Over the years we have had one of the best midfields in the game dispite our other failures around the pitch. This season it seems like a distant meomery the way we dominated other teams in the center of the park. We lack creativity while have one of the best #10 in the modern game, cohesion, discipline, synchronization, tactical fortitude and bravery. Top to bottom of the league walk or bypass the boys in the middle like they are not even there. What’s going on?
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Wenger
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He has to take the bulk of the blame, but when do we start looking at the players? It’s easy to say wenger but these players are pros and can’t pass 5yards
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Watch it change when he leaves
What is there to look at? He hires them, he coaches them, he plays them.
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Next question would be what is he doing differently coaching wise than he has done in the past? Because he is the same person but different personal
One and done.
The midfield issues were creeping in as far back as 2012-13.
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Working with less talent against much much better managerial talent.
His ideas are out of date.
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How can you create with Xhaka, Elneny, Wilshere (yeah, because he is absolutely no Fabregas) and Ramsey (good at making runs into the box, but awful at passing)? Instead of playing a different system with these players, Wenger has still tried tiki taka and failed.
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The few good games we have had recently have happened when we have played on counter. Don’t know why Wenger doesn’t try it more. We can’t clearly play “Wenger ball” anymore.
Not only our midfield, but our pace (and wide players) too. This season we’ve sold Sanchez, Walcott and Chamberlain which has left us with a very narrow and slow team. Its extremely worrying.
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Walcott and Chambo were not regulars and Sanchez really isn’t a burner. We have Auba, Welbeck, Bellerin who are all very fast and/or quick. Our wide play is an issue but I think lack of pace is far down the list of problems atm.
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Welbeck and Bellerin have lost half a yard this season. Not sure whats up with them.
Its more about our options. We no longer have that wide option anymore. We also got rid of our target man too. We’ve basically limited ourselves to trying to attack with 5 central midfielders now. I can guarentee now that will get us nowhere this season and we will find it hard to score goals big time.
I think this is part of the overall bigger picture problem - we don’t know how we are supposed to play as a team. Even with Sanchez out wide, he wasn’t really a typical wide player… he cut in, he dribbled, he was always trying to force the issue to the middle and get into more threatening positions himself…
Iwobi - ok but not good enough yet… who else do we have of real quality out wide? Ramsey? Ozil (he is more of a floater who will wander to middle as well)… our wide fullbacks are shambolic in helping attack, although Monreal and Kola showed some flashes.
We have really struggled with those positions for consistency, maybe since Freddie, Robert days… god those guys were so f*ing good.
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The, supposed, ideas he currently holds over football are not outdated. Just look at the team that has shred us too pieces yesterday. Wenger is trying to do something that he can’t teach his players to do. That is the problem. Wenger is trying to implement the Ajax’ system without having any apparant knowledge of it or history in it.
Kovacic is 24/24 for dribbles this season 
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Been better than Modric imo. He’s ready to take his spot.
I don’t think he’s doing anything different. It’s the rest of the football world has passed him by. He just refuses to adapt.
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It’s simple really, our midfield was built around Cesc. Arteta indirectly replaced Cesc and did a decent job. Then Cazorla became our playmaker then replaced Arteta as our deep lying midfield. We lost both, we lost Rosicky and replaced them with Xhaka and Elneny. Ramsey and Wilshere never hit their potential, although they’re decent.
The quality dip from Cesc to Xhaka is essentially how far we’ve fallen because Xhaka is meant to be our DLP. If Xhaka was far more intelligent and more agile and quicker it could have actually worked but he’s continually let the team game nearly every game.
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Cesc was not the quickest nor was arteta quick of thought yes