Mohamed Elneny: What is he good 4?

[hydrofluoric acid]

Can we just... Just get rid already.

 

[Vinci]

Thanks Allah for this logo and brand.

 

[blaze_of_glory]

I like it. Hopefully the ElNeny brand becomes the new kit and/or suite supplier for Arsenal.

 

[Dokaka]

Thanks Allah

 

[Hunta]

We sign some absolute melts.

 

[A_G]

Can we just... Just get rid already.

What's the big deal? He's obviously a big name in Egypt.

 

[Jury]

Seriously, is that a parody account? No, nobody would bother making a parody account... So it's real then. Wow.

 

[Jury]

What's the big deal? He's obviously a big name in Egypt.

True, I suppose. More a footballer thing that anything against Elneny. Brands and logos... **** off!

 

[A_G]

Brands and logos... **** off!

 

[blaze_of_glory]

He's like Beckham. Bigger than football.

 

[Jury]

There are/were exceptions

Is this the guy with the friendly AIDS?

 

[A_G]

Is this the guy with the friendly AIDS?

Nah, not him.

 

[Jury]

 

[Trilly]

What I like about him is that he improves the base level of the squad. We all saw the travesty that ocurred when Cazorla and Wilshere were both unavailable and that could easily happen again.

I don't mind a guy who despite one or two injuries to your CM's can provide you with decent stability and distribution. It's a far cry from Flamini no?

Now that we've signed Xhaka I'm more convinced that Elneny was bought to be a useful squad player. Don't be too harsh on him...he does a good job and if we're lucky he might actually improve - he's only 23 after all.

 

[Sykes]

I reckon that Elneny will become more than just a mere squad player and potentially end up as one of two Xhaka's regular partners in a double pivot set-up in front of the back four.

That particular line of thinking comes from the fact that I couldn't help but dwell on this Wenger's interview with Geoff Shreeves before the match against Sunderland. The gaffer was asked by Shreeves: 'In the Premier League, is the game in terms of effective football, changing?'; and I thought that his answer was quite revealing to say the least. (Video from 09:35 onwards).

He talked about 3 very important fundamentals;

1. "Our passing has to be quicker,"
2. "Our movement has to be sharper," and
3. "Our efficiency in the final third has to be better"
​

As simple as those may be, I'm convinced that both Xhaka and Elneny were actually scouted at about roughly the same time; when Wenger lost his trust in the preceding midfield combinations that he had.

Think about it; both of them release the ball very quickly, with Elneny's 90+% completion rate and Xhaka's around 85% for even longer passes and both, more interestingly, are predominantly forwards passers of the ball; one short-to-mid and the other mid-to-long. (Take this Squawka's comparison matrix as an example)

Imagine the sheer amount and variety of services that our 3 'narrow' central attacking midfielders in a 4-2-3-1 will get (I'd say that besides Özil (as "the Passer" or previously "Bergkamp's role") and Alexis (as "the Runner" or previously "Ljungberg's role", the final spot will belong to Santi/Jack (as "the Ball Carrier" or previously "Pires' role"))

With Santi/Jack also a capable substitute behind Özil in case of, god forbid, injury, Ramsey behind Alexis in the Runner column and Iwobi as a hybrid Passer/Ball Carrier, we look quite set in those 3 midfield positions, aren't we?

So what about that illusive 3rd signing after Xhaka and a CF Le Boss was talking about? Right Wing? Maybe.

Here's my own educated guess and, in my opinion, it would complete the Wenger's evolution (at least on paper): We are probably looking for our next bombarding LB. As I specifically put ' ' on the word narrow above, I kind of expect our 3 CAMs to mainly be just that - central - with our 2 FBs providing the actual width.

Sorry for the longer than expected post of mine, guys; I'd also want to leave it with my observation that, although I stated this myself many pages back that Elneny still lacks that cutting edge going forwards or in defence (to be honest, I don't think he'll turn out to be a tough tackler by any stretch of the imagination), he has been getting into good positions to score a goal more and more. If he can intelligently shoot better from distance like "Wenger has advised him" and improve his shooting execution in the box, his 'missing end product contribution' will be there, in attack.

EDIT: the auto-correct of 'Arsène' 's name messed up the Skysports' link so one needs to replace that with simple 'a-r-s-e-n-e' with no "-"

Superb analysis. You called it right with the lb(assuming if we're really after Ricardo Rodriguez).

 

[Token Yank]

Superb analysis. You called it right with the lb(assuming if we're really after Ricardo Rodriguez).

Was just going to comment on this. Truly excellent post by Lancelot.

 

[Tir Na Nog]

Wonder where I can buy that t-shirt?

 

[razörist]

I'm not really sure what to say about this

Still better than puma.

 

[Gooner416]

He's like Beckham. Bigger than football.

Bend it like Elneny?

 

[celestis]

Wonder where I can buy that t-shirt?

I've already ordered myself one of the save the rhino's tees .