Morning all.
Just a few weeks ago I was writing about how Reiss Nelson should stay in Germany, see out his loan deal under Nagelsmann, learn as much as he can and then come back to Arsenal a better, stronger and more polished player.
Wrong. I think we need him back in January. If I was Unai Emery, I’d be asking the club to do all they can to get Jadon Sancho too. The latter is a London boy, born not far from The Emirates, surely he’d be tempted? Perhaps not if he’s happy in Germany. Just 18 years old yet already valued around the £40 million mark, it’s ridiculous but understandable. When Man City let him leave for just £8m in 2017, we missed a trick.
The way Reiss Nelson has been impressing in Germany, he too could soon find himself in the same valuation bracket as Sancho so thank goodness Arsenal managed to tie him down to a long term contract before he went on loan.
Nelson has everything we’re missing in pace and width on the right. He scores goals too, in fact he’s already breaking records with his six goals this season. No non-German player has ever reached six Bundesliga goals at a younger age than Nelson. Six might not sound many but he’s a winger who’s not played in every match, certainly not from the start.
What are Arsenal getting from their right hand side? Very little is my opinion. Two from Mkhitaryan, one of which came from the left side on Sunday and one from Lichtsteiner.
We need wingers, proper wingers with pace to burn, skill with their feet and goals. Long gone are the days of relying on the centre forwards to get the goals, although the Totts might with Kane.
We had Alexis on the left knocking them in for fun, before him, Freddie and Bobby P, even Henry scored plenty of his goals from starting out wide. Overmars, Reyes and that’s about as many as I can remember, certainly latterly, although Armstrong was pretty good. So I’ve read anyway. Lol
Actually, when did we last have two proper wingers in the squad? I don’t mean midfielders playing out wide, real wingers? And who’s been our best?
See you in the comments hopefully…
Armstrong was good , very good in fact . Could cross with pin point accuracy Radford and Kennedy must have loved him. Limpar was one of my favourites but he did not have George Graham’s required work ethic , very similar to George’s playing style though but his “now you see it now you don’t” treatment of Neville Southall is a topic of conversation everytime my son and I get a few pints down.
Freddie , Pires and Overmars were Wenger successes all pace and trickery with the timing to appear at the right time , all great in a fast breaking team .
Fans love proper wingers , they like to applaud a trick and when they get one on one with a full back the anticipation in the crowd rises . However modern football has made specialist wingers less common. How many ex wingers have found their way to another position Ashley Cole for instance and probably if we are honest Bellerin fits that bill too.
Maybe we need to turn back to a style that has largely disappeared , they give you width and the ability to get behind a back line because there is nothing centre backs hate more than having to defend facing their own goal.
Maybe it’s time to bring the wingers back? Sterling, who’d I’d call a winger more than a striker, seems to enjoy the role…
Just think we’re missing a huge trick not having any. Pace would also stop opposing teams from playing the high line. That was one of the few things Theo was good for.
I was just about to make the same comment on a blog somewhere. I was a bit upset when they let Reiss Nelson go to Germany in the first place as I have been trumpeting his qualities for some time. I have also followed him at Hoffenheim, viewing their highlights online and he has been devastating. He is supplying the speed and skill that would really make our attack even more fearsome, scoring and making some superb goals. I also feel that Eddie Nketiah should get more opportunities. I have also been following him playing for England and our youth teams when he scores some lovely goals. I am sure that he would have put away the chance that Aubameyang hit the post with against Wolves.
There is also a move for PL teams to be limited with overseas players; even more reason to give our young English players more chances
Morning all.
Wingers, our last was Walcott. I remember the excitement and anticipation when he got the ball especially one on one. His pace, direction and often success depended solely on his speed. And, he was quick! Sad to relate he didn’t develop into the footballer we all imagined he could be. A lack of confidence, continuous criticism from the likes of Waddle and a lack of micro coaching by his manager/coach definitely hindered his progress. Going to the World Cup aged 16 didn’t help, either. A great shame, he was a talent to be moulded but ended up in a proverbial plastic bag and left to find his own shape, a task he was unable to achieve.
Armstrong was some player, hard, tricky and direct. Loved watching him play. Alan Skirton was our number 7 when I first went to Highbury. Season 60-61 he was our top scorer with 19 goals. I considered it a poor return, Jimmy Greaves had scored 40 and our centre forward David Herd had scored 20+ the season before, I think. Probably as a result of good wing play! Jimmy McKewan comes to mind and ….? I’ve forgotten! (It’s an age thing!!!)
Marinello, Charlie Nicholas, Alan Sunderland etc etc. But recently we’ve had nobody who was remotely successful or direct. Too much Wengerball. Good old Arsene’s luck ran out post Pires. Ten years of Mr No Winger!
Time to put this right? Nelson will do nicely. He’s doing really well in Germany, or so it would seem. Buying a new, expensive shiney one may be unnecessary. We’ve made our own. If the game plan was to toughen him up in readiness for EPL football in season 19/20 then he should stay where he is and learn his trade. Bringing him back may well hinder his current progress. Like Eddie he would probably be spending his time re-moulding the shape of his bottom sitting on the old subs bench! However, I think he may be the future!
Blue skies and windless here. Lovely.
Brian Marwood or Anders Limpar would be the best wingers that I watched that were pure wingers.
Wavy did you mean Johnny McLeod who played with Joe Baker , I had forgotten him too. Baker was a great finisher his record speaks for itself 100 goals in 150 games . My boyhood hero.
I could understand the loan Jim, but then I thought Mikki would give us more than he is. But there’s no shame in the club saying we need him now and try to get him back if the loan deal includes we can. But he’s got to play if we do, because otherwise there’s no point.
Wavy, so true re Walcott. I do wonder what kind of player he’d have been had he been coached properly…
I know Bobby wasn’t an out and out winger but he’ll always be one of my favourite left sided players. He and Freddie were awesome together..
Potter, thanks I did mean Johnny McLeod very swift. I got stuck at Jimmy Magill a full back but the name was in there, somewhere. Ditto, Baker plus George Eastham, what a pair! Shame Billy Wright didn’t think so! What a poor appointment he was.
Ah, it’s nice travelling down memory lane, albeit just briefly.😊
G’day to you all, thanks Rico for a talking point to get all the old-timers going.
I’ll chuck in Danny Clapton. I remember him in an NLD skinning Dave Mackay one time too many, the next time he tried it Mackay put him over the fence and into the crowd.
Retaliation came shortly after, in the shape of Tommy Docherty, who put Mackay into the second row.
Wingers made great targets.
Just what I’d hoped to do Cicero, great shame the Arsenal blog world is so quiet these days.
Marc Overmars……the best we’ve ever had.
Do you remember Ron Yeats ? Shankly bought him and paraded him as the man mountain collosus upon whom Liverpool’s defence was to be built around.
Joe baker was playing against him and getting a lot of stick , eventually 5 foot 8″ Baker snapped and a right hook floored Yeats and a fight in front of the North Bank saw both men sent off.
I also remember him having a tussle with Dennis Law who exchanged punches in a chase from the North bank and ended in the centre circle . Those were the days punch ups on the pitch as well as the terraces.
It’s a lovely day here, sunny and warm, I’ve just spent a couple of hours raking up leaves in the back garden.
Who can forget Peter Marinello? A right winger signed for a club record fee of £100,000 in 1970. He had blinding pace and excellent ball control but always seemed surprised when he reached the corner flag, long before he was ready to cross the ball. Burdened by the transfer fee and the fame, his celebrity lifestyle and a knee injury took it’s toll, he only played fifty one games in three years for Arsenal before moving on.
Morning all,
In Sydney last year, Nelson was the young player that looked a star in the making-just ahead of Nketiah.
He’s been brought along very nicely by the club, and it seems the loan spell is topping him off perfectly.
He’s got a massive future.
Pogba and Martial have been pulled out of the French squad by United and Spuds have pulled Trippier out of the England Squad. We know they will have “recovered” in time for their next club game. Any player pulled like this should be stood down by the FA for their club’s next two games.
Marinello London’s George Best except he wasn’t. The tough guy defenders saw to that Tommy Smith , Ron Harris and the like kept him permanently injured and the bars and clubs in London’s west end kept him in the headlines.
Ron Yeats flattened at the Clock End right in front of me. We loved it, but Joe Baker had an early shower.Anyone remember if we won that game?
I bow to your memory , I was usually a North bank person but it’s quite possible that in my formative years I could have been down the clock end. It was 1964 F.A cup 5th round , we lost 1 nil St John scored and I only know this because I looked it up.
Baker and Yeats early bath was a Cup game in January, I think and it ended 1-0 to the dippers. I was there that day but missed the incident as I was reading my programme! Saw them trudge off though!
Sorry you were stuck in moderation MD, hope you pop back. We’re friendly on here… 😜
Good report rico, it’s a shame wing-backs seem to have replaced out and out wingers. My dad took me to my first game at Highbury, and George Armstrong was the player I came home loving. Since then Overmars probably the best, Limpar for a shorter while. Remember pretty boy Marinello being a sought after football sticker! Glen Helder quickly disappeared, Perry Groves from Colchester for a short time. Let’s hope Nelson is the business, he certainly looks the prospect.
I didn’t look it up- too id Let! But remembered it was 1-0 forgot it was St.John and it must have been at least February! How the memory fades and plays little tricks no ones!!😊
Last two words should be “on one!” Forget the emoji.
Either that Cicero, or we should follow suit..
This is more like it – more comments and, a few dips into the Gunners history comparing Wing-backs v Wingers,in addition to the Joe Baker episodes.
Punchups are rarely seen in soccer these days but the Canadian Ice Hockey players are certainly good value for mid-game entertainment.
A timely post Rico, as I also think we need a fresh look at options (apart from the obvious lack of defensive stability) in the front.
The highlights of the Wolves match exposed Xhaka AGAIN, mind elsewhere so seemed unaware of the pass coming his way, compounded by a feeble attempt to chase back on the player who scored. I would swear he backed off, otherwise he could have slid in and knocked the ball away. Maybe? But he looked like he couldn’t be bothered?
Total toss-pot!
Errrr,….sorry, got side-tracked…..
Wingers – we have insufficient width I reckon, so it makes it easier for defences to cram the middle and stifle any progress. Is it just me, or do I sense that we lack a bit of craft and magic from some of our forwards in the box. Yes, sometimes the ball has to be hit first time goalwards but we lacked subtlety to wrong-foot defenders to create space.
Auba was unlucky with his flick……….that’s all.
Am I wrong in thinking that Fabregas’s ability was seen at an early age and so he was introduced into the senior team quite early on and as we know became a great success, while he stayed?
This might be just the time to get Nelson back and give Nektiah a go too?
Thanks Andrew, I loved Overmars and was so disappointed when he left for Barca, Petit too.
Henry wasn’t a bad winger… 😜
Thanks Andorra.
The last handbags we were involved in was the Utd one wasn’t it? A few scuffles here and there since but nothing like that particular one. I’m glad really as as much as I like to see a good old battle, punch ups etc have no place on the pitch imo. In the tunnel, we’ll thats a different story.. 😜
I think we lack a bit of craft and magic full stop. Ozil has it in abundance but he can’t be bothered most of the time. We don’t have much pace either really apart from Aubameyang but if someone challenges him or goes toe to toe, he too appears to shy away.
Dick, re your earlier question, sorry no, I’m far too young… lol
Today’s football is different.
The side defenses are that they have to have ability to center.
It is rare to have a decent cross from the defenses.
Welbeck has the season over.
Nelson can be a good guess.
Afternoon Gooners.
Good post Rico, I’m surprise Wath hasn’t come on to talk about Cliff Bastin and Joe Hulme.
I always like Alex Cropley, but he was never fit, tackled like his life depended on it, today he’d probably be in center mid.
Mark Heeley was an interesting signing from the lower divisions but soon got kicked to pieces and drifted out of it.
Brian McDermott probably would have been a winger back in the day, another one kicked out of the game, as was Bobby Harding, tipped to be as big as Charlie George, he didn’t even make the first team thanks to Combination League hatchet men, a sad loss to our club.
I saw Geordie, he was like a metronome, a string of accurate, bending crosses, fabulous corners – a lost art and never stopped running, working, tackling, he saw off both Peter Marinello and Jimmy Robertson.
I loved Anders, brilliant player, and for two season Brian Marwood was amazing, but he was 28 when we signed him, 5 years too late.
Rocky Rocastle wasn’t a bad winger when we played him out there, he gave Stuart Pearce a few kicks.
Hi Kev, thanks. Any player who gave Pearce a few kicks sits high in my estimations.. I loved Rocky.
Half these players you guys are naming I don’t know of. Perhaps I need to read back further than 1971 and Charlie George.. 😜
Bellerin and Monreal can put in a good cross Jm..
Danny Clapton could always beat his market down the wing, but all the players realized that he didn’t like anything ‘gritty’. Our keeper back then
(began with an ‘F’ ) used to delight in hoofing long balls to the wing and he and defenders would exchange grins when Danny would duck to avoid them.
Incidentally when people were mentioning hard tackles no one referred to our own, ‘Mad Frank McCullough’.
Dick, do you mean Billy McCullough, our Northern Irish left back? I saw him a couple of years ago at the South Herts Golf Club where both George Graham and Frankie McLintock play.
Now please don’t laugh, but Andre Santos delivered a cross as well as any Arsenal player I’ve seen.
Shame he was near fekken exhausted after the 10 metre “sprint” to get on the end of it.
That left foot was phenomenally accurate, though.
Dick, Jim Furnell?
Hi Rico, all.
Wenger took over when I was barely three. So I’d probably mention his wingers. Freddie probably amused me more. As mentioned, we all had high hopes on Theo. Ox was a big let down as well but he’s a brilliant winger.
Rumours had it Wenger went to scout Hazard and came back with Gervinho!
Jim Fumbling Furnell.
To the tune of mighty quinn
Come on without
Come on within
You aint seen nothing like ffumbling Jim
Cruel Potter, but true.
Morning Marshall, all.
New post up now.