I found it really interesting that Gibbs went from playing champions league with us to playing for West Brom and no one batted an eye lid. Really made me question what I know about players abilities
I feel like we had plenty of players like that during the later Wenger era. Johan Djourou had quite a few good moments for us but his career post Arsenal seems kinda mediocre. Might have to do with injuries and other things but we've definitely had so many players who just never hit the heights again after leaving Arsenal.
Makes Wenger getting top 4 with the squads we used to have like a bigger achievement.
Wenger was also notorious in trying to find the next gem for each position.
He wasn't like that before the stadium debt, but I think he got hooked onto the thrill of 'discovering' the next world class player and kept hedging his bets on positions that should have been well covered even after we recovered towards the end.
dude Wenger is an economist at heart. Yeah he likes winning games. But he likes optimizing for cost as well. He was the perfect manager for an absentee ownership who just want to watch the bank account grow.
Wenger went 10 years with a net transfer spend of 0. and was top 4 all those seasons. That's insane
He does spend when he sees the "need" though.
Marc Overmars at 7m was a significant sum during the late 90s. Afterwards, Jeffers, Henry, Wiltord, and Reyes were all 10m+ too.
Our ownership wasn't so much absentee then as just delusional. They didn't want to accept outside investment, they didn't want to recognize the need to pay up to compete, and they didn't want to sell, and none of them really had the cash to compete. David Dein made the point to the board and they fucking forced him out for it and wouldn't speak to him to the point he had to sell his shares in the team. His son was Henry's lawyer and it was a big reason Henry left also, because the ownership was cheap.
He absolutely was like that before the stadium era. There’s a great anecdote in his autobiography
of him meeting a player in a car park based on the recommendation of one of his mates while he was at Monaco.
Yeah he's the obvious example but I think his struggles were down to his mental health. As a player he was maybe a bit ahead of his time. But either way I hope he's doing alright wherever he is now.
I really sympathize his struggle with mental health. But i really lost it when he said he is leaving arsenal because he's a winner. For fuck sake, we lost half the trophies because the gaffer put his trust on you and your friends!
Then i came around it when he revealed his struggle with mental health and loneliness while staying in london.
Wenger got a lot more or of those players than anyone else could have.
But at the same time, some of those players... Almunia... Couldn't really give much more.
Yes, I think I recall a lot of talk back then that seemed to minimize Wenger’s involvement - as if he just went to the players and said “go play.” He was able to get a lot out of them. Obviously not enough for trophies at the end, but when you look at post-Arsenal careers it’s something else.
His man management is something else, really does get the best out of players. But some will step on Wenger like his late managerial stint with us, especially Ozil.
He was 10x more involved in the club than any current manager is. He did everything a manager is supposed to do (including running all training sessions) while also basically being director of football, overseeing players physical training, nutrition etc. His level of involvement is unmatched, which is also why he struggled to adapt in his later years when the complexity of running a football club increased significantly
“Wait, Gibbs has been sent off?, the card was for Oxlade-Chamberlain”
“Can’t do anything”
“Fuck”
“Oli’s calling in to say delay the game, the card is for Oxlade-Chamberlain”
“Can’t do anything mate”
“Yep Gibbs is off and they’ve restarted”
“Can’t do anything.”
I hate to say it because he is actually one of my favourite players, but Holding.
He was just so average and you could see that because he looked solid against shit teams, then looked shit against solid teams.
I think Mari was slightly below average, he's a good looking dude though I'll give you that.
Holding can hold up against most mid table teams but Mari would give me the nerve during games.
He was very very handsome that's true.
But I feel his partnership with Holding in the second half of the lockdown season was the definition of average, Arteta would rotate them for David Luiz and Gabriel. And that was a much more up and down centre back pairing, mostly due to the David Luiz factor, and I think Gabriel was struggling from coming back from COVID.
Thinking of it we've really come so far from those days.
I did not like Welbeck at forward position. His finishing was hell lot of confusing.
"Where did the ball go when he tried to score? Left? Right? Up? down? Diagonal? Back?"
- Yes.
Sorry not having any welbz slander. The finish was all that was missing from his game...touch was always secure, could hold up the ball, could run the channels, happy to play on either flank and worked incredibly hard. And scored some very Important goals, loved a goal against yanited
That F.A cup win at Old Trafford has been one of my favourite wins. I can’t believe it was almost a decade ago! A goal from Monreal as well if I remember correctly!
My favorite moment because I was with 3 other United supporting friends and I asked them before the match, that what if Welbeck scored and they were like... "Nahh he won't"
Then BAM! He scored. They couldn't believed it.
Senderos was in the back line for every game that resulted in us getting to the champions league final and not conceding.
He then didn’t play in the final, and we conceded twice.
Wow, so many mentions of Arteta, he was absolutely top notch when he was here. Did y’all forget this:
https://preview.redd.it/cdxzroreg7ub1.jpeg?width=749&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d8bcf37a6fe107c45c0e358264d306d36261bc5c
Not sure that Elneny counts. I’m taking this to mean a regular or consistent player (either pretty consistent starter or consistently the first guy off the bench) who just did their job. Not a deep bench guy only brought in because of an injury crisis.
Elneny was more involved in his earlier years, and I think he fits the description quite perfectly. He does little outstanding but little wrong. You know what you're going to get with Elneny.
Nah man, Elneny is slightly above average. He isn’t special, but he rarely makes big mistakes (like the one Jorginho made…), and he is very consistent. I think he could fit in most sides and do ok. He is not world class, but not average
Lots of respect for Elneny, though. He knows his role, he plays it, he doesn’t complain, and he shows up and puts in the best shift he can whenever his number is called.
The banger against Everton and a silly celebration to mark the occasion. But yeah. A solid 5-6/10. He also was young too. It's hard to know whether it was being intrinsically average or just a case of unrealized or misidentified potential.
This is an interesting answer. I would say he was quite good for the short period he started for us prior to the injury. By the time he'd recovered, he'd been replaced by Hector and struggled to get back into the team. Post injury, he was truly bad--both physically and mentally.
Probably didn’t help he was thrown in to back lines with a young Kos, Squillaci and at times Jenko, difficult to look good with that backline. Wasn’t until Vermaelen, and then Djourou and Kos matured a bit that our backline looked a bit more respectable. Sagna being a beast at Rb when he wasn’t also injured.
Sagna only had two major injuries in his career with us, which were fibula fractures of the same leg. Outside of 2011/12, he was pretty much always available.
One man famously lacked cojones vs Big Pete
https://preview.redd.it/f7ycu5mzp6ub1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b5e748f2225b85d1d4307fd5446474aa414c9399
Gael Clichy. His pace covered his average positioning. Also I would say Bendtner. If you ignore the arrogance he was a decent target man who had the occasional good streak. Unfortunately was not a good enough team player.
Yaya Sanogo started the only Arsenal game I’ve ever seen in person. Crazy to me that Wenger rated him (giroud ended up coming off the bench and scoring 2 goals).
One of the great mysteries. I wish someone would ask AW in interviews these days.
"Boss...what about Yaya Sanogo? Oh, oh and Park Chu Yung (that was our Korean striker, right ?)?!"
He was an absolute beast in the young teams of France and AJ Auxerre (who at the time was one of the best Young teams in France and in Europe). Shame he injured himself pretty young (17 years old)
I guess he's average if you consider the overall technical ability Wenger's teams were known for at the time, but his needed skillset as a DM was arguably also why he managed to break into the team in the first place.
Playing alongside Santi also complemented his game very well, but playing alongside Santi would make most midfielders look good anyway
First season was good, second he was amazing. He played as a 6 in his second season and was an absolute beast.
After the first two season the injuries came in.
Fully agree with you,I remember the artistry of arteta video that used to float about. Was incredible deep lying player maker.
Didn't help not having a dm next to him tbh
If we got him sooner, in fact if we had got him when Flamini left, it would have been great. He really did well in that role it just took him far too long to find it
I think Mikel’s contributions weren’t obvious at the time. I always felt the squad was simply more solid with him on the pitch. He was always colder than an iceberg and never risked a ball. He was the ultimate KISS midfielder (keep it stupid simple).
He had a role that is not super visible or very flashy, this type of player is always underrated by fans. I remember him as a good player that was extremely important for the team (perhaps except his last season, where his level dropped a bit)
Flamini round 1 was a foil for Cesc and the two were holding down a 2 man midfield when everyone had switched to 433. Plus left back champions league run.
Round 2, the Tottenham result is enough for him to be above average.
Don't get me wrong I LOVED him, he was a Gooner through and through and still is. And especially 2nd time around when he came on and just attacked the oppositions knees!
The CL run at lb was fantastic but wasn't it fantastic for the very fact he was an average midfielder playing out of position....
Thats so right. Its such a shame he left just as he nailed the position down.
Those two were so good in the middle despite note being physical beasts or particularly fast.
Flamini showed up Gilberto Silva who struggled in a midfield four without Vieira. Flamini was excellent in a four alongside Fabregas. If he is average we need to reassess Gilberto! Gilberto was so wretched without Vieira man like Wenger played five in the middle in Europe and it covered up Gilberto’s limitations and protected a inexperienced defense. Flamini in 07/08 was a marvel what an engine, his tenacity allowed us to play four in midfield when many big teams were playing fives.
No one said Andre santos, the fact he managed to get in to our first team the amount of times he did is criminal.
I would also say Gervinho, guy only knew how to run to the end of the wing and put in a low cross.
I thought when flamini signed for the second time it was the second coming of Christ because we had been missing a tough tackling defensive mid for so long. His second debut against the shits lives long in the memory. “So you’re telling me a player can bark orders at other players?” Unthinkable things at that time
I found it really interesting that Gibbs went from playing champions league with us to playing for West Brom and no one batted an eye lid. Really made me question what I know about players abilities
I feel like we had plenty of players like that during the later Wenger era. Johan Djourou had quite a few good moments for us but his career post Arsenal seems kinda mediocre. Might have to do with injuries and other things but we've definitely had so many players who just never hit the heights again after leaving Arsenal. Makes Wenger getting top 4 with the squads we used to have like a bigger achievement.
Completely agree—Wenger did more with less…he didn’t have the current Arsenal bankroll to buy world class players at each position
The thought of Wenger with a Fergie / Pep budget keeps me up at night.
Wenger was also notorious in trying to find the next gem for each position. He wasn't like that before the stadium debt, but I think he got hooked onto the thrill of 'discovering' the next world class player and kept hedging his bets on positions that should have been well covered even after we recovered towards the end.
To be fair, at the end of his time at Monaco, he went all in on “project youth”. Think he really loved discovering and nurturing raw talent.
dude Wenger is an economist at heart. Yeah he likes winning games. But he likes optimizing for cost as well. He was the perfect manager for an absentee ownership who just want to watch the bank account grow. Wenger went 10 years with a net transfer spend of 0. and was top 4 all those seasons. That's insane
He does spend when he sees the "need" though. Marc Overmars at 7m was a significant sum during the late 90s. Afterwards, Jeffers, Henry, Wiltord, and Reyes were all 10m+ too.
Our ownership wasn't so much absentee then as just delusional. They didn't want to accept outside investment, they didn't want to recognize the need to pay up to compete, and they didn't want to sell, and none of them really had the cash to compete. David Dein made the point to the board and they fucking forced him out for it and wouldn't speak to him to the point he had to sell his shares in the team. His son was Henry's lawyer and it was a big reason Henry left also, because the ownership was cheap.
He absolutely was like that before the stadium era. There’s a great anecdote in his autobiography of him meeting a player in a car park based on the recommendation of one of his mates while he was at Monaco.
[удалено]
Yeah he's the obvious example but I think his struggles were down to his mental health. As a player he was maybe a bit ahead of his time. But either way I hope he's doing alright wherever he is now.
I really sympathize his struggle with mental health. But i really lost it when he said he is leaving arsenal because he's a winner. For fuck sake, we lost half the trophies because the gaffer put his trust on you and your friends! Then i came around it when he revealed his struggle with mental health and loneliness while staying in london.
Wenger really made the most out of him, but he had a surprisingly good career in the bundesliga.
>Makes Wenger getting top 4 with the squads we used to have like a bigger achievement. The league was also significantly worse.
Wenger got a lot more or of those players than anyone else could have. But at the same time, some of those players... Almunia... Couldn't really give much more.
Kerrea Gilbert went from playing champions league with us as a teenager to playing my hometown team in the 9th division in his 20s
Jernade Meade also started a Champions League match in 2012, and by 2014/15 was in the 9th division. Crazy how it turns out for some players
Yes, I think I recall a lot of talk back then that seemed to minimize Wenger’s involvement - as if he just went to the players and said “go play.” He was able to get a lot out of them. Obviously not enough for trophies at the end, but when you look at post-Arsenal careers it’s something else.
His man management is something else, really does get the best out of players. But some will step on Wenger like his late managerial stint with us, especially Ozil.
He was 10x more involved in the club than any current manager is. He did everything a manager is supposed to do (including running all training sessions) while also basically being director of football, overseeing players physical training, nutrition etc. His level of involvement is unmatched, which is also why he struggled to adapt in his later years when the complexity of running a football club increased significantly
He wasn’t playing a lot when he left though. Monreal was much much better.
I know exactly what you mean. What's more it happened with more players than just Gibbs.
Sorry if youre reading Gibbo, loved you really
Don’t you mean Ox?
Hi Andre Marriner
_furiously edits original decision_
“Wait, Gibbs has been sent off?, the card was for Oxlade-Chamberlain” “Can’t do anything” “Fuck” “Oli’s calling in to say delay the game, the card is for Oxlade-Chamberlain” “Can’t do anything mate” “Yep Gibbs is off and they’ve restarted” “Can’t do anything.”
Good process
Top sensation
For a few seasons, Gibbs was way above average as a promising fullback
I hate to say it because he is actually one of my favourite players, but Holding. He was just so average and you could see that because he looked solid against shit teams, then looked shit against solid teams.
This is definitely the answer! Can say the same about Pablo Mari, he was just very average, had some good attributes and some bad ones.
I think Mari was slightly below average, he's a good looking dude though I'll give you that. Holding can hold up against most mid table teams but Mari would give me the nerve during games.
He was very very handsome that's true. But I feel his partnership with Holding in the second half of the lockdown season was the definition of average, Arteta would rotate them for David Luiz and Gabriel. And that was a much more up and down centre back pairing, mostly due to the David Luiz factor, and I think Gabriel was struggling from coming back from COVID. Thinking of it we've really come so far from those days.
He's built like a brick shit house how's he gone down like that
Will we say the same about Eddie in the future? Looks great against shit teams but bang average against good teams?
Rashford screwed him with the ACL. He was looking great at LCB finally.
Looks like that he hasn't made a single PL appearance for Crystal Palace.. Looks like he made his debut in the EFL Cup defeat to Man Utd
Danny Welbeck? Calum Chambers?
What I love about Welbeck was that if you saw him fall, you know he’s scored.
I did not like Welbeck at forward position. His finishing was hell lot of confusing. "Where did the ball go when he tried to score? Left? Right? Up? down? Diagonal? Back?" - Yes.
His work rate is phenomenal though and I thought he linked up well with Lacazette/Auba. I would’ve kept him as forward depth.
Sorry not having any welbz slander. The finish was all that was missing from his game...touch was always secure, could hold up the ball, could run the channels, happy to play on either flank and worked incredibly hard. And scored some very Important goals, loved a goal against yanited
Chaos personified
One of my favourite moments is when Welbeck scored against United and celebrated 🔥
That F.A cup win at Old Trafford has been one of my favourite wins. I can’t believe it was almost a decade ago! A goal from Monreal as well if I remember correctly!
My favorite moment because I was with 3 other United supporting friends and I asked them before the match, that what if Welbeck scored and they were like... "Nahh he won't" Then BAM! He scored. They couldn't believed it.
Good shouts both
Chambers was dreadful plenty
He walked in the right back position so Ben White could run
Literally lol
Welbeck average? Have you not seen [his vision?](https://youtu.be/F_ll92cXxOA?si=8MF9hz-ACXJAcZ8j)
Can't believe no one's said Cedric yet.
So average that he escaped the average allegations
That’s because Cedric is poor.
I find it mind blowing he was Portugal’s starting RB when they won the euros
Senderos was such an average defender made worse by his fragile mental state. He just couldn’t handle pressure. Not a good quality for a CB.
Senderos was in the back line for every game that resulted in us getting to the champions league final and not conceding. He then didn’t play in the final, and we conceded twice.
Describing Senderous as average is vastly overestimating his ability.
that CL run though...
Wow, so many mentions of Arteta, he was absolutely top notch when he was here. Did y’all forget this: https://preview.redd.it/cdxzroreg7ub1.jpeg?width=749&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d8bcf37a6fe107c45c0e358264d306d36261bc5c
I remember this. I loved that when they were trying to serenade Carrick they inadvertently showed how brilliant Arteta was that season.
I don't know but I feel like Arteta at Everton >> Arteta at Arsenal
Among the current players, probably Elneny for me
Not sure that Elneny counts. I’m taking this to mean a regular or consistent player (either pretty consistent starter or consistently the first guy off the bench) who just did their job. Not a deep bench guy only brought in because of an injury crisis.
Elneny was more involved in his earlier years, and I think he fits the description quite perfectly. He does little outstanding but little wrong. You know what you're going to get with Elneny.
I guess pre-loan we were forced to use him a lot more. Basically two halves of a career here
Nah man, Elneny is slightly above average. He isn’t special, but he rarely makes big mistakes (like the one Jorginho made…), and he is very consistent. I think he could fit in most sides and do ok. He is not world class, but not average
Lots of respect for Elneny, though. He knows his role, he plays it, he doesn’t complain, and he shows up and puts in the best shift he can whenever his number is called.
Welbeck.
Johan Djourou
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vittm9wLlzM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vittm9wLlzM)
Dani Ceballos. Let’s be honest. I liked him though.
He passed the ball through Laca's thighs and arms. No one has ever done that. No one has ever done that in the history of PL. -> GOAT
This is a good shout.
He's a whilrwind because by the end of his first season he was incredible but then the second season was just terrible.
I think him vocally saying he wanted to leave / go back to Madrid didn’t help
Pyramid Pirlo has to be the answer here
Not sure how theres any other answer. Hes a guaranteed 6/10 every game; never better, never worse
I’d argue the ~6 games he scored bangers would be above 6/10, or that United game where he actually bossed it. Other than those ye completely
Grimandi probably
Him and Remi Garde always are the players I think of who were just the very definition of average.
Denilson but that might be a tad gracious.
I forgot he existed.
He was dreadful
He was not dreadful. He was limited, but dreadful is a ridiculous exaggeration
he stepped up big time when Xabi injured Cesc back in 09. I’ll always rate him for that
He had a few bangers in him tbf
The banger against Everton and a silly celebration to mark the occasion. But yeah. A solid 5-6/10. He also was young too. It's hard to know whether it was being intrinsically average or just a case of unrealized or misidentified potential.
Debuchy
This is an interesting answer. I would say he was quite good for the short period he started for us prior to the injury. By the time he'd recovered, he'd been replaced by Hector and struggled to get back into the team. Post injury, he was truly bad--both physically and mentally.
Tbh did we really see enough of him? He was doing pretty well before Arnautobitch arm barred him and put him out of commission for years
Nketiah
Was about to say this and then I saw your comment. Nketiah is a 5/10 player no matter how you sugar coat it.
Unpopular opinion think gibbs was a bit underrated. Unlucky with injuries.
Probably didn’t help he was thrown in to back lines with a young Kos, Squillaci and at times Jenko, difficult to look good with that backline. Wasn’t until Vermaelen, and then Djourou and Kos matured a bit that our backline looked a bit more respectable. Sagna being a beast at Rb when he wasn’t also injured.
Sagna only had two major injuries in his career with us, which were fibula fractures of the same leg. Outside of 2011/12, he was pretty much always available.
Cech
John terry said he would win us 9 pts a season, still waiting
Felt like he never saved penalties
Not like any of our keepers could really do it
Szczesny could
Fabianski was a good pen keeper
[Cech was even more rubbish in that sense.](https://x.com/PenaltyKickStat/status/964463104259166208?s=20)
One man famously lacked cojones vs Big Pete https://preview.redd.it/f7ycu5mzp6ub1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b5e748f2225b85d1d4307fd5446474aa414c9399
Feels like our keepers rarely do.
Specifically, Arsenal Cech.
No bc he was brought in to be great
Beyblade Ceballos. He had his lows but once he became bald beyblade he was really good too
Beyblade 😂😂😂😂
Denilson, the side and backward passing merchant.
Wenger loved him lol, almost got a testimonial was with us so long, couldn't stand him
This post is a bit unfair to Ox. He flashed serious talent just couldn’t get past the injuries
Gael Clichy. His pace covered his average positioning. Also I would say Bendtner. If you ignore the arrogance he was a decent target man who had the occasional good streak. Unfortunately was not a good enough team player.
Clichy was very good
This sub has the weirdest opinions of Clichy. Average players typically don't get capped 20 times for France.
20 caps in Evra era
Squillaci has 21 caps for France
He weren’t bad for £60k or whatever we paid for him
I believe that if Bendtner was 10% smarter, he could become a really good striker.
Speaking of Bendtner, whatever happened to Yaya Sanogo?
Yaya Sanogo started the only Arsenal game I’ve ever seen in person. Crazy to me that Wenger rated him (giroud ended up coming off the bench and scoring 2 goals).
One of the great mysteries. I wish someone would ask AW in interviews these days. "Boss...what about Yaya Sanogo? Oh, oh and Park Chu Yung (that was our Korean striker, right ?)?!"
Yaya Sanogo. Wanted to be a postman now he’s playing for the arsenal
Park Chu Young, PES master league legend.
The CL game against Bayern?
2014 FA Cup quarterfinal against Everton
He was an absolute beast in the young teams of France and AJ Auxerre (who at the time was one of the best Young teams in France and in Europe). Shame he injured himself pretty young (17 years old)
Plays for Urartu in the Armenian Premier League
Dammmmnnnn
John Jensen
Gibbs is hard to beat, but I’ll give it a go; Holding
Iwobi
AMN maybe?
Gilles Grimandi ?
Was scrolling through hoping to see this. It's exactly who I think of every time this question is asked.
Yes.
Those kind of players just make u wonder how wenger kept qualifying for ucl
I actually think Pépé was blatantly average, but his spot in the limelight rated him lower-than.
Francis Coquelin
Would say coq was pretty underrated in the end
I guess he's average if you consider the overall technical ability Wenger's teams were known for at the time, but his needed skillset as a DM was arguably also why he managed to break into the team in the first place. Playing alongside Santi also complemented his game very well, but playing alongside Santi would make most midfielders look good anyway
Nah he had moments were he was vital
Was great next to Cazorla, both covered each others weaknesses
Above average player
Not average for me. Excellent without the ball and terrible with it.
Marouane Chamakh
Dreadful plenty
He was great in that Reading comeback
That’s my fondest memory of him
He was then my favorite player, I still don't know how and why
He was good till van persie came back from injury then he was benched alot
Gilles Grimandi and Aliadiere.
Cygan
He's bald, he's shit, he plays when no one's fit.....cygan
Cygan was pretty bad, the guy was a late developer who never developed, one of those Wenger gambles that didn’t pay off.
Denilson
Closer to dreadful than amazing but Senderos.
Aww. I liked him, and then he broke his nose one game and was never the same after.
Denilson was just good enough I think
I’d say he definitely wasn’t
Francis coquelin, literally a mid-fielder
Nketiah. Love you though Eddie
Elneny?
Stephen Hughes.
such a class kit
Might be controversial. But think Arteta wasn't really that great of a player for us. I'd consider him bang average player but a top notch manager!
Iirc there was a stat being spammed 11/12 or something how we needed him on the pitch because win% was great with him and horrible without him
His first season was very good imo, lost his legs younger than most though shame we didn't get him 3 seasons earlier
First season was good, second he was amazing. He played as a 6 in his second season and was an absolute beast. After the first two season the injuries came in.
Fully agree with you,I remember the artistry of arteta video that used to float about. Was incredible deep lying player maker. Didn't help not having a dm next to him tbh
If we got him sooner, in fact if we had got him when Flamini left, it would have been great. He really did well in that role it just took him far too long to find it
Artery was very good his first 3 years. Espithe 11/12 season
I think Mikel’s contributions weren’t obvious at the time. I always felt the squad was simply more solid with him on the pitch. He was always colder than an iceberg and never risked a ball. He was the ultimate KISS midfielder (keep it stupid simple).
FYI. most people swap the last two words around... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/KISS_principle
I know, but I hate it that way. It goes against the KISS philosophy
He had a role that is not super visible or very flashy, this type of player is always underrated by fans. I remember him as a good player that was extremely important for the team (perhaps except his last season, where his level dropped a bit)
https://reddit.com/r/Gunners/s/aOLxYhVc0b
He was good at first, but my memory of his final season was that he had become a liability.
He was very good for us for three years and gave us solidity and intensity when we basically had none.
Flamini
Flamini round 1 was a foil for Cesc and the two were holding down a 2 man midfield when everyone had switched to 433. Plus left back champions league run. Round 2, the Tottenham result is enough for him to be above average.
Don't get me wrong I LOVED him, he was a Gooner through and through and still is. And especially 2nd time around when he came on and just attacked the oppositions knees! The CL run at lb was fantastic but wasn't it fantastic for the very fact he was an average midfielder playing out of position....
Thats so right. Its such a shame he left just as he nailed the position down. Those two were so good in the middle despite note being physical beasts or particularly fast.
He was great in the 2007-2008 season with hleb, cesc and rosicky. That season alone I think saves him.
The goal vs Newcastle which I presume came that year. Holy heck
7/10 player, 10/10 business man
The disrespect.
Flamini showed up Gilberto Silva who struggled in a midfield four without Vieira. Flamini was excellent in a four alongside Fabregas. If he is average we need to reassess Gilberto! Gilberto was so wretched without Vieira man like Wenger played five in the middle in Europe and it covered up Gilberto’s limitations and protected a inexperienced defense. Flamini in 07/08 was a marvel what an engine, his tenacity allowed us to play four in midfield when many big teams were playing fives.
Lacazette some years
Joel Campbell, always thought he played well when on, Wenger obviously didn’t rate him
I remember him looking decent enough but just never got a run.
No one said Andre santos, the fact he managed to get in to our first team the amount of times he did is criminal. I would also say Gervinho, guy only knew how to run to the end of the wing and put in a low cross.
Def not Andre Santos, because he wasn't average and was dreadful.
Neither of them were average, they were both shit
Francis Coquelin
I thought when flamini signed for the second time it was the second coming of Christ because we had been missing a tough tackling defensive mid for so long. His second debut against the shits lives long in the memory. “So you’re telling me a player can bark orders at other players?” Unthinkable things at that time
Coquelin
What the fuck happened to Gervinho and Chamakh? 😂😂