Mohamed Elneny has revealed that Arsene Wenger was quick to quell his desire to shoot on sight, insisting the Egyptian could better integrate with Arsenal’s playing style by becoming more of a team player.
The midfielder signed from Basel in January with a reputation for speculative efforts on goal; a trait he was quick to demonstrate on his first start for the Gunners, in the FA Cup vs Burnley, when he attempted five shots, including two from outside the box.
While Elneny later opened his Arsenal account with an eye-catching 20-yard strike against Barcelona, the player admits he’s benefited from the advice of his manager.
“I used to shoot a lot when I was at Basel but sometimes that doesn’t suit our style here,” Elneny said in an interview with the May edition of Arsenal Magazine.
“[Wenger] taught me to be more of a team player and to be intelligent in terms of when I shoot. I also paid attention to my teammates and took their advice. That has helped me to improve my performances already.”
He continued: “The most important thing for me has been listening to Arsene Wenger’s advice and putting it into action.
“The manager has been giving me advice since the first day I arrived at the training ground. He always talks to me about the game and my position and that gave me a lot of confidence.
“He often instructs me to press the opponent and not give them time on the ball in our half. He’s also helped me to understand the system and playing style he prefers to see us playing.”
According to ESPN, the Egypt international has taken just eight shots in as many Premier League appearances, with only one on target – a stat that ‘complements’ Arsenal’s lack of long-range goals this term.
In total, the Gunners have scored only five efforts from outside the penalty all season (Walcott vs City, Flamini vs Sp*rs, Alexis vs Leicester & two vs West Brom).
It’s worth pointing out that Wenger didn’t tell Elneny NOT TO SHOOT, he’s merely suggested he be more ‘intelligent’ with the ball. On paper that works well, assuming you take the chances you fashion from the subsequent chances…it’s just, well, that hasn’t really gone to plan since Christmas has it?
I’d like him to shoot more, it makes the oppo less sure of what will happen and means they don’t sit back so much waiting for us to walk the ball in. Especially so if some of the shots go in the net.
I agree.. it’s a bit of a strange thing to say to someone who has a great shot on him.
Better to lie and say that Wenger is encouraging him to shoot all the time. Then any opposition team that plays him will come out more and there will be more space in the area.
I agree, but he says Wenger told him to shoot more intelligently not to not shoot at all. Unpredictability is good, but if they weren’t to score and cede possession you could be caught on the counter
100% correct
But we haven’t given possession away trying to walk the ball into the net have we?
This.
It’d be interesting to get 7am’s input on this.
Long shots are low percentage shots but they are still greater than losing possession trying to get a higher percentage shot. So I guess what he means intelligently is to shoot when he sees no hope of getting the ball into a better position.
Watching Atletico vs Bayern the pressing by the home team and contrasting that with how they played against Barca!
Looks like our Prof’s pre-game tactics seems to be ‘play our game’, during the break ‘play our game quicker’! Sigh, for a man who revolutionised English football this is a very sad and possibly terminal managerial situation!
Well, you had Ted Knutson on the pod… Not shooting from outside the box is pretty much always the better option. That, of course, requires finishing INSIDE the box, which we have been sorely lacking…
http://statsbomb.com/2016/04/explaining-and-training-shot-quality/
Not shooting from outside the box makes you predictable
Not trying to assume anything, but did you read the article?
You mean you’re link? Of course not, i just read what you wrote
See the chart link.
http://statsbomb.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Heads_vs_Feet_final.png
TL:DR — shooting outside the box has a 3% success rate. The closer you get, they higher it goes up. The better the shot percentage, the more likely you are to score. The more likely you are to score, the more likely you are to win. That’s really about it.
I’m sure that’s correct however herein lie the problem with where Wenger’s taken his management philosophy over the last couple of years, all logic no common sense.
Adopting the most logical approach just makes you predicable and pretty sterile. If shooting from distance, crossing and heading all have relatively low success rates you leave yourself a very narrow set of circumstances from which to score and you play into the hands of the opposition because you become easy to prepare for. This is exactly why our scoring rate has dropped significantly over the past couple of years.
It’s very very long!!
Lower percentage shots, yes, but if you never shoot from outside your opponent crowds the box, making those high percentage shots almost impossible.
I can see this being blown out of proportion by fans that want Wenger out but it does make a lot of sense. However, some of these teams like Utd, Spurs, Liverpool get their goals as a product of these speculative shots but at the same time it’s not the Arsenal way #IStandByWenger
Scoring goals by kicking footballs at the net is not the Arsenal way?
Why can’t we get beautiful goals and shit goals. We’re not Barcelona we have to get both. Stats about long range shots being a waste don’t see what impact shooting has on the opposition. Yes it may go wide but what does the centre back do next time? Rush out to block a shot leaving a space behind him for a pass? Maybe it’s deflected for a corner, which we can then use to apply pressure? What’s the point of the opposition knowing what we’re going to do if we’re not that good at it…
Funnily enough Wenger agrees.
“How we can cope with it is to be quicker with our passing, quicker in our movement and as well by being more dangerous with shots from outside the box, because that is something that gets the defenders out.” (Arsene Wenger, April 2016)
Not the Arsenal way? Tell that to Henry, Pires, Parlour, Vieira, Bergkamp, Edu. All exceptionally good shooters from outside the box. The invincibles team were not just pacy, they’re technically capable and that team was exceptionally powerful. Big and strong, aggressive, shields the ball well, wins possession back early, and they can very well have a pop from outside the box. What amazes me is Wenger knows those tactics work but he seems to have developed an obsession with possession based football, not a surprise since that also coincided with Barca’s dominance, and Spain as well. But what amazes me… Read more »
All those players you’ve mentioned played in an era when there wasn’t the massive range of stats available, the stats were far more limited. Wenger over the past few years has regularly hidden behind the numbers, he regularly defends the likes of Giroud with statements like “but if you look at the numbers”. I mean even his defence of the last 10 years of underachievement in the league is our consistency, been in the champions league for x number of years and average performance. Wenger has used the numbers as a safety net and justification of under achievement in recent… Read more »
Hopefully he’ll cut out the diving and dramatics.
Yes I know many others do it, but that doesn’t mean we should. Even of we’re left at a slight disadvantage.
We’re better than that, we’re Arsenal.
Having seen his YouTube clips which contained some long range goals i was excited that atleast he’ll be the one player who we could rely on to be unpredictable and take a shot from distance once in a while. Unfortunately that hope was short lived
You don’t think shooting once in a while would fall under intelligent shooting? He’ll still shoot, just not every time he has the ball outside the area as he did against burnley. Maybe those YT-clips was picked from sample size of five shots in row Z per game?
Words fail me they really do. At a time when lots of fans are bemoaning the lack of shots on goal this press release is handed out. Saying Arsene is telling him to shoot less is just giving those who want Arsene out more ammunition. Honestly…..
To be fair we’ve had plenty of shots this season, just not very good ones. Someone definitely needs to have a word with the people at the press office though. It’s not the first time we’ve seen something ill-timed this season.
Again: http://statsbomb.com/2016/04/explaining-and-training-shot-quality/
Taking a shot from outside the box is nearly always a waste of a shot. Unfortunately for us we just can’t finish even INSIDE the box.
I think we get it. A waste of a statistical shot to take it from farther out. Not too complicated. But actions on a pitch are not statistical isolated points in space. They collectively have meaning as well. Having an Arsenal level of predictability on attack has led to a waste of several entire matches. When an opposing team is packed in and has parked the bus they know against us they just sit deep, attack the ball first, and crowd our attackers in the box never giving a clean shot. They know we won’t shoot from farther out. But… Read more »
So shots from range are scored at a 3% rate, what are the chances of scoring when you don’t shoot at all? It’s not a straight choice between shooting from range or shooting from inside the box, it’s shooting from range (3%) vs trying to pass the ball into a better shooting position (for arguments sake, maybe 20% success rate) and then taking the better chance if/when it comes around (15%) which would be 3% chance of scoring…. Those numbers are off the top of my head to make a point but feel free to start keeping the actual figures.
Yeah, outside the box is low percentage, but if you just pass the ball around without making any shots it is 0%. United used to play this style where they attacked without mercy, lost the ball a lot, but got it back and kept attacking. In the end it would be wave after wave of attack and you always felt they could score, even if it was “fergie time”. Meanwhile, Arsenal creeps up the pitch and plays square balls as the clock ticks…
Great. We have a player who would be willing to shoot and can score from outside the box and Wenger tells him to cut it out (which is my interpretation of ‘shoot intelligently’).
FFS
Ffs this is the problem with Wenger he really wants to walk the ball into the net and what’s more everyone knows it.
Shoot can you please explain what the hell this is please ?
Grt … the one guy who wanted to shoot on sight, was told to pass it around aimlessly from side to side like everyone else.
Week in week out Wenger bemoans our lack of chance conversion yet is essentially requesting we stifle the urge to shoot from outside the box. Rebounds, blocks and deflections from longer shots create chances don’t they? Somewhat contradictory, no?
And it causes the players to second-guess their instinct to shoot, preventing the rebounder to catch the opponent off-guard. Predictable, predictable Arsenal. Making defending against us far too effective.
It is what I refer to as the Arsenalification of players, they arrive full of enthusiasm and wild skill and then the manager hammers them into the arsenal mold with statistics and expected goal ratios until they are passing sideways like a pro
Are we surprised. The season before Carzola arrived he scored more goals outside the box that any player in Europe. Typical Arsenal. Typical Wenger!!!
I know you were quick to point out in the article that he was told to shoot sensibly, but all that comes to mind when reading this is:
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!
(Sorry)
I was never a Wenger guy. But it’s really getting hard to defend a manager that tells players not to shoot.
There is only so much passing the ball from one side to the other you can do in a match.
I say shoot on sight my man. Shoot
Shots from outside the box have a 3% conversion rate. Inside the box, it goes up to something like 30-40%. Even higher the closer you get. Telling people to shoot whenever they feel like it isn’t a very smart coaching strategy, I don’t think.
I’m sure that 3%statistic doesn’t apply to players like Elneny who has a better shot on him than most
So were you a Bruce Rioch guy? Really?!?!
Good advice Wenger. Instead of mixing it up a bit and having a crack from distance why not string together 25 passes and get inside the box only to miss, get intercepted or run the ball out of play (I’m looking at you Theo). And then rinse and repeat.
And that is the reason the only player that gets closed down is Sanchez giving our other strikers no space in the box. Wenger should be more concerned about stopping opposition from shooting from outside the box than this kind of nonsense. How can a player possibly improve if he is told to do it less.
There is no contradiction. Chances of converting from inside the box are higher. Particularly as we tend to play against teams who rally en mass in front of their goal mouth. BUT Wenger also realises that shooting from outside the box opens space for us to cut into the box. Thereby Wenger bought Elneny for a reason. 1) It was cover for Ramsey in the link role. As proven, that area was a shortfall sans Jack, Santi where DM was covered by Flamini and the returning Coquelin. 2) He also realised Elneny has a decent shot from outside the box.… Read more »
Ramsey cant pass wind
“we don’t like to shoot here, we’re all about the beautiful passes”
I know how Wenger loves his teams to play, but it’s exactly this curtailing of natural instinct that can derail a player’s confidence. Soon, he’ll be second guessing himself in the six-yard box, looking left and right.
I’d prefer we told him to practie his outside shots more to better improve his accuracy. Let’s be honest, “shooting more intelligently” is Arsene’s nice way of telling someone to shoot less. It’s not just his accuracy, but it’s our style to not do so. That would be fine….if our system worked. And statistically, indeed there may be greater goal conversion shooting within the box in a general game, but against arsenal, teams have learnt to sit deep and in the box, because they know that. I’d place a bet that if it were possible to prove, arsenal are one… Read more »
Ozil leads the league in chances created (IIRC). I don’t think we have a problem with that. We seem to have a problem with finishing INSIDE the box, which is almost impossible to believe quite how bad we are.
The opposition always knows the ball is coming in to players in the box. Stick close to them and attack the ball first or close them down before they can turn. It’s basic really. That’s how you defend arsenal. Of our chances I’d really like to see how many are that ‘clear cut’ and how many are under heavy pressure with blocks or bad angles. Again, stats don’t show you that. Arsene even said earlier in the season he would like to see Ozil shoot and score more. Even he recognized the need for some unpredictability. That all seems to… Read more »
I think you’re right, just look at Sanchez’s goal last week against WBA. I think the goalie should have saved it but just wasn’t prepared for a shot from distance.
I’d bet also it’s one of the reason we’re susceptible to conceding long range shots too as our goalies aren’t exposed to them in training matches. Crystal Palace’s goal seemed like a goalkeeping error to me and maybe thats why?
I agree that long range shots have very little probability of finding success but I’d love to see a stat that shows the success rate of goals scored from long range shots that were either spilled by the keeper, blocked by an opponent and then tapped in by another teammate. Sometimes stats don’t tell you everything and when you’re struggling to find space inside the box it’s most certainly a good idea to give it a rip and hope for something to happen. Too many times we have pitypatted the ball around looking for the perfect run or for the… Read more »
you know that’s the problem of Arsenal. Players needing to succumb to the so ineffective and boring playing style, instead of re-sparking it and adding a feature we didn’t possess. Of course if you follow statistics you can see that goals from outside the box are rare and that’s also the basis for tici-taca and Arsene’s tactics, but ask Palace what a rare goal from outside the box can mean to a game. Cech wasn’t expecting said strike either, so yeah.
This has to stop. We need more variety, not more of the same.
fucking hell.
If the opponent has packed the 16 yard box, you have no clear pass/set-up, then why not shoot? At best it hits the target or gets a deflection. At worst, it demonstrates to the other team we’re willing to take what you give us, you better come out of the box and defend.
I know the statistics about scoring from outside the box. But this is yet another example of how we’re coached to become more pedestrian, not adventurous. Ever think SAF would lecture his players on shooting from distance?
I’m giving up on this old Arsenal rubbish, all our players are shite the managers shite some of the supporters are even shiter !!
I’m off to find a club where everything is rosy, win every week all the cups/trophys you can count and players who are so non feaces you just want to kiss em all over (daily).
Oh Arsenal I love you!!!
Goodbye, then.
I just don’t buy this crap anymore. How is Elneny supposed to know when to shoot outside the box? What is the definition of ‘intelligently’. If he just waits for the one or two intelligent opportunities he is less likely to score than if he has 5 pot shots… stands to very straightforward reason. Lampard didn’t get a ton of deflected, in off the post etc type goals by waiting to shoot intelligently. Just shoot. Does Cazorla wait until there is a chance to shoot intelligently or Ozil or Oxlade Chamberlain. This nonsense philosophy about art and intelligence is tired… Read more »
what a laugh some of you lot are, all season long you have been on Ramsey’s back for “glory hunting” shooting from all over the place, and now you whinge that Wenger has told a player to shoot intelligently, any fucking reason for a moan it seems. Cop yourselves on.
the difference being that, elneny can actually shoot while ramaey isn’t really good at it
You’re missing the point mate. I don’t think a single person has a problem with Ramsey having a shot, be it long-distance or a tap-in, the issue is that he has become (imo) an arrogant and selfish player. That in itself wouldn’t be a problem, if he still worked hard for the good of the team. I think most fans frustrations with Ramsey are that he has the potential to be a world-class central midfielder capable of almost anything, but he refuses to couple that with the grafting and defensive work he should, all too often taking it upon himself… Read more »
He has the potential to play in the championship.
Elneny is without a doubt a solid addition.
I would like to see his passing better disguised and also his nipples in the photo!
🙂
Never a good “look” for a bloke, I just hope he recovers from it, after a positive start for the lads… 🙂
And this will be misunderstood by all the moronic arsenal fans. It’s seems to be placed here just for that reason.
Sean it seems you are the moronic one because you can’t or won’t see things from anyone else’s point of view!!! I agree with other posters on here that we have become way too predictable and boring, indeed, Wenger might have well said “pass sideways elneny, pass sideways!!!”
“Shoot intelligent” is another phrase for shoot when you are 2 feet away from goal.
That was the thinking of most NBA teams in the past and thats why you dont see 3 pt shots attempted that much. Look what happened when Stephen Curry showed up.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-golden-state-warriors-have-revolutionized-basketball-1459956975
Worth thinking about this for football.
What an awesome read.
This is the kind of statistical innovation we need. Not just statistics that fit with the current trends and for us to play to it, but statistics that break the current trends and build a team to exploit.
So much of what’s in that article fits with Arsenal. I do often wonder if taking a shot one inch outside the box is that different, chance wise, from in the box.
I hope he understands it better than Hleb.
Why is this article causing such a fuss? All he’s saying is that Wenger has told him to not pelt it at goal all the time and to instead pick and choose his moments of shooting a bit better – pretty fair. Why are some posters annoyed at this? The stat mentioned about Cazorla is misleading because he has lost a lot of pace in the last few years, and has also moved to a different league, where defending and ‘putting your body on the line’ is more widely encouraged. Sure we don’t shoot from outside of the box too… Read more »
Don’t take risks shooting. Seems like a Van Gaal tactic.
Problem we have is that statistically, we are quite miserable at shooting whether outside or inside the box.
If we improve this area by just 30% we will win the league every year. So we either teach the boys how to shoot on target or get guys who can.
And we really do need a set piece specialist, too many corners, no threat at all.
and that policy gents – a) undermines the players instincts in making split second decisions, and b) makes us easier to play against, because they know we won’t shoot so they can just back off and close down the box. and the stats about 3% going in – doesn’t reveal how many games were won 1-0 or a draw saved due to a ‘hit and hope’ as some would describe them – remember “Arsenal have the ball in a dangerous, position, but don’t worry its only Ray Parlour…? ” – THAT goal effectively won us the 2002 Double…. they also… Read more »
If you don’t shoot,you don’t score,if you don’t score,you don’t win games.
Interesting to read everyone’s comments and see the diversity of opinion. Elneny has certainly let the cat out of the bag. After his first couple of games he visibly stopped himself on more than one occasion from having a swing at the ball and at home, we jokingly opined that Wenger had stepped in and muzzled his instinct and it is macabre to have it confirmed that such lunacy does actually exist ! For me, our biggest problem has become predictability and the lack of pace and variety within it – side to side, 40% or thereabouts of passes actually… Read more »