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The Arsenal Thread XXIII

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That's true, and I suppose having a bunch of players who are either Spanish or from the Spanish league helps team communication. Still though, on their wages, you'd hope they can put in the effort to hire a professional to give them a crash course. I understand not being fluent in the language, but apparently Gabriel can't even say the basics.

True. Wenger did say he was concerned about playing him because of that and I guess defenders need to communicate moreso than forwards. He'll improve over the season though tbf.

Ozil's English is atrocious too for a German who would have had lessons at school etc and been exposed to a reasonable amount in his youth. 2 years in still cant say anything significant. Robert Pires basically couldnt speak English for about 4 years after he joined actually but it didnt affect him. Probably because half the team was French as was the manager :laugh:

Szczesny is the one that makes me laugh though, he's got a proper London accent now :laugh:

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 2821

doobucks

Original post by Fizzel

Don't think Arsenal are winning the title, when was the last time the title was won without a good striker, rather through a collection of goals? Like a decade ago, indication of the probability. Team isn't as good as Chelsea's and neither is the manager, second best in the league though no doubt. If Chelsea got a long term issue with Costa then they could lack that goalscorer but other than that I can't see it.

CL is a crapshoot this year unless you're a Champion, no guarantees of where you'll finish, because of the variation in the quality of sides you can face early on. Actually agree with Depleted, Coq won't cut it at the bleeding edge unless we see a big step up, he's not good enough and neither are the players in front of him to play a near Makalele role.

Chelsea, Arsenal, City, United/Liverpool will be the top 4 imo.

In all honesty, I don't have enough faith in Coquelin to complete a full season at the top level. He needs to improve a lot in his game, I guess it's nice seeing a guy with tenacity in the Arsenal team.

I think Costa with his injury problems means that we need a striker. I can see where Falcao comes in. I don't think Remy is a bad player to fill in too. He'd get 15+ in the league if he started personally.

Reply 2822

e aí rapaz

I'm sure Gabriel has learnt the basics in the last 6 months. And much more important than being fluent is just being able to communicate with the rest of the team in games, which a full preseason is gonna help with a lot too. I'm hoping we'll get to see him in some pre-season games and get a better idea of what he might be able to offer.

Reply 2823

Rk2k14

Original post by Arkasia

I understand that, and I did specify that he has the ability to score 20+, not that he definitely would. I hate to pull this excuse out because it seems such a cop-out, but Wenger has been shoving him onto the wings for most of his career. Whenever Walcott plays centrally, he seems to shine, so I think that if we play him as our striker, and he manages to stay fit (big if there), then I think he can score 20. Same reason I think Ozil can hit double figures in a season even though he hasn't for us yet - he has the ability.

Plays on the wings because he got that 96 pace.
Playing him centrally is just pure pace abusing. :colonhash:

Reply 2824

doobucks

Original post by Depleted

He's not at all though

Brb Chelsea will murk PSG
Brb Liverpool will beat United

Brb all wrong

Yeah. I also got the Juve prediction of the CL horribly wrong.
However I fully believe that Arsenal should win the title if they get a striker(which they probably will get if a good striker is available). Chelsea might even come 3rd. Not enough depth at all to sustain a CL run and a PL run. As Abramovich will be in Mourinho's ear to do better in the CL I think he may sacrifice some games in the league.

Reply 2825

ZÃ¼rich

Original post by e aí rapaz

Thus far he's looked sharp. Only concern is his similarity to Koscielny and Mertesacker does seem to complement him very well in terms of positional play. Mert last season was 3/10 pre-Xmas and after Xmas was 8/10 so if he maintains that again he'll probably be first choice.

Debuchy coming in will be a big upgrade on Bellerin too tbf. And Monreal has improved a lot

Should be aiming to have a tight season at the back.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 2826

username1315644

I don't think a team being fluent in the same language is that important. I think the main thing is sharing a common language with the manager. On the pitch basic instructions and changing to pre drilled routines and plans is the bulk of communication. Off the pitch, a much greater understanding during training is where the importance will lie, but that doesn't need to be done in one language if the manager is multi lingual. An example would be, someone teaching you how to operate a machine in a language you don't really speak, compared to someone asking you to operate a machine you already know how to use in a language you don't understand.

Reply 2827

leinad2012

Original post by Zürich

Not that uncommon with South Americans. Tevez, Aguero never learned and Suarez never got that far. Sanchez basically doesnt speak a word either but seems to manage. Got to understand that these guys grew up in ghetto parts of S.America and probably never had any contact with English at all and probably dont really like having to take lessons either.

All you mention are strikers, communication is surely more important for defenders

Reply 2828

xKay

Original post by jam277

thanks for predicting that :wink:

We know who definitely wont win the title next year.

Reply 2829

leinad2012

Welbz also has the ability to be a 20 goal a season striker....

Ohhh, wait, sorry us signing Cech made me think I was dreaming or something :biggrin:

Reply 2830

Depleted

Original post by leinad2012

Welbz also has the ability to be a 20 goal a season striker....

Ohhh, wait, sorry us signing Cech made me think I was dreaming or something :biggrin:

If you ask Sevchenko he is, as Giroud can also get 30 goals a season as well.

Reply 2831

ZÃ¼rich

Original post by Depleted

If you ask Sevchenko he is, as Giroud can also get 30 goals a season as well.

19 in 36 games last season. Over 50 games he's on for 26+

Reply 2832

Arkasia

Original post by Rk2k14

Plays on the wings because he got that 96 pace.
Playing him centrally is just pure pace abusing. :colonhash:

Man has Ox, Sanchez and Walcott. Brb Wenger is signing Ibarbo.

Seriously though, I get why he is played on the wing, but we have hardly had many strikers good enough to keep Walcott out of that position. I think Wenger was just trying to force a system that wasn't really working, and Walcott was fed up and forced an ultimatum.

Reply 2833

Depleted

Original post by Zürich

19 in 36 games last season. Over 50 games he's on for 26+

That's the problem though, he's not nearly consistent enough to do it over 50 games, and especially not in the big games. You probably average 15 big games a season inc. CL, and you don't think he'll get more than 5 goals in them.

Reply 2834

Arkasia

Original post by Zürich

Szczesny is the one that makes me laugh though, he's got a proper London accent now :laugh:

Yeah, it's weird for us because our defence is so multicultural. French defender who played in France, German defender who played in Germany, and Brazilian defender who played in Spain. Luckily we have that Spanish connection with Bellerin/Monreal.

Ozil joined at a time where we had a German group building (Mert/Ozil/Pod/Gnabry), but I agree, his English is atrocious compared to what it should be. Tbf to Pires, English speakers were in a minority in that squad.

Szczesny's accent is hilarious. Bellerin's is top class though, like a Spanish Cockney, I love it.

Reply 2835

Lúcio

Original post by Fizzel

Chelsea, Arsenal, City, United/Liverpool will be the top 4 imo.

u wot?

are you terrified of us somehow clicking or are you that pessimistic about your own team?

Reply 2836

angelfox

Ozil's English is decent, he's just doesn't speak out in public too often.7

Whether or not it's an exaggeration, in one of Arsenal's cringey videos, Gabriel can't even say the basics like you say, doesn't seem to have affected his performances as of yet though.

Reply 2837

Arkasia

Original post by Lúcio

u wot?

are you terrified of us somehow clicking or are you that pessimistic about your own team?

Sturridge, Sterling, Coutinho and now Firmino are all decent, and the rest of your first team aren't terrible. If United don't click, your first team can scrape 4th.

Reply 2838

Lúcio

Original post by Arkasia

Sturridge, Sterling, Coutinho and now Firmino are all decent, and the rest of your first team aren't terrible. If United don't click, your first team can scrape 4th.

sturridge will be injured
sterling will be at man city

coutinho, firmino and our new striker will be the key players in our season.
a slow start puts us out of it for good - as many have said, we could go without an away win until december.

Reply 2839

angelfox

Original post by Depleted

You lot scare the **** out of me. If Wenger buys a DM then the leagues yours, still think you'll get raped if you go into big games with Coquelin at DM.