Zaha Proves His Point? by Dan
It’s been overshadowed by the Xhaka situation and VAR controversy, but Zaha went out of way at the weekend to prove that Arsenal should have gone that extra mile to sign him.
The winger has been criticised by his own supporters this season of not being his usual self, while admitting during the last international break how it affected him mentally to miss out on his ‘ dream move’. So, it’s no coincidence that on Sunday he seemed to have that extra motivation to make an impact.
When Guendouzi stopped him from hitting us on the break with seconds to go you could see his frustration, this was a man who had something to prove. The irony being that he became even less popular with gooners after winning a penalty. At one point many, including the referee, thought he had dived, something he was accused of doing against us at Selhurst Park a year ago.
To add to how football fans think they can act how they want in the confines of a football match, the Ivorian received death threats over that.
That’s right, the same group of people upset that Xhaka swore at after being sworn at himself, would be more than happy for Zaha to play for us, even though he received death threats for wearing a different coloured shirt. What’s crazier, Xhaka swearing back makes more headlines, or Zaha would still want to be employed by a club whose fans could act that way?
My point is he was far more effective then Pepe. Pepe might be looking at the Xhaka situation this morning wondering how long until his ‘ fans’ turn on him, I’m sure Mustafi would have some stories to tell?
For younger fans, we never used to be that way, we used to be a family. Our support allowed the likes of Henry, Pires, Bergkamp, etc to try incredible things without the fear of getting it wrong and leading to being trolled. This isn’t to argue that Zaha should replace Pepe, more a case of surely he could only help us. Emery’s too negative to know how to deal with an attack of Auba, Laca, Pepe and Zaha.
Yet you want to know why we are going backwards? You want to know our biggest flaw? A Chelsea or one of the Manchester clubs would have found the extra money to buy a player who said, ‘come and get me.’ Given the events of the last 4 months, they would have convinced themselves to table a January bid.
What’s the betting we don’t?
Dan Smith
Just buy Zaha and play him on the left wing in a 4-4-2 formation with Laca & Auba upfront with Pepe on the right wing,
Don’t forget to save before you turn FIFA off, mate
Lol
We just bought Pepe for £72M now you are demanding for Zaha? I really wonder if you spend your money as freely as you demand the club to deplete it’s reserves.
Pepe is being paid for in instalments over 5 years and Crystal Palace wanted more money and up front for Zaha.
Pepe is younger and has more potential, both playing or resale.
Let’s wait until the end of the season, remembering the settling in time required by other player’s, but in my opinion Arsenal, as the old Crusader said “chose wisely”.
If we had done this, if we had done that, if we had bought Lewandowski, if if if….. What’s the point? We didn’t and now we have to make do with what we have. IF we hadn’t sold RvP when we did, we might have won the EPL that year, and ManU would definitely not have. So what?
Our current situation, and how we can get out of it and improve our performance on and off the field should be the focus of our attention, not what did or did NOT happen in the past.
surely if we go and buy Zaha, that would help get out of our current situation ?
Dan, it doesn’t rectify the issues in midfield or CB.
Emery would have ruined him as well if he had signed so he had a lucky escape IMO .
We shouldn’t be talking about this anyway ,what we should be talking about is how our incompetent coach is ruining our Season but that seems to be forgotten because of Captain Calamity in his antics at the weekend .
Yes Zaha shits over Pepe
Zaha proves nothing.. Jesus Christ! How many months has it been?
Comparing Zaha and Pepe already?
We were told by you guys to give Emery time last season but now we can’t give Pepe time to pick form and adjust, that we have to be at his neck every foooking time?
The same Zaha that has been in coma all season, don’t get me wrong Zaha is a good player, I’d like him in this team, but you guys also forget that he’s the older of the two, more experienced and more accustomed to the EPL over Pepe.
He’s been in coma for Crystal palace this season, sudden torments Arsenal as usual and we’re already asking if it was wrong to get Pepe
👍
On football manager, I bought a young French left winger who easily became the best in my team (Cunha – a regen). He had a few good games but averaged about 7.05. In his second season, he started killing it. Most league assists and was snapped up by Bayern for £87m.
This scientific evidence suggests we still need to be patient with Pepe.
We were never in for zags
And secondly all this Xhaka is a human being and he shouldn’t be abused pahahahahahahahahaha. Get a grip you snowflakes I’ve been a fan longer than he’s been on this earth I pay my money I have a right to voice my opinion
And this we should get new fans lol there enough empty seat already
This is entertainment if players are unhappy go and get a real job give up your £100,000 a week change it for £10.50 a hour there you go happiness
Lol . how many goals does Zaha has this season .
his best goal tally in a season was 10 last season ffs. he’s fucking overrated by some Arsenal fans
when Zaha was Pepe’s age , wtf did he achieve ?
Pepe is already a better player than Zaha and he will only get better once we sack this clueless coach
No, Arsenal didn’t make a mistake signing pepe over Zaha . the hell, I would have even chosen Martinelli over Zaha
I actualy think Zaha proved Arsenal were right not to sign him. Why win games week-in week-out by diving or manipulation of the officials to gain an unfair advantage?. Play like Sterling or Bernardo Silva or Rashford and showcase your talent and ability. Beat your man(men) fair and square, shoot and you score or miss.
Image a club being associated with a player that dives a lot! I don’t think Arsenal need/needed that. Zaha remains a good player and Winger but not at the level of Hazard, Sterling. He influences games by manipulation after staying largely quiet in games (like Hyte says – remaining in comma)
What a funny article, so diving Cheater some how showed us why we wrong not to sign him up by diving and cheating
did Lacca not go down holding his face in the Europa Leauge ? Do we just ignore when our players do it?
Exactly!
If we had signed Wilf, no one would be calling him a diver then!!
Lol..Dan Smith talking tough about how a big club like Man U or Chelsea would have found the extra to buy Zaha. Yet if Zaha flopped Dan Smith would have distanced himself from the transfer and quickly forgotten about pressuring the club into making mistakes. If even after spending huge sums on transfers for Xhaka and Mustafi who have been flops, then Pepe joins and he does not look convincing, how sure are you continuing to spend more money will solve our problems? Leicester City have spent less than us yet they are doing better. It’s not always about spending money.
Definitely.
The same Leicester won the league years back with less spending.
Why is AFC situation always pathetic.
Man City, Chelsea over the years spent more then us and win things so yeah money helps mate
This article is absolutely pointless. Zaha has nothing over pepe. Goals, assist, chance created etc. Zaha has proven nothing. If anything, he’s proven arsenal we’re right not to buy him for that outrageous amount of money
For me, there was little doubt that Zaha was the safer bet. Any time a manager or player has proven something in the PL he is less of a risk than a foreign player or manager who has never experienced the PL.
Having said that, it is entirely possible that Pepe will develop into a better player and that his potential is higher than Zaha’s.
The problem I have at the moment is that I think it is hard to evaluate the true potential of our players. Thye all look confused about what the manager expects of them. This makes them a lot less effective and more indecisive.
IMO, nothing shows this more than when you look at our keeper and defenders when the opposing team is expecting them to play out from the back and cover the outlets and our players are dying to play a ball over the top to the next line but remember their mantra of playing out from the back and thus venture a ridiculously dangerous pass in their own box simply because it seems the manager wants that. Their confusion comes from their common sense telling them not to play out from the back when the outlets are covered but the coach tells them to do it anyway.
Our team plays with no direction and that doesn’t help Pepe or any of the players.
Pepe – 4 successful dribbles, 4 chances created, 5 tackles (100% success), 1 interception, 2 shots (0 on target), dispossessed 3 times, had 5.3% possession
Zaha – 1 successful dribble, 0 chances created, 0 tackles (3 attempted) , 0 interceptions, 3 shots (0 on target), dispossessed 6 times, had 3% possession
So not only did Pepe get himself on the ball more than Zaha did he also did a lot more with it – and yet Zaha showed us we made the wrong choice? 🤔
yeah Zaha won a penalty ?
its what you do with poseesion that counts
plus he’s away in poor Palace team
At home for Arsenal I Imagine he have more of the ball
Zaha dove for a penalty, Pepe banged in 3 corners that resulted in goals 🤷♂️
I think the stats above do show that Pepe did far more with his possession than Zaha managed with his.
As for the rest of the points you raise, very valid points but the flip side of that is Pepe has only just moved to new team, new league etc and is still settling in so, in my mind at least, that kinda balances out 🤷♂️
He should have proved his point against Man City. It is always like that when a club refuses to buy a player and the player comes against that team and plays his heart out with the intention to prove something. He should have been doing it from the start of the season and not just one match. Nons**se.
I have to be honest, zaha is a good player but does not deserve any respect as regards being at all a great player. What a waste of time even giving zaha so much credit. A very good palace player and thats his level. Not worth 80 mil ever, 30 or 40 maybe in a helping wind but thats it. Like Richalison, overrated, Watford was his level.