qs! wrote:
I disagree. I think its clear from the difference that Coquelin has made that a midfielder who stays deep and focuses on the defensive side of things more makes us a much more solid and better side. Even when Arteta was fully fit and a year younger we still looked porous through the middle. Having someone like Cabaye or Gundogan in there would only cause the same problems.
Illarramendi is the only one I'd be interested in and he's stalled a bit as a player. I'd still rather get Schneiderlin instead. He's proven, he pulls the strings at Southampton and he does the defensive work. I think having him and Coquelin next season would give us a much better balance to our squad.
Coquelin has been a bit lucky imo, now that we're playing 4141 and Santi is playing deeper, otherwise he'd have to do a lot more with the ball, and control the game like Arteta. But, yeah, atm it's looking very good - let's see how it will continue.
Last season, bar the big away games, we were great defensively, and that's because we defended as a team in most games. We got those spankings, but they weren't Arteta's fault imo - we were hiding, when building our play up, and gave the ball away - seconds later, we were a few goals down. That's why it's imo important to have technically gifted players of the highest level in every position, the DM too.
We'll see. As I've said, I wouldn't mind it, but imo those are better players if we want to be an elite club, and compete with the best. Gündogan made a fool of just about every top midfielder that season, he'd be a dream-signing for just 16M, and I'm sure Wenger wouldn't hesitate one second as he's a huge fan. While he's skipped Schneiderlin since he moved to Saints.
@Quincy
They're Real Madrid, they ship top class players all the time. Robben, Sneijder, Özil, Di Maria, etc. Still, I don't see how Schneiderlin has done more than Illara.
Also Matuidi is a B2B player for both France and PSG.. We have Ramsey, he's like him.