Dani Ceballos had a brilliant home debut against Burnley a couple of weeks ago and rightfully he was named man of the match and received glowing plaudits.
But a lot of Arsenal fans went way over the top, screaming all over social media sign him up now, he is worth hundred million, a superstar in the making and so on.
Then comes the Liverpool game and he played very poorly, he was played out of position but even so, his performance was abysmal and there is no point saying otherwise.
So, on the face of it at home against Burnley, he is great and away at Liverpool poor but those that say he is not cut out for it in the Premier League are just as guilty as those hyperventilating after his display against the Clarets.
He cannot be judged on one brilliant performance and neither can he be judged on one poor game, time is required to be able to evaluate him properly.
Let’s see how he does over three-six months, let’s see how he copes with the English winter and game congestion, in better words, let’s give the lad time to show us what he can do in a variety of different scenarios and not just two very different matches.
No doubt if he does badly against Spurs there will be those calling him a waste of space and if he scores a last-minute winner from a stunning free-kick then he will be the Messiah all over again.
In either event, it will be jumping the gun and overreacting once again.
Ceballos will be fine if played to his strength, if he was played behind our 3 best attackers and beloved Xhaka and Torreira behind him he would have played better.
Ceballos will be fine, we won’t play clubs like Liverpool every week and the coach won’t panic every week too, I still think CM is a weak point for us, we need an athletic midfielder to partner torreira in the mould of Doucuore or Partey, pace height and power
I agree with you Martin.
Dani was talked up too much and I’m sure the lad put too much pressure on himself to live up to that hype. Then again, with a lil help from Tinkerman, he was playing out of position. He will play well alongside Ozil and behind the three strikers
I would like to see him play as a CM alongside Torreira and Ozil behind the front three. I wish this can happen but with Emery as coach, he can’t find sleep by benching his favorite Xhaka, Guodozzi and now Willock. Arsenal we are finished. Am sorry to say this but only an injury to Xhaka is what would help us.
Good player but holds on the ball for too long at times and style of play risky too.His style of play is affected a lot by pressing.If he’s to be played deeper we need a proper DM like Torreira beside him.
U can find who to blame in the against against Liverpool, caoch, Luiz…. It will be a waste of time. Liverpool are the best team right now more so at anfield and champions. With Arsenal still buying players trying to find their feet, style and gel together, I think we were lucky we didn’t receive 5 goals.
By the they come to emirate we should be ready.
I always tell people Liverpool game came rather so soon. We have not even but up a convincing win so far this season what can we expect against Liverpool suddenly outplay them at anfield..
I would have loved if Emery is a coach that has a footballing personality like sarri,klopp and co a coach who sticks to a particular brand of football and formation regardless of what is happening changing formation and personal frequently will make it very difficult for the team to settle quickly but then again it’s still the same thing we complained about Wenger(not adapting to teams) we can’t just have it both ways
The only improvement the team has made stems from the addition of new players.From Emery’s side I don’t see an improvement especially off the ball and defensively.
If people compare this team to a typical Emery team like his 16/17 PSG side.I know they had more quality than Arsenal but I want you to just compare the defensive tactics of that team to ours.He has still not been able to fully implement his style on to the team
I wondered why it’s very difficult to change this arsenal play. Emery previous teams are better setup than what we are seeing here at arsenal. Could it be too many changes from the club in all department. We have a virtually new set of players,management,staffs.
If it were up to me I would say let’s give Emery this season, I don’t know why I have not seen his typical style of play is his style so difficult to implement or could it be that too many team changes is not helping
Or can it be his not helping himself by tinkering with different players week in week out
Of course we have to give Emery one more season, but even if we manage 3rd or 4th it will likely be because Tottenham have entered stagnation, ManU have Solskjaer as manager and Lampard is starting his coaching career with a lot of kids.
I want to see an identity of play starting to form. If we can’t be the most attractive team to watch in the EPL, at least be 3rd after City and Pool.
Hate to admit it: I supported Emery’s choice over Arteta, but I now think I would have been happier watching a team managed by a Guardiola assistant…
I don’t know why he still can’t fully implement his style on the team.How good we are is also dependent on the players but when it comes to style we should at least expect that the coach should get that one right.
The painful thing is I believe he’s a good coach based on his past clubs and also from the few times I’ve watched his teams play
We will see more of Emery’s style soon I’m sure…. We still have players absent who will impact our play style. KT and Bellerin are needed to really play the 4-3-3/4-2-3-1, just like a winger like Pepe was needed to make it work. Give him the season now he has the players to play his style and see where he gets us…. 2 points off 3rd and a Europa league final wasn’t exactly bad with the wrong players on the team ?♂️
Kev, this is my main Emery complaint as well. I’m not demanding he go or anything, but in terms of proving he can be the main to lead us forward and beyond, I question him highly. At the very least, this Arsenal team should have an identity by now. I couldn’t tell you what it is though. It seems our identity is adjusting to what the opposition does, and that is no way to create positivity in the dressing room. Emery can still get us top 4 of course, but Arsenal should remain open to looking for other coaching options even if he achieves his goal. Emery needs to show he is the man we shuld put our trust in, not just for this season, but beyond as well.
I think we need at least 10 games to know how good he actually is/ can be still very few matches to pass judgement. Playing him out of position didn’t help him but in his very few minutes he played at Newcastle he didn’t do anything in his preferred position playing out of position can be a handicap to a player but that shouldn’t be a reason to be that bad as he showed against Liverpool. I have seen some players trown around the pitch even thou there is a drop in performance but they still manages to give good account of themselves that’s what I wanted to see from our players.
I don’t quite get it. Emery said that Ceballos can fill either no 8 or no 10 position. Last week he was put as no 10 in 4-4-2 diamond, which means he played exactly in Ozil’s position. So what do you mean he was played out of position? I still remember the hype about him that as now Arsenal have Ceballos, then Ozil is not needed.
Yes you are sharp to notice it.
It’s a misconception that Ceballos was played out of position on the wing.
He was played as the forward tip of the diamond. Willock was the one playing on the left side.
He was played in a different formation but not out of position
Ceballos was at the tip of the dimaond. he didnt have the best game, held onto the ball to long and played some hospital passes and struggled when getting pressed. but you cant judge him on this game, as going to anfield is always tough and the emery going bonkers with the formation didnt help. But going of what ive seen of ceballos definetly see him in the santi mould, so one would think his efforts would be better emplyed deeper in mdifeld to help us when we need to beat the press in the first stage with his close control. It would be intriguing to see ceballos behind Ozil in a couple games this season.
needs to cut out the stupid passes. maybe in La liga, those go unpunished but not here. And let’s be honest, he was set up to fail this weekend with that dumb diamond formation and I don’t really blame any of our midfielders for not being at their best. I may have even given Shirt Seller a pass if he was poor again.
A lot of “I told you so” comments will be coming in once he plays and drops a decent performance.Fastforward weeks later he’ll then go back to his usual self, be criticized for that and have his usual up and down season.Next season we will hear about how another chance should be given.Lather,rinse and repeat
i don’t doubt any of that Kev. Even when he finally assisted during a freaking friendly this summer all the usual lines came out. If Shirt Seller proves us wrong then so be it, but there’s a reason we are all so outspoken about him, and it’s because we all know in our hearts he is finished, and at best, wildly inconsistent. His chances are up. Arsenal are already in the process of moving on anyways. Anyways, looking forward to Ceballos this season and still believe he will be fantastic for us.
His time was already up seasons ago just like many of our players who were sold too late.
How many seasons ago ?
you forget to mention that friendly was against barcelona. yes i know its pre-season but you can still judge where players are on fitness and form. he ran the midfield and when we went down to 10 men, dropped in on the wing and worked hard. he would of featured by now if it wasnt for the security concerns etc etc. Ozil is still a good player and more of a genuine 10 than ceballos who i think is more of an 8.
OT.. Some spuds on Twitter have said that Pepe is an expensive Iwobi… how fitting it would be, for him to open his account against them on Sunday!
Would have loved him to have scored at Anfield.. but will be happy with a brace against the spuds! I’d want a statue ?
That means Ndombele is an expensive wayanma. You shouldn’t really listen to those Spuds, am sure even with a poor formation they still won’t beat us at the Emirates.
Ceballos lost the ball too much for my liking, but we need to give him some time to gel with his new teammates
Similar to Ozil, Ceballos also panicked when he was surrounded by the opponents in Arsenal’s half and could only play well when he was cheered by the Gooners at the Emirates
However, he is more willing to roughen up the opponents, better in tight spaces and has higher work rate as compared to Ozil. This is probably because he has better stamina and better skills
Fans were not wrong to react how we did even if we did go over the top. We’re supposed to back our players and give confidence, we had a huge game coming up and even though he hasn’t adjusted as quickly as we hoped, he felt our support and commented on how good it felt, that is not a bad thing. I for one do not regret saying anything on this because I believe he will go on to be a marvelous player and when that happens I want him to remember the support he received. We need to be careful in trying to be right about our judgement on players because our support can go a long way. Away at Liv under that press, in that atmosphere, many players have been neutralized and looked unready for the pace of the game, so I wouldn’t go too hard on the lad it was his second game in a brand new league and playing with players and tactics that he is not accustomed to. He will get better because we were not wrong in how well he played on his debut, he played so well v Burnley that Guendouzi and Willock’s poor performances went completely under the radar. I know they need our support also but if you’re gonna single one out you gotta dish it to others too.
? Well said, B-o-t.
Arsenal will regret selling beilik and then gambling on poor aging luiz.
Perspective is indeed all important.
In 3 preseason cameos any young player making a tackle,
run or pass is quickly hailed as the new Vieira, Bergkamp or Henri.
A month later they struggle for game time.
Ceballos and Luiz have barely played 3 games yet some fans claim they already “know” everything about them and what they “know”
is that Luiz is hopless and ceballos is over rated 🙂
The football gurus have in fact declared Arsenals season is over
already after an away loss to the CL holder.
The manager clearly can not cut it because missing CL football in his first season by a single point and losing game 15
in the Europa league campaign proves he is incompetent.
Emery out.:)
What do we “know” about Granit Xhaka after 3 seasons?
Premier League.
16/17-32 games
17/18-38 games
18/19-29 games
So he played in 99 out of Arsenals 114 PL games.
11 of the 15 games he missed were due to injury.
So he only missed 4 PL games in 114 over 3 seasons.
Add in cup games and Xhaka averages 49 games a season
for Arsenal while also playing internationals for Swiss.
One would naturally assume Xhaka is the most
loved and crucial PL player at Arsenal. Right?
Deserving of the captains armband. Right?
But no apparently he is useless 🙂
Top comment,lots of negativity over an away loss to pool.
? ?
My biggest criticism of Emery is how he sets up the team. Why do we conform to the opposition instead of playing to our strengths?
Why not field PAL and force the liverpool FB’s to stay tight rather than bomb forward?
Field our best players, and see which team crumbles and has to adapt to stay in the game?
No question we have some real talent, now its time for Emery to show he can coach. Enough with his “chameleon” tactics; field the best and trust the players to deliver.