and wingers to be much harder working, than they were used to under Wenger. Let’s see who really can make that transition over the next few months.
I am confident emery will start replacing those who can’t already in January.
And if we then can get Mustafi replaced also, then we could really be looking good.
All the critizism of iwobi has been about lack of goals assist and final balls… so y not play him deeper. He is strong on the ball puts in a decent defensive shift and can handle himself physically. Doesnt that sound like what our midfield is crying out for. He should be replacing xhaka not ramsey