Klaus wrote:

Xhaka's banned for this one, yes. I think we should keep him on the bench when he gets back. Season's fucked either way now. Give the playing time to someone who doesn't have shit for brains, like Elneny.

Well it will hopefully be Xhaka and Elneny together.

Elneny is better than Xhaka anyways

Did I miss something?
When did Elneny become our best player, and the one no one can leave out?
he had 1 good game for us all season. And he runs a lot.
Everybody's shit, but he was away... I don't get it.
Hope to wake up and find I completely missed something. Rather than, what I expect more, that 
he'll be exposed as an invented player.

Anyway, it's Hull. If the guys don't have enough dignity to redeem themselves playing the mighty, dangerous, banana-skin written all over team,
might as well be curtains for this year.

I want Ox in midfield, and Welbeck starting, Don't mind if it's with Giroud. Others I couldn't care less about. 
Not even Alexis or Ozil. Just play those who are really interested. Even play Perez with Welbeck and Giroud.
I'd actually have enjoyed more seeing a team with these three in front and a wack mid of Ox, Alexis and Ozil, With Ox and Alexis a deeper 2  , then I'd look forward to watching what we're actually going to get. Know what - I'd actually accept El neny instead of Ozil and let Sanchez a free role, just to watch this.

Haven't read much recently, but are people for dropping Cech? I know I am. And I never was before. Just think he needs to be dropped, at least for a while. I he gets to play after what he was like recently, then that's just down to reputation and respect. They're all nice, but we need to forget about them if we want a competing team. I love Petr Cech, and I think he's actually much better than Ospina, but right now the senile f#@&er needs to sit.

y va marquer wrote:

"Our fans have been consistent and have a high level of expectation as I do, but I don't feel you can be a fan until last Tuesday and then not be behind the team any more -- it doesn't make sense," he said.

"All the other clubs, Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, they have big expectations and big history. We are in a fight and we have to be united or we have no chance.

"You have Tottenham as well and everyone is behind their team and we have to do the same. Even if we have had two disappointing results I want the fans to be behind the team. Focus on what we do well."

That's going to go down a storm  

not as accusatory as his statement about supporters last season. that's progress  :opti:

agree with yuv on el neny. i'm not singling him - he's been just as hapless as the rest of our midfielders this season

Eleny hasn't played for us in a while so he's innocent of playing any part in our most recent humiliations, that purity is enough to convince that he's better than any other option in midfield.

I'd be thinking that he might be some way hampered by the after effects of his ACN adventure.

Difficult choice, choosing that midfield pair.

yuv wrote:

Did I miss something?
When did Elneny become our best player, and the one no one can leave out?
he had 1 good game for us all season. And he runs a lot.

He's had several good games this season.

His distribution is very impressive for starters. Even when he's under pressure he keeps finding a way to work the ball forward, which is not something you can accuse the rest of our midfield of. I definitely think he's a more useful player than Xhaka at the moment even if he doesn't have the big name or huge price tag to show for it. Maybe he's not obvious enough to make a flashy highlight reel, but if you can run a midfield against Barcelona you can do it against Hull too.

What's interesting to me is that Elneny is in possession of a lot of the attributes we regularly cry out for, and he mostly makes a positive contribution when he does play, but it's not really recognised as such. He has his flaws but they're not going to be ironed out when he only plays 15-20 minutes every other week.

Elneny is solid if unspectacular. That's enough to warrant a start at the moment.

Qwiss! wrote:

Elneny is solid if unspectacular. That's enough to warrant a start at the moment.

But Y Va is correct. We do have this symptom where we overrate the players who have not been involved in stupidity. For example, I like Welbeck, but as a group we did elevate him a bit in his absence. No player exploits this phenomenon more than Walcott, who takes an annual leave of absence, during which period he becomes a black Messi(ah). And then he returns and shatters our belief. 

While that can be true at times the rest of our midfielders are injured and Coq has been a joke in the last 2 games. I don't think it's overrating Elneny to call for him to start.

Don't think he can play defensive midfield though. He just doesn't win the ball enough.

y va marquer wrote:

Eleny hasn't played for us in a while so he's innocent of playing any part in our most recent humiliations, that purity is enough  to convince that he's better than any other option in midfield.

I'd be thinking that he might be some way hampered by the after effects of his ACN adventure.

Difficult choice, choosing that midfield pair.

he'll be pretty busted after the afcon. i'd be very surprised if he gets the nod over ox-coq

But, Qwiss, you're saying something slightly different from the rest of the forum. You're opening the fridge and deciding that given that the only things in it are ketchup and stale bread, then you'll have to eat ketchup sandwich for dinner. Other folks are out here talking about ketchup sandwich being their dinner of choice

Claudius wrote:

Qwiss! wrote:

Elneny is solid if unspectacular. That's enough to warrant a start at the moment.

But Y Va is correct. We do have this symptom where we overrate the players who have not been involved in stupidity.

Personally I think Elneny would have been a target for a lot of good clubs right now if he had been playing in, say, Italy where there's a culture of appreciating midfielders who can do more than one thing well on the field.

At any rate I think it's silly to write him off just because he hasn't had a big impact during the few and scattered minutes he's been awarded. I think that's a symptom of the squad we have. Wenger has struggled all season to find roles for the players he himself has assembled, and that's not really comforting. Usually when managers make a mess of the midfield it's because they have inherited pieces that don't fit with their philosophy. Our current squad is one hundred percent his own doing though. You get the feeling that his theory of 'cohesion' overrides common sense at times. He'll gladly keep two malfunctioning players in the team if he gets a result.

Gazza M wrote:

y va marquer wrote:

Eleny hasn't played for us in a while so he's innocent of playing any part in our most recent humiliations, that purity is enough  to convince that he's better than any other option in midfield.

I'd be thinking that he might be some way hampered by the after effects of his ACN adventure.

Difficult choice, choosing that midfield pair.

he'll be pretty busted after the afcon. i'd be very surprised if he gets the nod over ox-coq

I'd have thought so too until I just read this:

Wenger told a news conference Elneny "trained yesterday with the team, normal training."

He added: "He's fully focused and, as always, a fantastic player with a great mentality. He had a quality session yesterday."

I reckon Wenger may be getting desperate, he is in the zone where he might actually start taking risks with his team selection.

Claudius wrote:

But, Qwiss, you're saying something slightly different from the rest of the forum. You're opening the fridge and deciding that given that the only things in it are ketchup and stale bread, then you'll have to eat ketchup sandwich for dinner. Other folks are out here talking about salsa sandwich being their dinner of choice

Well people love exaggeration too. You're either Denilson or you're Pirlo.

LOL @ Denilson or Pirlo.

y va marquer wrote:

I reckon Wenger may be getting desperate, he is in the zone where he might actually start taking risks with his team selection.

Yep, desperate measures when top 4 is on the line. I wonder if he'd drop his beloved Ozil.

Claudius wrote:

But, Qwiss, you're saying something slightly different from the rest of the forum. You're opening the fridge and deciding that given that the only things in it are ketchup and stale bread, then you'll have to eat ketchup sandwich for dinner. Other folks are out here talking about ketchup sandwich being their dinner of choice

Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

I look forward to Elneny's return.

I know supporters tend to overstate the importance of a player to the team once they're away for a while (and when the team is completely shit), but Elneny has attributes that ANY midfield should require.

As Klaus says, he's excellent at keeping the ball moving quickly and accurately, and that includes actual forward, through-the-lines passes from time to time as well.

This season he's improved his ball-winning, too, and that's only going to get better with more game time.

Is he our saviour? Hell no, but he can actually aid and not hamper our passing game, plus he's a bundle of energy.