Arsenal 2-2 Tottenham: The 7amkickoff Index

Arsenal’s best statistical performance so far this season. Let’s break down the numbers.

26 – Shots for Arsenal (most this season by 10 more than we had against Brexit)
2.32 – Expected goals for Arsenal (most this season)
382 – Passes completed by Arsenal
150 – Passes completed by Arsenal in the opposition final third
302 – Passes completed by Tottenham
55 – Passes completed by Tottenham in the Arsenal final third
17 – Chances created by Arsenal
8 – Chances created by Tottenham
2 – Big chances created by Arsenal
0 – Big chances created by Tottenham
1 – Big chance created for Tottenham by Granit Xhaka
31 – Tackles by Arsenal
28 – Tackles by Tottenham
24 – Tackles won by Arsenal
14 – Tackles won by Tottenham
10 – Interceptions by Arsenal
5 – Interceptions by Tottenham
10 – Clearances by Arsenal
25 – Clearances by Tottenham
1 – Errors by Arsenal leading to a goal for Spurs (Leno, dropped shot)
1 – Penalty conceded by Arsenal for a goal by Spurs (Xhaka)

I think it’s fair to say that other than the two errors Arsenal would have won this match. The errors problem is something which stretches back to well before Emery and with certain players like Xhaka is a feature of his game.

102 – Premier League matches played by Granit Xhaka for Arsenal
5 – Penalties conceded in the Premier League by Xhaka in Premier League play
11 – Total goals conceded off errors and penalties by Xhaka in Premier League play
11 – Goals scored by Granit Xhaka for Arsenal in 102 Premier League matches
16 – Assists by Granit Xhaka in 102 Premier League matches
2 – Penalties conceded by Granit Xhaka in 28 matches of his final season in the Bundesliga, plus 3 red cards that season
7 – Fouls committed by Xhaka today against Spurs
13 – Fouls committed by Arsenal today against Spurs

Another odd feature of this match, in fact an odd feature of every Arsenal game which Martin Atkinson officiates, is that Arsenal were denied two penalty shouts for what looked like clear fouls and a third for what looked like a handball. Martin Atkinson’s penalty record with Arsenal is bizarre to say the least:

4.33 – Games per penalty on Average by Martin Atkinson (he awards 1 pen every 4 games or so)
1 – Total number of penalties Atkinson has awarded for Arsenal in the last 34 Arsenal matches he has officiated – a record which stretches back to October 2010 and encompases all levels of competition (top four, middle four, etc) and various cup matches
12 – Number of penalties he has awarded to the opposition in these exact same matches

Nicolas Pepe received a lot of calumny on Twitter as Arsenal supporters grew anxious for the winner late in the game. His transfer fee was mentioned and I unfollowed that person. I am also unfollowing anyone who uses the phrase “he gave the ball away too often” because it’s the kind of ridiculously lazy “analysis” of a player that I expect from Sky Sports pundits and I don’t have time to follow people like that. Remember that article I wrote, What Arsenal need from a wide player? Remember how I said:

  • Someone to create chances off corners
  • Someone to create chances from open play
  • Someone who can dribble in wide spaces
  • Someone who isn’t afraid of the ball
  • Someone who can win penalties

Let’s take a look at Pepe’s stats from today:

63 – Touches (led all forwards)
28 – Passes of 34 (so, for the “he gave the ball away too much” people 6 total bad passes)
2 – Key passes
1 – Big chance created
1 – Assist
5 – Dribbles attempted (4 dribbles successful, so another 1 in the win column for the people who say he gave the ball away too much)
7 – Shots (is this giving the ball away?)
6 – Possessions lost (3 dispossessed, 3 bad touch, so a whopping 13 times he lost possession)
49 – Touches by Lacazette
8 – Possessions lost (4 dispossessed, 4 bad touch)
2 – Dribbles (of 2!) for Laca
6 – Shots for Laca
1 – Big chances
1 – Goal for Laca (off Pepe’s pass)
5 – Bad passes by Lacazette
1 – Key pass by Lacazette
13 – Total times Lacazette lost possession…

THIS IS PEPE’S 4TH ARSENAL MATCH HE HAS ONLY STARTED TWICE AGAINST LIVERPOOL AND TOTTENHAM JESUS SAVE ME FROM SOME OF YOU. And especially save me if you’re an “Emery needs 3 years” guy and you’re already jumping on Pepe after just 244 minutes.

And finally, Emery didn’t make a change at half-time and waited until the 63rd minute to bring on Ceballos and then hauled off Lacazette to bring on Mkhitaryan. Ceballos was lively but looks like he needs more time to bed in but something was seriously wrong with Mkhitaryan. He only had 25 touches, lost possession 4 times, failed in his only attempted dribble, had 1 key pass and 1 shot. There was a moment when the ball popped up off Sanchez and all he needed to do was control but the ball got away from him and they won it back where I felt like I was watching a player just going through the motions. Arsenal really need to get someone healthy to play for him and need to move him in January because this is just not working for either party anymore.

Anyway, an entertaining contest and one which left Arsenal with bragging rights of a sort (2-nil and you messed it up!) but which Arsenal probably could have won with just a little more certainty in the back and a little more moxy up front.

Qq

43 comments

  1. After the first goal there was a stat circulating that since the start of last season Arsenal lead the league in errors leading to goals (13) and Leno the leading error maker (5). Correct me if I’m wrong but I think Cech was the record holder the season before. Depending on your POV we either have clumsy players or a poorly coached defence. Certainly we’re no better in this aspect than under Wenger.

    Why start Xhaka instead of Celabos? Xhaka has given away more penalties (5) than any other PL player since he joined Arsenal. As you say booked 7 times today and received his customary yellow. Where’s the incentive to improve if Emery doesn’t drop him?

    A bit of magic from Laca and Auba gained us a point. How many times are we going to say that this season? Thank goodness for Wenger’s recruitment. To answer a previous post’s question Tim, feels like Emery’s style is best described as Kamikaze. Buckle up.

    1. Arsenal have led the League in that stat for three or four years running! I’ve written about it here quite a bit.

      A couple things to note:

      -Xhaka has always been like this. I think we all thought we could coach it out of him. We can’t. He will score 3 goals and give away three goals a season.
      -Goalkeepers always lead the league in errors for goals. Last season Leno and Begovic had 5, de Gea 4, Alisson 3. Season before Cech 6, Lloris 5, Ederson 2, etc. It’s expected for keepers to make a few mistakes. It’s weird when your CM does it constantly.

      1. I’m beginning to suspect Xhaka has compromising photos of Emery or Stan in his possession. It’s hard to understand why he still gets picked after these brainless errors. He has cost us too many points. Fergie would have dumped him immediately.
        Thank you Tim for pointing up Pepe’s contribution today. It was encouraging to read the stats and realise we weren’t wrong in what we witnessed. There were naysayers all around me in the stands. We sit in the front row and getting a close up of his ball skills was truly a pleasure.

  2. Just come back from the game. Yes, Pepe does give the ball away, but he also looks likely to make something happen each time he gets it. Compare and contrast, say Iwobi or even Ozil. They circulate the ball nicely enough, but never threaten. I know what sort of player, I would rather have.
    Xhaka is a liability. He’s just hopeless at tackling, which is a bit of a crucial skill for a defensive midfielder. Fouls every time.
    Ceballos made a huge difference when he came on. The tempo livened up. He looked lost at Liverpool, unsurprisingly. He’s got to start games.

  3. I didn’t see anyone dismissing Pepe, but I’m also not on Twitter. I think it’s fair to say he still looks a bit rusty / acclimating, but nobody who really watched that game can deny he looks one hell of a special player. I’m excited, Josh K.!

    For their first goal, I didn’t catch the replay, but in real time I also thought it looked like Leno dropped it, but then everyone after the game said it was all Xhaka’s and Sokratis’ fault. It’s a collection of events, of course, but you need your keeper to be saving those. He was good the rest of the game, particularly on crosses.

    I said on the previous thread that while I can understand why Mkhitaryan was brought on for the injured Lacazette, I don’t think I can understand just how dire he was. Even professional footballers make mistakes, but that looked like he was having a stroke. I’m with you Tim. It was bizarre, and I don’t think anyone expected him to be quite that bad.

    An encouraging result, particularly the battling spirit in the second half, and, like those Scooby villains say, we would have won had it not been for those pesky errors.

    1. Leno’s was a goalkeeping error. And he made a handling error again a few minutes later. And a worldie save minutes later at 1-0.

      Goalkeepers make handling errors. You sont want defenders switching off, not playing, ball watching and not tracking blind side runs. Even though he made an error, Sokratis hung him out to dry.

    2. Is there an embargo on slating Leno? Coz the first goal was embarrasing. And I see no one calling him out.

  4. Arsenal haven’t qualified for the Champions League with Xhaka in the team.This is now his 4th season at Arsenal,he wouldn’t get into any other team (Premier League that is,he might suit a European League) with Champions League ambitions. Emery’s blindspot with this player will cost us it continues.
    We are crying out for Bellerin, Holding & Tierney.Its a lot to expect from young players, returning from serious injury.

    1. I don’t know that we can lay our lack of CL qualification at Xhaka’s feet. The thing about him is that it’s a blind spot that Wenger, Emery, the Swiss national coach, etc. all have / had. At what point do we say, well, maybe it’s the fans who have the blind spot? Obviously coaches think his clear susceptibility to error does not outweigh his usefulness elsewhere.

      I don’t know. I’m just terribly weary at the sight of him on a team sheet.

  5. Thinking it was proven in the 2nd half we are strongest when we attack. The team is stacked for such a game. Just imagine Ozil on instead of Miki in those situations.

  6. Bringing on Ceballos was a mistake. He falls over constantly. He’s too slow to decide what he wants to do and ends up getting caught. For all his faults, Ozil would have been better. Overall we had a good game, the front three are dynamite, but we have real problems still in midfield. Guendouzi is the only one playing like he wants a starting job week in week out.

    1. Oh, weird. I thought Ceballos looked good when he came on! He had that wicked shot, too. Wasn’t it his movement as well, that freed up the space for Guendouzi’s dribble + assist? Maybe I was watching the wrong player.

      1. Got to agree with Bunburyist – Ceballos helped us greatly today. He wasn’t brilliant the way he was against Burnley, but he guile helped us equalize and he played a big role in the immense pressure we applied in the 2nd half.

      2. Watching Lloris and Sanchez’s bewildered and wild eyed faces in the second half was my favourite part of the game, as Arsenal piled on the pressure.

        Putting on Mkhi was the conservative move. Maybe not the right move. Putting on Ozil or Nelson is risky when we were trying not to concede anymore and further expose our frighteningly un-defensive leftback.

        When we figure out how to cut out those early game defensive mistakes , we have a team easily worthy of third or fourth place.

  7. Who launches into aggressive slide tackles in their own box? Mustafi, last season, and Xhaka. One is in his way out, and hopefully the other will be soon. Xhaka is done at Arsenal. I said last year that he has Vermaelen written all over him. Hopefully someone similarly pays us good money to take him.

    We have seen the present and the future of the Arsenal midfield, and his name is Matteo Guendouzi. When he adds goals to his game, we will have a 100m player. Work rate, tackling, dribbling and ferrying, head up distribution, and controlled aggression. He was incredible today, particularly second half.

    And how about Auba’s finish with his studs?

    Agree totally about Pepe. He has superb close control, trickery, can see a pass in traffic, can hit a dead ball, and knows where the goal is. The goals will come. I though that he played well today.

    Mhki was shocking. Can both parties to a 2 way deal be shafted? We and United managed to shaft each other on the Mhki Alexis deal. And let’s not forget that Mhki is on ridiculous high wages.

    The way Sokratis switched off for Eriksen’s blind side run was unacceptable for an experienced central defender. Leno error, and earlier a David Luiz one playing too high.

    Shocked at how little Spurs offered besides those gift goals. We looked a far better side, and in the balance of play, wed be disappointed not to have got all the points.

    1. You may be right about Xhaka. But I think we’re going to have to accept that he’s with us this season, and he’s playing. There was no way with the amount of business we did this summer that we could fix every problem in the squad. The other thing I worry about is Torreira. He had those two months last fall when the fans were singing his praises, and then he hit fitness problems that have never really gone away. Is it really the case that he’s still recovering from the summer? Maybe.

      A part of me hopes Emery just bites the bullet and uses a rotation of Willock, Torreira, Guendouzi, and Ceballos as his preferred midfielders, and leaves Xhaka (and Mkhi) to the Europa League. I say “bites the bullet” because I do think there’s a danger having such a young midfield, and there will be inevitable costs in doing so. Emery’s got this one season to get it right. And that’s both fortunate and unfortunate in terms of the risks or long term projects that don’t get made.

      With that said, as error prone as Xhaka is, I don’t think he’s the difference between us getting top four or not.

      1. As I said last season: Torreira is one of the most overrated players in the squad. He spends more time breakdancing (floor work) than anything positive for Arsenal. He’s just way too small to play for us. I’m not sure he’s even over 5′ tall.

    2. Agreed. I feel if we’d played Ceballos from the start we’d have likely scored the first goal. The midfield three was a conservative selection and in the first half it was left to our strikers to create.

  8. I used to believe that Unai considers Xhaka as the senior player in our very young midfield, with some experience and character.

    But today, when he was not subed after 80 minutes when he was walking on dead legs and making all the fouls I felt Unai is just hanging him to dry.

    Arsene Wenger used to do this to punish players, but it was more like “you clean this mess you made”.

    Today, it seemed as Unai was waiting for Xhaka to make that final mistake or get the red cart so he can drop him for good!

  9. That mid-field 3 can’t start, at least not with the three forwards. It provides no link beyond long passes. And yeah, Xhaka seems like a good guy, and may be a decent captain, but we haven’t been able to coach the errors out. If he were a world-beater otherwise, it might be acceptable, but he’s not.
    But I have to think we would have won with Ozil, Willock or Nelson instead of Mkhi. He was terrible. Emery can’t keep picking him instead of Ozil…they are equally bad defenders, but Ozil can at least control the ball and pass.

    1. That mid-field 3 can’t start, at least not with the three forwards.
      _______

      Agree. What was noticeable — and what Emery corrected — was the lack of creativity in midfield. Until Ceba arrived, we had been creating solely from wide. Guendouzi’s form makes him undroppable, Ceballos has operated very well for us when he played deep.

      What Emery seems to stop short of doing is benching Xhaka, the only remaining functional one of his Five Captains .

  10. While watching this game, I noted how this was the best Arsenal performance, on the ball/in possession under Emery that I have seen. I thought the midfield would be dominant with the players chosen, but wouldn’t be able to properly/creatively use the ball and be able to create chances for our front 3. It seemed like an issue for some parts of the game, especially the first half, but it was a really good performance on the ball by us.

    Matteo Guendouzi really stood out for me on in that second half. I have always believed that we had a special player in this boy, but today he showed me that we have a special player “right now”. he has temperament, he is always looking for the ball and is such a ball dominant player at such a young age. He is very mobile and can beat a press, while also not being a slouch defensively. I do think he is destined to become a deep lying playmaker, but he is really good in forward areas as well. I just don’t know how he fits alongside Torreira. I hope to see them paired up more often to see how they complement each other, since I think he is already compatible with Joe Willock.

    Otherwise, we still have a bad defensive system and we will continue shipping chances to the opposition, but if we play this way against everyone, we will get top four. I still think we will get a third place finish (even though I think we aren’t that good of a side), and this performance in possession, gives me more confidence in that happening. Along with the decline of our other top four rivals.

  11. Just watched the match and I’m still buzzing. Not because we were great but because I enjoyed and hated every minute at the same time. That was a proper game of football.

    Guendouzi was the obvious star. Xhaka the obvious villain. Emery I thought did pretty much everything right.

    I know passion can be overrated, but when I saw Lacazette’s celebration and Guendouzi whipping up the crowd it reminded me that all of those players are my guys, and I loved them all for it, yes even Xhaka. The result was frustrating but I’m not going to be critical of anyone tonight. Thanks, lads.

    1. Totally agree about the players. I absolutely loved how tirelessly they worked for each other to get us back in the game. The celebrations for the goals were something else, but I also loved the sight of Ceballos trying to pump everyone up after he forced Lloris into that save.

  12. I’m wondering if Torreira can only look good in a 4-2-3-1, in one of the double pivot roles. In a midfield three today he looked anonymous. I’m usually a Guendouzi critic because I don’t think he has a very high skill level, but his industrious play was great today – he ran his a$$ off. I’m with BlackArse above; Ceballos is equal parts brilliant and frustrating – there’s a bit of Wilshere in him and I’m predicting he doesn’t make it through the season without a serious layoff due to injury… he just seems to take a split second too long to do something with the ball and ends up getting clattered. There were a couple of times towards the end where he lost possession in the middle of the park, a huge no no in a game that’s so open.

    I enjoyed the game though. It was entertaining. And Pepe is going to be a monstrous force by mid-season.

  13. On the midfielders for the NLD …

    Unfortunately without Xhaka in midfield, we lack the height and physical presence, albeit it being a rather lumbering (and soul sucking when he goes sleighing in our penalty box). Not sure if a midfield comprising of Ceballos / Willock / Guendouzi / Torreira would be too lightweight and “lean”, in all sense of the word.

    Ceballos’s fresh legs gave us more bite in midfield than Torreira when he came on and looked like a probing dynamite ready to implode the Spud’s defence.

    Guendouzi really ran his lungs out and his work rate to hustle back possession, especially in our penalty box won my admiration more so than his ferrying / assist. Great game for our French wonderkid and I hope that he can continue to keep up his second half form and impose himself on more matches.

    Not sure what were the complaints about Pepe, but he was a livewire wrecking havoc in the opposition half. I’m sure he’ll only continue to improve, especially on his end products when he adapts better to the league!

    Much positive on how we had attacked our much hated neighbours and much to do to better our torrid defence. Then again, we all knew what is our strengths and weakness!

  14. I have read a lot of post-match comments on the internet and I feel like not enough people are talking about Lacazette’s goal. Guendouzi has been mentioned a lot and rightly so. He put in a shift and a half and his pin point accurate ball for the equalizer was superb but without the goal that got us back in the game, I’m not sure we would’ve attacked the second half with the same verve and belief. Lacazette made it look easy and it was anything but. If you watch closely, he never really has time to settle himself. It’s pure instinct and he is slightly off balance while running the whole time. Then to hit the shot with that kind of power and accuracy while under pressure was just class. I thought Lloris did well to even move his hands in the direction of the shot. Most goalkeepers would’ve just frozen. The guy is an absolute gem. He has heart, technical quality, works his socks off, leaves it all on the field, a leader and just a great all around human being from what I’ve read.

    1. So right. Astonishing skill to score that goal when we so desperately needed it. Hoping the injury isn’t serious.

  15. Torreira was disappointing, as he was towards the end of last season. Perhaps fitness is an issue. I hope he comes good. Difficult to know where to play him. Cant play him out wide. Put him in the centre of midfield and he doesn’t quite do it. You either have to be big and strong like Vieira, or someone who can move the ball about quickly in tight spaces like Cazorla. He doesn’t really do either.

    1. He’s the breakdancer in the squad. Every time someone comes near him he hits the floor and starts doing backspins, headspins, and all kinds of neat floor work.

  16. I think I’m a lot less annoyed because I didn’t really catch the first half where the consensus seems to be we weren’t creative enough. These stats make us look good, and confirm my impression that we were creating chances yesterday. We played higher up the field and for a while, we had Spurs completely on the ropes and there for the kill. Unfortunately Emery’s instincts are conservative and he brought on Miki and not Ozil, who could really have delivered the killer blow then, with Auba and Pepe itching to score.

    On Xhaka. Everyone is constantly annoyed with him except his coaches and it seems to me, his teammates. I don’t detect the Mustafi like panic or annoyance among the team when they have to rely on Xhaka, even when he messes up. I think we have to acknowledge he has more positives than negatives, which though seem like they can’t be fixed. At least until we can get a replacement of the requisite quality and physical traits. Even then there may be others in the squad who go first.

    I have seen a lot of references to hate for Pepe but not seen it myself. Guess I follow the right people. But there is a constant hate for Lacazette I come across. Mostly based around the fact that ‘he doesn’t score enough’. I just see this as Inter fans abusing Bergkamp. He’s not the same player or the same quality, but his role is also not as the prime goalscorer. He’s been great for us, and saved our bacon yesterday.

    I’m still not convinced this is going to be our blueprint for the season. Especially if the start was with low creativity, and the end was the safer option. But, despite the disappointing result, I am much happier with the performance.

    PS. My first thought was Leno made an error, but on viewing the replay it seemed like it’s just a well timed shot to put the keeper off, though lacking power. He might have done better, but defenders should have been following in.

  17. A word of appreciation for the crowd. That stadium was NOI-IZ-EE!! Couldn’t hear the ref’s whistle a few times.

    Speaking of the ref. I thought he was generally ok. But then there was the handball pen shout, which TV never showed a replay of, and I bet that means it was a penalty. Only Sok got a yellow for that tussle. And both Kane and Alli got away with blatant dives without bookings. But at least he didn’t call fouls for them, which is not what would have happened in the past.

  18. Mhki gone to Roma. So why did he play yesterday? A knock could have scuppered the agreement. Strange sub by Emery, in more ways than one. It’s little things like this that places doubt in people’s minds about the coach. It’s raining, so he eschews the umbrella for a wide brim felt hat.

    1. Roma have now signed Chris Smalling and Henrikh Mkhitaryan. Presumably there are no scouts or TVs at the club.

  19. THIS IS PEPE’S 4TH ARSENAL MATCH HE HAS ONLY STARTED TWICE AGAINST LIVERPOOL AND TOTTENHAM JESUS SAVE ME FROM SOME OF YOU.
    This made me laugh.
    If I had to pick three most difficult fixtures to make your full debut in ,Liverpool away and a NLD would be in them.
    Sometimes you just have to shake your head and walk away ,or as in Tim’s case unfollow people, which for a dinosaur like myself who’s not on social media, is even funnier still.

    Ozil, Mhiki, Mustafi and Xhaka are on 750k per week and even though most posters say this is Emery’s squad now and there’s no more excuses for him, I disagree.

    In an ideal world none of these players should be playing for Arsenal for different reasons ,but a club like ours can’t afford to pay that much money out to “spectators “ no other club in Europe seem to want. So be ready to endure more Xhaka’s brainy challenges because he’s not going anywhere.

    Last player , than springs to mind, who was such a poor tackler but thrived in the PL was Paul Scholes, Unlike Scholes , however, Xhaka doesn’t have a luxury of playing consistently higher up the pitch ,so every one of his dumb challenges will put Arsenal under pressure.
    That, and Scholes was obviously English and a Man U player ,which meant that about half of his brain farts went unpunished.
    In Europe, where refs did their job , his disciplinary record was significantly poorer than in the PL.

    The point of this is that if Fergie couldn’t coach Scholes to avoid silly challenges, neither will Emery coach them out of Xhaka.

  20. So this went down on Tim’s previous post, as attention shifted here….

    ME: “When Guendouzi adds goals to his game (he’s 20, lots of room to grow), he’ll be a 100m player”.

    GHOST GOONER: “Sarri is that you? 😆Why should a CDM add goals to his game like Sarri wanted from Kante? He had a great assist today and thats all we should expect from him not goals from his starting position deep in midfield.”

    I then called his a dim comment, and he described mine as drivel.

    A few points…

    (1) “CDMs” do score goals. It’s almost as Ghost never heard of…. Granit Xhaka! Or Jorginho. Or, going further back, Gilberto Silva, the Wall. Im not going to mention a certain tall, leggy Frenchman because he was THE complete midfielder… he could play B2B (and got a lot of goals), or he could play the deep midfield shield. Did you stop watching football in 1981? Did you watch yesterday? Guendouzi had a shot on target.

    (2) Ghost’s comment betrays ignorance about what a CDM actually is. They come in several shapes, sizes and playing styles. They even came in the form of Mikel Arteta, who knew where the goal was.

    (3) Guendouzi gets forward a lot. And by getting forward a lot, he gets into goalscoring positions. He has a goal against Qarabag in Europa, but generally his shot-taking execution is raw. He’ll get better… it took a good save from Lloris to stop him scoring yesterday.

    btw, I also said in my drivel post “France has got a glut of excellent midfielders, but he’ll be senior team regular in 2 years.”

    He got called up to the senior team today, to replace the injured Paul Pogba. It’s early days, but I think we have a terrific footballer on our hands. Who, sadly for Ghost, is not Ngolo Kante Mark 2. When he starts scoring at the end of those forward surges, he’ll be an even better midfielder than he already is.

    1. Funny thing happened just a few hrs ago… I saw an interview with Guenduzi on his France callup and the man himself said he is working on getting more involved in attacks by getting ASSISTS. I’ll take his view on how his game needs to develop.

      Btw Jorginho scores from pens, Xhaka scores from low percentage shots (unsustainable) and then goes and fails to do his main job for the team. Arteta was a no.10 and moved back into CDM to prolong his career.

      Vieira is probably the prototype of a modern CM/B2B player and Guenduzi isnt on that level so bringing him into the conversation isnt fair. Gilberto never had the burden of scoring for us and his scoring recored shows that.

      I never said a DM can never score and help the team from time to time. But EXPECTING goals from a DM is just the wrong view.

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