Matteo Guendouzi

[Letters]

apparently EL Neny did ok in the Charity shield

Is he that Spanish dude?

[Niall_Quinn]

apparently EL Neny did ok in the Charity shield, i actually used to like him as i thought he was solid, but he came to represent the safe passing-sideways stuff that's not good enough when we are the team that needs to create - we've got good tactics against big sides but we need to show we can undo the likes of Bumley and Brighton, meaning players who can move the ball quickly through midfields and defences

The emphasis being on "ok"

We're several levels below the gypos and pool because our players (bar the notable exceptions) are several levels below. You can go so far with team spirit, organisation, tactics, but in the critical moments you need players like Auba to make the difference. The clubs that have splashed the cash can stick multiple game changers on the pitch. Gives lower level teams more headaches, more threats to cover. When we can only stick one, maybe two significant players out there it makes it so much easier for the opponent. That's why I favoured putting the kids out at the tail end of last season. At least we would have had a degree of unpredictability, which is a cheap substitute for talent.

This is also why a way should have been found to get Ozil into at least some of the games, especially against teams like Brighton. He may not dominate a match, but he could perhaps dominate the 5 minutes that makes a difference.

[Mac76]

ozil could add creativity, but clearly he's not in favour, it's totally broken now and i hope he does just go so we can reduce the wage bill and invest in better players

[Xhaka Can’t]

ozil could add creativity, but clearly he's not in favour, it's totally broken now and i hope he does just go so we can reduce the wage bill and invest in better players

If Ozil could be arsed, he could add creativity. He cant and he doesn’t.

[I am invisible]

If Ozil could be arsed, he could add creativity. He cant and he doesn’t.

No one doubts what Özil *could* bring to the team, even in a 5 minute burst - the problem is you can never predict when he’ll be available.

Seriously, how can you ever make any plans around a player who won’t play away games and who you know will randomly miss every other home game through “sickness” or “back problems”? Why waste all week coming up with a game plan, and months trying to implement a style of play, when you know that there’s a 3 in 4 chance that your key component won’t show up? Özil probably has more talent in his little toe than most of the players in the league, and yet for all that he’s still less valuable than a player who actually shows up.

[I am invisible]

...plus he was the only one (apart from Leno himself) having a go when Leno got taken out

we need someone who's prepared to instill some energy, and stand up for his teammates...

Hmmm... that’s not quite how I remember it ? When Leno got taken out, the only player who I saw having a go... was Leno! From his stretcher! Everyone else just stood around navel-gazing.

I remember Guendouzi chucking his toys out of his pram and gobbing off at the end because we’d lost, but that was about it - I’ll be generous and say that at least it showed that the loss bothered him, but it wasn’t that useful to anyone. And when it then spilled over into mouthing off at the Arteta and the coaching staff then it became a problem - you can’t let that kind of thing slide, especially if it’s been done in front of the other players. That kind of breach of discipline needed to be stamped out, hard.

i still remember him coming on and having that driving run against Villa and winning us a pel...

Yeah, I agree that there’s a really good player in there, somewhere, if you could just focus that spiky attitude and pride into something useful. That run against Villa was a taster of what he can do, and he was immense in (I think it was) the first game against spurs too. Needs to work on turning that hot temper of his into something colder, but sadly I don’t think he’ll be learning that here now.