Way to support a new signing lads
I think he will be fine for what it's worth. People slagged off Gini at the same point of last season and he ended up doing a good job for the team.
I think by the time the season is out people will think of Chamberlain the same way
People have slagged off most of Jürgen's signings so far if you think about it. I remember people questioning and being underwhelmed by both the Mane and Salah transfers too. Both are two of our most important / productive players right now.
How long has AOC been here now and how much time has he actually been able to spend on the training pitch getting used to the tactics? Straight after the transfer there was an international break and since that it has been game after game, recovery session after recovery session, preparing the next game, ... It's not surprising at all that he looked completely out of sync on Tuesday. I've always thought Arsenal players looked unfit (bar a few exceptions like Sanchez) compared to our players and they suffer from even more injuries than our players do.
It'll take time for him to 1. get fit enough to play in our system and 2. get the tactics. I don't think we'll be seeing him start a game in midfield for the foreseeable future. The pressing triggers, the rotation in midfield, positional play, ... Isn't something you just learn over night. It's too big a risk to play him in midfield now. If one of the three doesn't do their job properly and leaves holes in either the press or the block, it leaves us wide open. Prime example being Can who seemingly just can't be arsed to do any running back at the moment. Playing out wide should be easier for him right now. Give him a year to really get up to speed with everything and next year we can start judging the lad. Not after one start in a second string team in the League Cup without a significant amount of time on the training pitch.
Oh I have no problem with Ox, I hope he does well and I’m rooting for him, I just don’t understand the buy myself. I think he can be a good player and I’m not slagging him off, just don’t understand how he was a priority but a central defender wasn’t.
I don't really think it was a priority, more an "opportunity" if you can call it that? He refused to extend his Arsenal contract, Chelsea jumped on it and he made it clear he wanted to come to us. We (probably) overpaid, but sadly enough that's just today's market and certainly for young English internationals. Don't blame the player for costing what he did or for what clubs are prepared to pay for him. Pogba cost £90 million and he was sh*t last season. It's only now that he's starting to prove his worth.
I also think we really needed cover on the wings / for the #8 position. With only Mane and Salah as first team 'wide' players and Wijnaldum, Coutinho and Lallana the #8 players (Can and Henderson don't cut it as #8's for me), we were rather short on players for these positions. So as you say, not as big a priority as a CB, but still much needed cover, for me at least.
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