I do wonder what position he'll play if we do sign him. I don't think he's good enough to replace Ozil and Sanchez, not sure the value of signing him as a back up either unless we expect him to improve loads. I've seen the left wing back role mooted but we signed signed someone for that role. Though I guess with Gibbs potentially off and Nacho moving to centre back we have room for two spots.

I think he could become a few levels above Nasri, has Pires potential from what I've seen.

---------Lacazette
-------Sanchez--Ozil
Kolasinac-Xhaka-Lemar-Ox

He would effectively replace Wilshere.

Gazza M wrote:

lemar-laca-sanchez
----------ozil

could be tasty but would mean reverting to 433

I'd prefer not to.

He's more Malouda than Pires.

----------- Mbappe

--- Sanchez --------- Ozil

Lemar - Xhaka - Ramsey - Bellerin

That would be a summer I could get behind.

----------------- Striker*
----------- Sanchez -- Özil
Lemar -- Xhaka -- Ramsey -- Ox

With the option to switch in Bellerin and Kolasinac depending on the opponents or the situation in the game.

Thats how I see it with Lemar - up and down the left but with much more license to get on the ball and influence things from deep than a fullback/wingback. Basically an old school wide midfielder, the same with Chamberlain. I don't think Lemar's good enough, at least currently, to replace Sanchez or Özil in that set-up - the two games with Juventus showed him up a little bit at the very highest level. His best position would be somewhere between Ramsey's position and Özil's position. He very good at moving around and knitting the play together but his incisive passing isn't a particular strong point for him.

I think you've got everything in that midfield and attack, as long as the striker is M̶b̶a̶p̶p̶é̶ a fast and deadly striker. And Lemar is a worker, he runs and presses hard, so I don't think he'd leave us overly exposed when we are on the back foot or when we are countered. We'd play some great football and have some proper flexibility in how we attack. We might actually be able to pass the ball when an opponent is pressing hard with all those good passers and technicians in the team!

• by striker I blatantly mean Mbappé but don't want to jinx it so I won't type it.

I'm honestly not sure where I'd play Lemar in our team, probably wide left, but I really like the look of him. Everyone bangs on about his technique but what I personally notice the most is his ability to find space, he's very good off the ball and is constantly moving around. Intelligent player who'd link up well with our midfield.

Quality player. Hope we get him.

Irish gunner wrote:

I'm honestly not sure where I'd play Lemar in our team, probably wide left, but I really like the look of him. Everyone bangs on about his technique but what I personally notice the most is his ability to find space, he's very good off the ball and is constantly moving around. Intelligent player who'd link up well with our midfield.

That's spot on. Have to note he is still really young as well and this is his first full season at a proper club. His delivery in the final 3rd is brilliant and his setpiece taking will add a lot to our game. Have been wishlisting him for a long time now, really hope we can get it over the line.

Giroud will love playing with him.

Ricky1985 wrote:

We might actually be able to pass the ball when an opponent is pressing hard with all those good passers and technicians in the team!

Don't think a line consisting of Xhaka-Ramsey-Ox is what you are looking for to resist pressing - they are all turnover machines.

Xhaka is notoriously bad when he's put under pressure too. I still don't think he should be given another season to fail just because he cost a lot of money. Ideally he'd be a bench warmer going forward.

I don't agree that Xhaka falls into that category given that he's a player that is statistically dispossessed less than once every other game and has pretty much a 90% pass completion, even at Champions League level, and had the most number of passes in the Premier League last season and the most in the Bundesliga the season before that (and the most in the group stages of last year's Euros). He can look awkward at times, I agree, but he sees a lot of the ball and gives it away very little - so there's no basis for the criticism of him in that regard.

Chamberlain I hope will be helped by the extra time and space he's afforded playing deeper and in a less congested area out wide at wingback.  We certainly saw evidence of that in the games he played there - his touch and passing actually became a real plus in our build-up play because it was a couple of levels up from what Bellerin had previously given us playing as a rightback.

If we were to have two proper out balls in Chamberlain and Lemar, for example, it would give Xhaka, Ramsey and the other centre midfielders more capable players to pass to in the face of an onslaught of aggressive pressing. I also think it will make a massive difference having both Sanchez and Özil in those areas where their close control can not just help us keep the ball but by evading it create space and openings. Sanchez gives it away a lot but it's usually because he looks for the incisive pass very often, even if it's not really on, not because he lacks the close control when pressed.

Ricky1985 wrote:

I don't agree that Xhaka falls into that category given that he's a player that is statistically dispossessed less than once every other game and has pretty much a 90% pass completion, even at Champions League level, and had the most number of passes in the Premier League last season and the most in the Bundesliga the season before that (and the most in the group stages of last year's Euros). He can look awkward at times, I agree, but he sees a lot of the ball and gives it away very little - so there's no basis for the criticism of him in that regard.

The question was passing under pressure though, which I assumed meant being able to hold the line. Xhaka is a coward. He turns around every single time and puts pressure on the defence instead. He rarely finds a passing angle on his own unless he gets an ocean of time to pick and choose. I think it's a serious flaw in a central midfielder. It doesn't surprise me that his possession stats are high, but they don't make a good midfielder.

If we ignore the stats, I don't see that same thing when I watch Xhaka play that you do. I am constantly impressed with how quickly he sees a ball which cuts through a line of players and finds a team mate, usually Özil or Sanchez, positioned in space 20 or 30 yards ahead of him. It seems to me he does that over and over in every game I see of him, whatever sort of pressing system we face.

Ricky1985 wrote:

Chamberlain I hope will be helped by the extra time and space he's afforded playing deeper and in a less congested area out wide at wingback.  We certainly saw evidence of that in the games he played there - his touch and passing actually became a real plus in our build-up play because it was a couple of levels up from what Bellerin had previously given us playing as a rightback.

He done a lot of good stuff at RWB but his passing and build up play were atrocious. You talk (correctly) about Xhakas passing stats but just go check out Oxs at RWB. He lost the ball an incredible amount. He made up for it in other ways but it shouldn't gloss over the reality that his passing was really, really bad. Maybe you are thinking of his run in midfield where his passing was generally ok despite a few unforced costly errors in possession.