The YouTube Thread: Page 8 - The Arsenal discussion community: One More in the Tolly

The YouTube Thread

Klaus

He looks good on the ball in that compilation. Good movement too, has the right ideas. It's just his execution that is a bit off. He releases the ball a fraction too slow. Could've bagged an assist or two otherwise. Very promising debut judging by that compilation, despite some obvious rustiness. Interesting that they're playing him on the right hand side too.

Klaus

Just found this one on youtube. One of my favourite moments from the first half of the season:

Captain

The one against Everton was even better; he really should have shot.

flobaba

Yeah, it's like he's got the same brain freeze disease Eboue's got in the final third of the pitch. You've done the hard bit, now pick a pass, or take a shot. In the end they both do neither. If only he could improve on that aspect of his game, he'd be giving Ashley, Gareth bale 😉 , and Evra stiff competition for best LB in the league. I think it's too late for him though. It is what it is already.

Gibbs shows much better potential in that respect.

Klaus

Clichy passed it eventually against Everton, but no one else attacked the area. Should have been a tap-in under normal circumstances but the rest of the team just stood there and looked at him.

In any case Bale is a midfielder, and it's not like Evra excels in the final third either. He's got, what, three goals in his entire career so far?

Ricky1985

I don't believe Gael has any composure or awareness in the final third in general, Klaus. One-on-one he's bloody amazing though, when he's on it, he just can't be beat. He just lacks something, not sure exactly what to call it, but if he had it he'd be bloody amazing (and playing like he is, he's still extremely good). This is still one of the best fullback performances I've seen for a while. Alves didn't know what had hit him!

goon

flobaba wrote:
Yeah, it's like he's got the same brain freeze disease Eboue's got in the final third of the pitch. You've done the hard bit, now pick a pass, or take a shot. In the end they both do neither. If only he could improve on that aspect of his game, he'd be giving Ashley, Gareth bale 😉 , and Evra stiff competition for best LB in the league. I think it's too late for him though. It is what it is already.

Gibbs shows much better potential in that respect.

One of the most frustrating aspects of Eboue's games, drives at the opposition brilliantly taking out 2-4 players but you never get excited because you just know what comes next, him running into a defender and losing the ball.

Ricky1985

BTW - every time I watch that video I remember just how much I love CLichy. The most honest, hard-working player in our team. Just a brilliant attitude.

Klaus

Ricky1985 wrote:
I don't believe Gael has any composure or awareness in the final third in general, Klaus.

I don't think he's great in the final third either. Nor is it something I'd demand or even expect from a fullback. There was nothing wrong with his pass against Everton though.

Captain

Look at the team we went to the Nou Camp with. 😆

goon

Ricky1985 wrote:
BTW - every time I watch that video I remember just how much I love CLichy. The most honest, hard-working player in our team. Just a brilliant attitude.

There was a game against United a couple of years back where he put in a similarly heroic performance. So glad he's back in form.

Ricky1985

Klaus wrote:
Ricky1985 wrote:
I don't believe Gael has any composure or awareness in the final third in general, Klaus.

I don't think he's great in the final third either. Nor is it something I'd demand from a fullback. There was nothing wrong with his pass against Everton though.

The run was right in front of me, and you could see Bendtner desperately trying to offer him a pass, but the Everton defender was too aware, and closed it all down.

Not sure why Clichy is so poor in the final third. He's an excellent footballer, with decent technical ability, he just seems to go to pieces when the next move isn't obvious.

Who remembers this?

(Yep, I've decided it's Gael Clichy day on OMITT!)

Klaus

This one is even better:

Look at his work preceding Wilshere's goal, around the 2:35 mark.

I don't think he's 'extremely poor' in the final third for being a fullback. His game is clearly not centered in that part of the field though. What he does in the first and second third of the field, and down the flank, will always be what's most important.

Ricky1985

Well, I didn't say he was "extremely" poor, but he's certainly not very good, not very good at all tbh, and it's a real shame. Video doesn't work btw.

Klaus

😆 Damn right you didn't! I'm sorry. I don't know where I got that from.

The video works for me. You sure it's not just the flash plugin that messes with your browser? Try this direct link instead: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0z2m4CFNvE

It's from a preseason game against Stuttgart two years ago. He dribbles off their entire right flank and then puts a cross in for Wilshere on the other side of the box. They can't dispossess him despite the fact that they're four against one.

Ricky1985

Link works directly, thanks. Great work from Gael, but it's things like that, that make me wonder why we see so little of him impacting play in the final third? He is MUCH more hesitant on the overlap now, too. He can cross a ball, he can dribble, he can pass, but he just can't pick the right option when there are a few available to him. Still a great player, and for my money, the best left back in the League, in terms of form, right now.

Also noticed Vela in that clip in his pre-development days. Where he was an on-the-shoulder striker with lethal, natural finishing. Just hope all the painful, hard-work of improving the other areas of his game will see him come out the other side a better, more rounded footballer. And Jack's brilliance in the final third/goalscoring department on show too, he's undergoing that same development process as we speak - although more successfully.

Klaus

To be fair, that preseason was the first time Vela had played up front in ages. 🙂 He had just arrived from Osasuna where he spent an entire season as a leftwinger. It's things like that goal that makes you think twice before writing him off though. He's got excellent body strength and balance, and his finish, albeit still raw, is great. So's his technique. And that's not something that disappears when you grow up. What's there is there. The rest of it is just confidence and physique. If he stays at Arsenal he's going to be a much better player than, say, Hernandez. Different at least, in the sense that he's capable of doing much more.

Ricky1985

You know what I mean, Klausie. He's spent time on the left wing, but the standard was such that the game he already had got him by alot of the time. At Arsenal, and in the Premier League, he needs more to succeed, and so he has had to work hard at the other aspects of his game, the stuff that doesn't come so easily to him, and the only way to really learn that fully is doing it in games, and he's struggled, in his albeit, limited chances.

Hernandez will basically be what he is now until he retires. Right or wrong, that's what he'll be. Wenger does things differently, and I have a lot of time and respect for his approach.

Klaus

Me too.

I think Vela is still waiting for it all to happen, for things to click. Usually there's a point for most players around the age of 23-24 when it all comes together. It can happen earlier or later too of course but that's usually where they get in sync both mentally and physically. Think about Freddie who, apart from that lob on Schmeichel, couldn't score for toffee when he arrived. He was worse than Hleb at finding the goal. I've got relatives who, eleven years later, still haven't forgiven him for basically knocking Sweden out of the Euros 2000 on his own by missing the goal from three yards out in two consecutive games.

Ricky1985

Wenger always says 23 is THE age where it all happens. Vela will be 22 in March, so this loan is a really important one for him, I think he'll do well.

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