Arsene Wenger has reasserted his belief that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is shaping up as a very promising central midfield option after impressing against Bayern Munich alongside Mikel Arteta.
The Frenchman has long maintained that the 20-year-old has a future in the middle of the park with his burst of pace and ability to wriggle out of tight spaces qualities that can see him excel.
“He has the sense of positional play and he has the qualities which you want to see in the modern game,” Wenger told press in his pre-Sp*rs press conference.
“He has that capability to break through because there is a lot of pressure in the modern game.
“So those players who have the ability to get out of that pressure are of course very important, he has good vision.
“He has shown potential, I think there’s a lot more to come from him in many areas but there’s potential to work on. There is still a lot of work for him, but he has interesting qualities in this position.
“He has similar qualities to Jack, I am sure he has observed Jack as well, to take all the information from Jack to develop in a similar role.”
The Oz will certainly have a big role to play in the coming weeks with the aforementioned Wilshere, Aaron Ramsey and now Mesut Ozil all on the sidelines. Reflecting on the loss of the German, Wenger played up the creativity that he can still call upon in his squad.
“It is of course a blow but I am confident we have the quality without him during that period. We have many creative players in our squad who can take over and produce quality performances. I am convinced that the team is ready, even without Ozil, to go for the challenge.”
The Oz? A new partnership perhaps?
Oxil?
Sounds like a pokemon…
Yes, he’s like Jack, except he doesn’t whine like a bitch when he gets tackled, and runs faster than a steam train.
John Terry is the Wicked Witch of West London
Very creative, but giant cunt is more pricise…
Giant racist cunt
I’d like to see a 433 of the Ox and Ramsey in midfield while Ozil is injured. Poldi on the left and Cazorla on the right.
With flamini or arteta behind?
Yeah I think that would be good. Big ‘hustle’ factor from a Flamini, Ramsey, Ox combo in the center.
Obviously Arteta or Flamini holding
He’s thinking outside the B-Ox now…
Been saying this for a while but tactically and positionally the Ox is excellent. Would love to see how him and Ramsey would do because unlike wilshere both players are very disciplined tactically and positionally.
Wilshere can play in the no. 10- he still defo wants to play that role and Wenger isn’t entirely sure where he’s going to end up. It would take a brave man to have three such attacking players in the middle of the park though. I would love to see the Ox stay an out and out winger. He could be prolific. That will always be an option for him, if we can’t fit all three into the middle.
Ox has it all. He has the potential to be a mega star.
One area Chambo can work on is his defence. He’s a bit better than Wilshere in that respect, but I think he still doesn’t do that much defensive work. I think both Chambo and Wilshere can learn a lot from Ramsey and Rosicky, that they shouldn’t neglect the defensive work. Even Gnabry puts in a shift defensively. Other than that, Chambo looks like he’s got just about everything. Let’s just not get on his case if he goes through a dip, even if it’s for a season (fingers crossed), which is perfectly normal for young players, and may be what… Read more »
To be fair he makes a point of trying to win the ball back after he looses it, and i think he pops up behind the ball quite a bit. I forget the opposition but i think he replaced poldi and made sagnas job a hell of a lot easier in defense
Yeah, maybe I’m being a bit unfair comparing him to Ramsey, who is an absolute freak of nature.
Yeah, that recovery in the Everton game the other week was immense!
Arsenal midfield for the next 10 years :
Chamberlain – Özil – Walcott
Wilshere – Ramsey
Chambo to replace Cazorla and his attacking-midfielder-drifting-inside-role in the future.
Nothing better than when your favorite player is in form.
http://minus.com/lbzVyzRnQ5pwTC
That links a gif of him destroying bayern, hope thats allowed
He had a great pass on for Ozil just when he got hacked down.
Those two will be lethal.
To me, Ox was the player of the match against Bayern. He played like a man possessed. Although it’s unfortunate with all the injuries, Ox really has shown that he can dominate when the ball is at his feet. The future is bright.
we players with quality to make up for ozil’s absence from a creative stand point. but the fear ozil causes among opponents will surely be missed. and with that the extra space it created for other players.
Ox is also a fox in the box.
The Wizard of Ox?
I’ve always believed in him before he went on injury