Arsene Wenger says Mohamed Elneny gave structure to Arsenal’s midfield in the North London derby delivering a performance that was ‘convincing’ for a first start in the Premier League.
The Egyptian international played in the centre of the park alongside Francis Coquelin helping to stem the flow of the home side’s attacks even when his midfield partner was sent off early in the second half.
Reflecting on Elneny’s full league debut, the boss also played up the January signing’s integration into the squad.
“It was a very positive performance because he structured our team very well,” Wenger told Arsenal Player.
“He looks to be an intelligent player who moves the ball very quickly, finds his partners and plays forward.
“It was a very convincing performance for a first time [in the Premier League].
“I believe mentally he has integrated very well into the team, he is very keen and very humble. He has a great desire to learn, so everybody in the squad likes him and he is a positive surprise on that front as well.”
Elneny looks set to start this evening’s game against Hull City although the boss has said he will make changes to the side that played at the weekend.
“I have to rotate a little bit because some players have played many games and I have fresh players available as well,” he said.
“All the players in my squad have nearly the same quality and it is not very difficult [to rotate]. The difficulty for me is to find the right balance in the team to be efficient.”
Us after 29 games in previous two seasons
2013/14 62 points
2014/15 57 Points
2015/16 52 points
#Progress
For fucks sake. Can’t get any more off topic.
A post about a player whose personality and positive nature are exactly the opposite of your comment and you go and fuck it up with this.
Enjoy your bitterness.
love wenger but I think that last statement is where his fault lies…”all of my players have nearly the same quality.” not so professor, we could surely use upgrades on Walcott, Ox, Flamini to name a few.
The FA Cup is our best shot at silverware thus season, so surely we have to field a full strength/nearly full strength side, no? Having said that I’d love to see Iwobi start, kid’s got something. COYG!
yea, i dont mind our league form is shit again, winning the FACup is alright for me.
i mean, i would take third FACup in a row as positive sign too. league form lol, just lol
Hopefully he plays him in the middle till Cazorla comes back. But what would I know? You never know with Wenger nowadays… He said Campbell was this year’s Coquelin yet benches him every time he puts a brilliant performance.
Big hopes for El Neny. Who would have thought we’d NEED him
I like that Elneny doesn’t dwell on the ball when he has it and accelerates the build up. Unlike… well pretty much everyone else.
He lost the ball more than his fair share too.
No point not dwelling on the ball and passing it back to opposition.
Stop exaggerating his effectiveness. He was decent and an extra leg in the tackle but hardly as effective as suggested.
Is wenger using this praise to indirectly have a dig at Ramsey’s somewhat lack of tactical intelligence. Hence why, despite it only being one game but it was a big game, Ramsey lost his position from his favoured central position. Carzola has also been attributed with this tag of intelligence, a label that hasn’t graced Ramsey’s name by wenger this season
The real issue is Coqsey have leaked 5 goals in two games. Adding ELneny meant we had an extra man protecting and shielding Ramsey- Elneny and Coquelin. But that also meant we lacked a bit going forward as defense became more of a priority. At times in the first half Welbeck was a bit isolated when receiving the ball. Elneny was OK but I think a lot of this is overblown. He intercepted some balls but also lost it immediately after on a number of times. Passing completion is all and good when its someone certain people want to see… Read more »
Good write up.
For me in simple terms, I like how Elneny plays quick simple passes even under abit of pressure.
Which is a breath of fresh air in our midfield as Ramsey loves taking a couple of touches which results in the opposition regaining their shape.
Has to be first choice alongside coq till santi comes back. Would like to see how a pivot of him and Ramsey will work out. He could also play alongside santi when he’s fully integrated.
Yet you’d see some say he isn’t a better player than flamini.
I like Elneny, hope He will provide a lasting solution to our midfield problem
Cool and calm on the ball unlike some of our midfield when it’s like hot potato football.
I still wonder what Wenger’s long term plan for Elneny is. Is he going to keep playing in the box-to-box role, or are we also going to see him as an alternative to Coquelin once Wilshere and/or Cazorla are back?
TO ME I DONT KNOW WHO WENGER WILL BENCHED WHEN CAZORLA IS BACK BUT HE CANT JUST WALKED IN STRAIGHT TO THE TEAM… ELNENY HAVE IMPROVED US IN THE MIDDLE AND HIS A BALL PLAYER