Ohh and btw even though its a separate issue to contract talks of Özil and Alexis, im still fuming about Xhaka not getting #34 off that scrub Coquelin. He has it tattooed on him back ffs!

It's not Coquelin's problem that he has it tattooed on his back.

Look at it from Francis' standpoint, why would he give up the number in which he finally made it as an Arsenal first teamer? That number probably means a lot to him now too.

Xhaka is a big boy. He'll live with it.

True, lets just hope Coquelin is gone within a year or two.

Lol. Why would you want Big Coq gone? He's been one of our best over the last two years. He's definitely a man I want on our bench. Love his intensity.

Coquelin is an excellent squad player to have. I hope he can accept a squad role though! The same applies to all our current CMs the way I see it; we have an excellent set of central mids, but only two or three of them are going to start each game. All of Xhaka, Ramsey, Cazorla, Wilshere, Elneny and Coquelin are good enough to start for good teams, and I'm sure they know it.
As soon as we signed Xhaka I said that it is now a big task for Wenger to keep them all happy. I had my doubts, and still have, that Wenger is that guy, so I predicted that one or two of our current midfielders would look to leave the club by next summer. I didn't think Wilshere would jump ship this quickly though! Honestly, it is a big task for any manager to keep that many players content with the playing time they get, but Wenger has previously shown that he is not very good at this at all. Usually, when he settles on a player he goes with him until he breaks down.

Ozil can sign a 5 year contract for whatever he wants up to 200k. Easily worth that.

Coq's a dime a dozen player. He can stay here and contribute or he can go elsewhere. It would take like five seconds to replace him if he left.

People are simply getting sentimental again because he is hard and shows passion, ignoring his footballing ability, which is nothing to write home about, really.

I get it to some extent; I like him too because he plays with a lot of gusto. But everyone knows who the really important players are in this squad, and it sure isn't guys like him.

You need all types in a squad. We certainly missed a central midfielder with the defensive capabilities of Coquelin for several years. He is handy for certain games and certain situations within games. In the end, that should, or at least could, lead to a few more points on the board at the end of a season.

Coquelin has gone from being overrated to underrated now.

Its true that we need all types. He is great to bring on when we need to shut the door, 15 minutes to go. Lets hope he is limited to that role.

Clrnc wrote:

Coquelin has gone from being overrated to underrated now.

I have to agree with this.

And whilst there are similar players like Coquellin out there, I do not think we can just let him go with the simplicity of a click of the fingers. He has been with us for 8 years, has strong bonds with some of the longest serving members of the squad and has come a long way to be part of our first team, so he is more appreciative of his place here.

The fact he is our most aggressive player should not be dismissed either.

Coquelin's problem is that he can really only play with Cazorla and (possibly) Ramsey because he doesn't show for the ball and doesn't offer anything going forward. He can't play with Xhaka because Xhaka doesn't have the agility or mobility to play out of the back without a midfield partner to link with and he can't play with Elnenny because the Egyptian vacates his position to easily leaving Coquelin to play out of the back, which he can't do.

As others have said, he can do a job in certain games (Man City away etc.) and situations (1 nil at up at WHL with 15 minutes remaining and so on), and he's not a bad option to play in the cups because of his passion, but I'm pretty down on him as a regular starter and at his age he's not likely to get any better

Why are we talking about Coq in this thread?

Cos Xhaka didn't get #34 and marv's circuits get shorted whenever Xhaka don't get what Xhaka wants.

That's right!  :angry:

Also, its just to spend the time until we announce Özil and Alexis double-extension and we're all gonna have a mighty big shake of the willy.  :drool: