Angelito wrote:Mesüt wrote:People always say stuff like that after a good game from the pair but forget exactly that these two are part of the problem. If they performed to their best for even just 75% of PL matches then we'd do much better.
Liverpool almost won the league when they had 2 world class players in Gerrard and Suarez, Arsenal almost came 4th.
While I partly agree, the problem is much deeper at Arsenal than it was at Liverpool in that particular season, and this dates back to before Alexis and Ozil. We have deep-lying fundamental issues. Even in that Liverpool side, you're forgetting the deadly SAS/SSS alongside Gerrard and Coutinho. Apart from Ozil and Alexis, we've had a stellar line-up of Ramsey, Xhaka, Welbeck, Walcott, Coquelin, Flamini, Arteta, et al in their time here. Most of these players can have great games, but they're simply not in the same mold, technically, as even SSS/Gerrard/Coutinho, or any player who's playing for a top-4/top-5 side.
You also can't ignore how Ozil and Alexis have had incredible individual seasons and if they had the support, we could have won the League or at least competed. Two players can't do much when the odds are stacked against them. And, as painful as it is, we were a side with technical wizards in the past, but today - we have the most technically inept or lopsided players in the top-4/top-5 of the Prem.
When Wenger gets his tactics/match selection right, we usually enter a winning run. But sadly that only happens during one-half of the season and most of the time, it's after February. Even this season, it's October and this is when we start AOL. It's not a one-off either. We start slowly, end strongly. That's been our mantra over the past few seasons.
Coming back to Liverpool, you have to remember that Gerrard was one of the world class players at Liverpool - a CM. When we had Santi at CM, we weren't/aren't usually as horrid as we are without him. Without a world class/top quality CM, it's almost impossible to when the League (unless you have Messi).
There are many underlying issues. With Ozil and Alexis (and Ramsey, for he's been brilliant in the FA Cup finals), we've at least won three FA Cups. Even when we had van Persie, Cesc, Rosicky, Arshavin, Nasri, etc., we didn't win anything (not counting the FA Cup in 2005 for van Persie/Cesc). These are players you'd expect to perform brilliantly, but we've never had a solid team, save for 07/08, under Wenger post-2006.
It's unfair to pinpoint Ozil and Alexis here. I've always maintained that we should offer them £250k+ a week. It's not only a question of keeping them; it's also about replacing them, maintaining our image, and as fans - hoping to see two of our best players remain at Arsenal.
This season we have Lacazette, Ozil, Alexis, Koscielny and Lacazette. That's the spine of a world class team
