Arsene Wenger has praised the contribution of Mohamed Elneny after the Egyptian put in another fine performance at the heart of the Arsenal midfield.
His partnership with Francis Coquelin seems to be working out well, and his metronomic passing coupled with relentless energy has helped rejuvanate an area of the side of that had been somewhat dysfunctional in recent months.
The 23 year old made a Premier League high 122 of 127 passes in the 4-0 win over Watford, and the manager was quick to credit the impact he’s had.
“He has brought something to the team,” he said. “He is a very intelligent player who is also very mobile and works very hard for the team. He gives us tactical stability.
“He made a very good pair with Coquelin in terms of winning the ball back, and also in the distribution as well.”
Expanding further on the blossoming new partnership, Wenger continued, “Both of them are improving offensively. When Coquelin plays with Cazorla, Coquelin is the defensive player which made them a perfect pair. Then Coquelin focused more on defending and Cazorla more on attacking.
“Now both share the job, so the balance is a bit better. They’re more similar. We have four attackers in front of them so we need people who can defend well in central midfield.”
It’s still early days, but it certainly looks a promising combination. Let’s see how they continue to develop over the coming weeks.
Coqny.
Coquel-neny 🙂
El Coqny
Or
El Coq
Yesterday, i thought to myself why doesnt bloggs use ‘ElCoq’ as their partnership name, so yh…..thats my input. Good day.
Let’s see how they develop…
Or lets see how Ramsey walks straight back in to the team when fit.
Mo Coq
Well if directing a porn movie then that’s fine.
“Mo coq” this scene needs “mo coq”
No porn movie needs “mocoq” !!!
Mesut Ozil and the Coqny Rebel!
Brilliant Cliff Bastin.
Eleney is jermaine pennant’s younger brother. no really.
Gotta love Coqny.
Ramsey was imbalancing this team for sure.
What annoys/frustrates me most with Ramsey is the guy is capable of doing exactly what Elneny did. I remember his first season back from injury when things wern’t going for him, Arsene stuck him in midfield next to Arteta and they played the double pivot and we built a solid 2014 off the back of it. He was the main man in the middle, playing smart passes, with more licence to create and distribute. The next season he built on his game, getting a knack for popping up at the right moments and scoring important and often very good goals.… Read more »
I think Giroud played a massive role in that great season Aaron Ramsey had. On a number of occasions his hold up and link play put it on a plate for AR as he popped up on the edge of the box.
True, but I think it was the combination of him and Flamini which was particularly bad. That combination has arguably ruined our season, although I still hold hope for a highly unlikely title win…
This is bollocks Coquelin with Ramsey and Flamini have let in 9 goals in the last 5 matches In fact we really started to dip in form when we got our big players back from injury Flamini and Ramsey held together pretty well during a tough spell when she lost Coquelin,Santi, Alexis and without Walcott or Welbeck This is symptomatic of typical simplistic thinking Not saying Rammini is the better pairing but they found and equilibrium for a while until it got stagnant for us mainly up front. In that sense balance in midfield did get affected as the older… Read more »
some good points about Flamini. I think however that the problem was not his numbers, but how his limitations changed the dynamic of the team. Also, while we are talking about perspective, I have to add that with Coquelin in the team, there is a perverse effect in that people think they don’t have defensive work to do. Ramsey seems to take even more leave from his defensive duties. This is a tendency that is difficult to correct. Its odd because coquelin is so good defensively that you don’t expect a counterintuitive effect of his qualities. At the same time,… Read more »
From what I can gather they started 10 games together. Five wins, three draws and two losses (Southampton away and Chelsea at home). Not our best period but surely not “what ruined our season”.
When I say 10 games that’s league games.
Finally.. upvotes for speaking up about Ramsey, which is true by the way. Blogs still won’t call it.
Can’t help but think what could have been, had El-Neny been in the squad earlier on in the season. He’s transformed our midfield..and would’ve eased workload on Coquelin AND Cazorla that might have prevented their injuries. So much regret about this season 🙁
Coqs and cazorlas injuries were impact injuries, so there wasn’t much we could do about them but I agree with the rest of your post.
Can’t really tell. I mean before he came on we were happy with Coq and Cazorla.
Easy to say “imagine what coulda been” with the benefit of hindsight.
Just glad he’s integrated well in the squad now. Let’s finish as strong as we can and focus on the present not the past.
We are out of the running, but all we can do is finish as strong as possible and hope Leicester and c*ahem*nts flop it at the final hurdle.
I’m not concerned about Spurs finishing above us. They’ve got much harder games, starting against Man Utd next weekend, and we’ve got a game in hand. In fact I don’t think it’s beyond the realm of possibility that Spurs could finish out of the top 4, which would be hilarious. Finishing above Leicester however…
They do have a more difficult run in on paper. But I disagree with who has the more difficult match next weekend!
What would have happened is Arsene would still have played Ramsey and elneny would be sub.
The fact that it now works is an accident ďue to injuries.
Except that the last 2 games they played together Ramsey was back on the right, where he started the season
NOMINALLY on the right, nominally. He clogs up the midfield and advanced positions no matter where he plays now. His disruption of team balance might have been acceptable if he was getting those 15 goals, but he isn’t, so finally people are calling it like they see it instead of denying the truth.
Still need competitive backup! That’s what is needed to last the run of the league.The current backup doesn’t cut it for me as these are the only two real defensive midfielders we have at the moment…
Coq is really massive for arsenal, although he still need to refine and polish his trade when it comes to tactical discipline and cards.
Elneny is promising so far, he will even be better with more competition from Rambo.
Yup. Coq needs more polish
Haha they aren’t getting old yet
Keeping things nice and simple on the pitch is effective.
Who would be known?
*Ahem. Ramsey
Credit where credits due – Elneny looking like a great (budget) buy so far!
He’s like a mobile shooty/passy box to boxy DMF who runs all day. Still looks like he could buff up a bit but so far so good.
“…..Metronomic Passing” loved the sound and pronouncement of that, lovely.
amazing wat not having flamini in your team can do eh
*Ramsey
Enycoq will do.
Elneny our new pharoah King will kick asp next season.
“He gives us tactical stability”. A great statement. Both look really solid and share the responsibility of defending and attacking. I notices some excellent passes from Coquellin. Just need o carry on our form and see where it gets us. Above Sp?rs of course!
Wenger: “Now both share the job, so the balance is a bit better. They’re more similar. We have four attackers in front of them so we need people who can defend well in central midfield.”
That’s a dig on Ramsey, huh.
And we should also take note that it seems quite a significant and clear change of tune statement-wise from Wenger to say he wants two more defensive holders. The subtlety almost slips by. Yes, he’s lined up with two more defensive players (in theory- lookin’ at you Ram/Flam) against some of the stronger squads, but notably saying so and asking Elneny to do so against clubs like Watford shows a decision in favor of that Stability. It seems as if with Ramsey and maybe Flam either Wenger wasn’t asking for that, or they weren’t listening. Either way that should be… Read more »
Saw Garth Cook’s “team of the week” for bbc today; he had only Bellerin and Iwobi from Arsenal. I felt Elneny should have made that list. No crime in having three from a team if they deserve it – although the way we played, all could have made that list, seriously.
But when Ramsey will be fit again, Wenger will immediately put him back and Mohamed on the bench…. to the expense of the team…
I’m impressed by the impact Elneny has had in so few games! Happy to read Mesut is teaching him also how to pass and when to pass! Great combo too!
Why do you think so? Against Tottenham Ramsey started on the right and Elneny in the middle so they seem to be able to play at the same time.
Interesting question: Where does Ramsey regularly play, much less start, going forward?
Hopefully he doesn’t start. He seems like a nice lad but he is not good enough on so many levels. He would be a great buy for mid table team and could be their focal point and could do really well for them.
Are you serious..? Ramsey is quality, it’s a shame so many fans don’t want to see it and rather hype players like Campbell who haven’t proved anything during their career. I bet many top 4 teams in europe would welcome Ramsey with open arms if he became available. He has had some bad patches this season but who doesn’t. Also he needs a playmaker type of player to play with as CM, as he did so well with Arteta. This season he has had to play with Flamini and cover for two players defensively and at the same time been… Read more »
Keep telling yourself that. Ramsey was never as good as was made out and equally never as bad. Above average player but not good enough for Arsenal. Doesn’t fit our system.
a midfielder is a player who wins the ball and makes good passes to his teammates, said Wenger in pointed reference to Ramsey.
Egotistical guy with his own desires to score outweighing the needs of the team. You’re blinded.
Just neither of you foul payet around the box on Saturday (fouls he can get up from i mean)
Or any other West Ham player presumably…
Surely teams should realise Payets obvious talent and put a guy on the line last minute so one half of the goal is guarded ? dont know why more teams don’t do that ?
Grant holt on the line couldn’t have stopped that free kick on the weekend.
big upgrade on Flamini
We will need to upgrade on Arteta(injury prone and legs are gone), Rosicky(injury prone) and Wilshere(injury prone).
Mikhitrayan and Granit Xhaka would be great additions
What happens to this “more balanced” midfield partnership when ramsey, cazorla and wilshere are fit (LOL!)
For the rest of this season they’re all supersubs in my book, ease ’em back until they play back to full health and form. But they’ve got to do a proper warmup.
I like the fact that he passes as soon as possible whenever he gets the ball.
No summer cm signing now is the worry
Elneney n coq pathnership is awesome
Four attackers in front and one in the RB at the back – total football!
I’m still surprised by his interception against Bayern after having watched it about 30-40 times. His chance creation numbers are unbelievable as well.
He is one of the main progress this season.
Goodbye Ramsey
There is something like strength in depth and loss of form. Ramsey still has a place in the team over an entire season but he might have to adjust some aspects of his game. Elneny fits like a jig-saw puzzle.
Well put. It’s almost like they saw a need and went and found it.
It’s like if we had bought Arteta from Rangers before Everton got him…
Please with the contribution that Elneny is making- he seems content to play a role and be the platform for others ahead of him.
I’ll add to ‘Metronomic’ and say Elneny’s passing was at times also very incisive. Those completion stats are immense when you consider how many forward passes of his sliced through the lines to Mesut, Alexis, or Iwobi, starting the attack. Those were not ‘easy’ passes simply cycling the ball around.
I’m really liking this guy and what he brings to the team.
El of a Coq show right now.
He looks the bargain of the season at 5 million, a bit annoying we had Flamini playing games after we had bought him and he’s definitely better than Ramsey’s been this season.
Ramsey is a good to excellent player, but except if Akexis goes back to the left and Ramsey starts right, I don’t see where he fits in a 1st XI. He’s a spot starter/substitute in any of the front 3, including as a false 9. He plays across the middle and can fill in at left back. No way I’d sell, plus he can prove me and others wrong, Ozil could get hurt, Alexis could go out left, or Ramsey could learn to play a more disciplined CM role. I don’t see where El Neny starts over Ramsey on skills… Read more »
OK. After reading all the above, I have legitimate question : when is bendtner coming back?
Elneny plays for the team.
Ramsey plays for his self.
Why didn’t we sign mo in the summer? ? ? ? ?