I like Unai Emery, he has the potential to achieve great success at Arsenal. In his first season, he has proved to be adept at managing difficult situations and he has added a tactical nous that had been absent in the free flowing, do as you please, express yourself, Wenger years.
That’s not a dig at Wenger by the way, you can disagree if you like but I’m not entirely bothered.
He has however, caused a similar revolution to when the Frenchman breezed in to Highbury in 1996 and under similar circumstances. A team that is in need of a rebuild and a new direction with players that don’t necessarily fit the mould.
However, I have a problem. I’ve looked at the complicated Denis Suarez loan deal in depth and I concluded at the time, that Barcelona had inserted a clause for appearances to milk the teat of their asset to the maximum.
Arsenal were after all extremely keen, almost lactating, at the prospect of securing the Spaniards services with an option to buy and they parted with £2m for the pleasure.
Now, I’m not sure what the f**k is going on because it appears at present, Suarez is surplus to requirements no matter what.
I had considered that Emery already had a deal in place, which was concluded in the extensive negotiations with the Catalan giants. This is all guess work of course, because you are unlikely to get any information from the Emirates, unless you wrestle the postman to the floor and steal the mail or administer sodium Pentothal to the tea lady.
Arsenal played Newcastle on Monday evening and having seen some promise in the play between Suarez and the born again footballer, Mesut Ozil in the UAE, one could be forgiven for thinking that a premier league start was on the cards.
It wasn’t. Suarez took up position on the bench but then the unthinkable happened and Elneny came on or ‘Elninny’ as I unkindly refer to him.
I told my friend he must have made a mistake, he must have misheard.
He hadn’t, Elneny came onto the field in place of Ramsey and supporters all around me wondered what was going on.
To cut a long story short, I turned to my friend and said ‘ Suarez might as well pack his bags, if Elneny gets on the pitch ahead of him, he’s done at Arsenal !’
It was said in the heat of the moment but Mo Elneny is someone you call upon when all other options are exhausted.
He isn’t creative, he isn’t particularly defensive minded, he’s not exceptionally blessed with pace.
He isn’t an influential midfielder , nor is he a recognised winger and as a defensive midfielder he is no more than average.
Harsh ? Perhaps but tell me the last time this guy played exceptionally well for Arsenal and had a direct influence on a result. Never !
Suarez can be used wide, in the middle or just behind the strikers.
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He is a baller, he has creative energy, he has pace and can influence a game with his own play or by making an opportunity for others.
So why the hell was he on instead of Suarez ? I can hear some people saying that Ramsey went off, so it was a replacement for him, a like for like swap.
No it wasn’t because that implies the players are similar, which is like saying bacon is like steak.
I would rather have tried any other option that would allow Suarez on the pitch. Why couldn’t he replace Ozil in the middle instead of Mkhitaryan?
There are more questions than answers where Suarez is concerned. Is Emery considering off loading Mkhitaryan along with ‘ Elninny’ thus leaving a recognised starting place for the Spaniard.
I don’t know but if Suarez says his goodbyes in the summer and returns to Spain, it will have been a shocking waste of his time and a monumental waste of money.
If you watch arsenal training in their site, you will know why elneny given his chance.
Training and match day are two different things and it’s clear that Elneny is surplus to requirements and therefore Suarez should have been given the nod or one of the emerging prospects.
We all know that had Ramsey been ok, if Torreira hadn’t been suspended or Xhaka had been available, Elneny may not even have made the bench.
In this case, that makes him the 4th choice as DM and that says everything about his future at the club.
Thank you for taking the time to comment and open up the discussion.
I’m sure there are others who feel exactly the way you do
Tom
The loan deal of denis suarez has perplexed everyone. There is nothing to show that we needed him or need him. His deal has been similar to the one wenger approved in his final years for lucas perez, i never got the hold of it either how we spent 17 million on a player that wasnt going to be used at all , although perez was a decent backup player but i guess he had issues with his attitudes which were apparent when he got his loan back to dep la coruna and his move to west ham .. this leaves me to think that we have a few problems :
1. Our transfer team is not working in cohesion, there must be a power imbalance somewhere . If suarez was an emery signing he will use him and give him enough chance to prove himself right(still a few games to go for that)
2. Our scouting wasnt up to mark with Suarez, since it was apparent that Suarez lacked the physicality and in the small amount of time he played for us, he was almost bullied a few times. Mind you ozil is bashed all the time for lack of physicality (although ozil played brilliantly against newcastle when Diame and hayden were on his back all the time)
P.S the only impact suarez has had on Arsenal is that since his signing, the form of mkhitaryan and iwobi has been very good, havent collected the stats to back my statement but thats my observation so maybe in the summer one of iwobi, mkhitaryan or suarez will be sent packing.
My money is on selling mkhitaryan and keeping iwobi and go in to the transfer market for a decent player that can be a regular starter in the wide positions. As for suarez, i think he can be the backup #10 for mesut ozil but that will be cleared up as the season unfolds.
Ansar, totally agree with you on all your points and I m hoping there is something we don’t know in respect of Suarez.
I also hope that our transfer dealings in the summer have more cohesion and clarity.
I don’t necessarily think we have to spend fortunes and I’m expecting two to three additions, because of talent we have st the academy.
Really enjoyed your comments, thank you for taking the time to comment.
Tom