Ox's passing can range from woeful to very good. I've never seen a player struggle so much to find his range.

You can't compare this man's pin-point crossing/shooting to Ox's hit and hopes into the danger area/row Z.
On the other hand, he doesn't have Ox's strong ball carrying ability.
Also, why is everyone assuming Monaco will break up the great team they have?
I know money talks but if they get a record fee for Mbappe, it would be extremely short-sighted for them to dismantle the rest of the team.

I believe it is actually their stated business model.

Not a big fan of this at all. If we are getting an inside forward would rather get Pulisic.

I don't think that the internet could handle an American going to Arsenal, it would be unbearable.

Qwiss! wrote:

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.

Honestly, I think that is because a) he plays riskier passes than Bellerin to begin with, and b) in the new formation there are many times there is no on ahead of him to pass the ball.

dreamlord wrote:

Qwiss! wrote:

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.

Honestly, I think that is because a) he plays riskier passes than Bellerin to begin with, and b) in the new formation there are many times there is no on ahead of him to pass the ball.

A part of it is definitely playing more final ball type passes but its nowhere near enough to make up for some of his performances. There have been halves since he moved to RWB where he's managing less than 50%. This conversation started over playing out when under pressure and with Ox he either takes his man on or he will probably play a shit pass. Even when he was in midfield and managing more straightforward passing that pushed his stats up he made some really awful errors that cost us goals. Ox has strengths but he is not a consistent passer of the ball in any position.

Yeah that's why I don't see Ox as a midfielder any time soon myself, because his passing can be pretty lackadaisical, and you just can't have that from a central player.

Anyway sorry for derailing the thread.

one of lemar's biggest strengths (from what i see) is his crossing ability. not sure moving him centrally is a good idea.

i see 2 possible scenarios for our setup, assuming we stick with 3 ATB, which im sure we will:

1. keep alexis and ozil, buy a striker
2. keep ozil, shift alexis to striker, buy an AM

id be happy to have lemar to play LM/LWB but i dont think he solves our front 3 quandry

If we sign Lemar as LWB then Kolasinac could play LCB in the back 3?

I'd play him in that inside forward role that Alexis played last season:

--------Alexis
---Lemar--------Ozil
LWB----CM----CM------RWB

He's not only an intelligent mover between the lines, he's very productive in the final 3rd: scored 14 and assisted another 14 goals last season playing in a left midfield role. Would be bonkers to play him any deeper (so far away from goal) IMO

Looks very much a central player from the highlights I've seen. Don't know if we have room for him in central midfield.

But he is a very good crosser and can penetrate with his dribbling. Worth a shot

Like Ozil a real elegant player. Also like Ozil scores great goals but not great goal scorer. I like him even if I'm not that fond of the way Monaco use him.

My worry is he'll be crocked the same way Jack does. He has the exact same habit of drawing the opponent in but unlike Ozil doesn't know how to then skip past the inevitable the challenge.

Lemar would be a terrific signing, too many wooden legs in our squad and he'd rectify that ratio. In the first half of last season before Mbappé exploded he was Monaco's best player, decided many games by himself and I'd also say he's chiefly responsible for reviving Falcao's career.

Not sure where we'd play him though. The idea of playing him at LWB because he's left footed makes as much sense as putting Giroud in goal because he's tall and has hands. He'd need a free role on the wing like Nasri used to in 10/11, in our 3-4-2-1 it'd make sense to play him in the front three but that makes Özil a bit redundant imo.

Anyway I'd get him first then worry about where to play him later

I wouldn't worry about him making Ozil redundant. Wenger would likely only sign Lemar if he was losing Ozil.

Alternatively we keep Sanchez and Ozil and sign Lemar and figure the fuck out what we wanna play.

This is going to end up being another diversion. What we need is a CF but Wenger loves his attacking midfielders.

Bit of a tired old cliche that, when was the last time we signed one? In fact we don't even have that many credible options left after Mesut and Iwobi.

There's two attacking midfield spots, occupied by our two most expensive players in Ozil and Sanchez. Meanwhile at CF a load of cheap strikers.