Jase

Reusable post.

Suspect this will be a frustrating one. Key players out injured, some others horribly out of form and potential tiredness/rustiness after international break. Will gladly take a scrappy win.

Who said anything about having only 2-3 technicians in the team at a time? It's a question of finding the right player - both offensively and defensively - to fit into the squad. Otherwise, we'll end up having the same Fabregas conversation down the road again. Yes, Fabregas and Ozil play in different areas and are slightly different players but their strengths and weaknesses are near identical. You mentioned Fabregas has a potential disaster class, like Ozil doesn't have that in him? How many times have we seen him go AWOL at Arsenal when they really need someone to step up for them? He only plays well when everything is progressing smoothly. Otherwise, he's nowhere to be seen and becomes a passenger on the pitch. Overstating? How so when his lack of defensive work is clear for all to see week in week out? Showing he can do that NUMEROUS times doesn't mean he's competent in that aspect.

Uh oh. Zaha is back for Palace.

Seems like he's out tomorrow but may return in midweek.

Ozil has given no indication whatsoever over the last year or so that he's willing to commit long term to Arsenal. If he's really rated by the top European clubs, we would have seen a few of them lining up to try and sign him like they are with Sanchez. Maybe he will sign a new contract in the coming months but the fact that no one has been queuing to sign him speaks volume. We said that about Fabregas and how has that been going? Looks great on paper but would it really work out that way on the pitch? We have dreamed of so many partnerships over the years, thinking when Player X combines with Player Y, they will rip the opponents to shreds but how often has that happened? How many passengers, defensively, can we afford to carry in the XI? No.10 or not, the point still stands. He will still have defensive responsibilities in the front 3 of Conte's 3-4-3 or 3-5-2. Do you think someone like Conte would really tolerate someone strolling around the pitch? He may not have to track back into deep areas but he will still need to press and put pressure on opponents. His time Arsenal - or indeed at previous clubs - suggests he's incapable of doing that. And what happens when our next manager decides to play a back 4 system? He will have even more defensive responsibility playing as the wide player or as the No.10. Here's another thing - if there are already question marks over his defensive capabilities in a team that likes playing on the front foot, how do you think then he would fare in a team that's pragmatic, a team that tends to play defensive and on the break in the big games? Can you see him tracking back and defend when we play the likes of Spurs, Man City etc? It will just be another Fabregas situation all over again.

It's odd to see people wanting Ozil when we've spent the best part of the last 3 years bemoaning about Fabregas' defensive flaws - the same flaws that Ozil has in him. I get that Ozil has his strengths and it's all good saying he'll work in well structured team etc but are we really going to pretend that his flaws aren't a big issue? Is it really worth having a player, whose strengths match the weaknesses rather than the former outweigh the latter? If we're going to buy a player purely because of his strengths and ignore the flaws, then we might as well go after someone like Balotelli while we're at it. So you're basically suggesting we should buy Ozil just so we can compete with the other big sides while ignoring major weaknesses? That's not exactly smart transfer business, is it? It says a lot that Ozil has hardly been linked with any major European sides while Sanchez is the one getting all the interest.

You're drunk, Tom. GTFO!

Nobody is asking to shoot if there's a whole 'bus' in front of him...more in those situations where there's space and angle to do so. Plus, if you don't shoot, you're never going to score and sometimes you never know if someone does put a block in, it may end up deflecting in etc.

Nobody is asking him to do a Sturridge and start shooting from ridiculous position/angle or when the chance isn't on. It's just how many times have we seen him get into a good position to score but opt to pass it instead? It's unlikely he'll ever reach the goal scoring numbers of Messi, Ronaldo etc but do feel he can score more goals than he usually does. He has always scored around 15 goals per season. Should be aiming at getting 20-25 at least.

Don't mean to be critical but when you see him score that first goal, you just wonder why he doesn't it more often. Going by his unselfish tendency, you would think he would have passed to the player on the right but no, he went on to shoot and score.

Perhaps it has something to do with contract talks that didn't go too well.

The timing of the post does seem somewhat odd it has to be said. Almost as if Musonda had an epiphany.

Problem is, we don't even know when Drinkwater will be back and we all know what will happen if Fabregas is played more than once/twice per week.