Henrikh Mkhitaryan | Roma player

[haram]

Hazard said as much. If you put good attackers on the same team together they'll be able to sort out a few attacks, football isn't rocket science. Don't know what pattern you've seen us use this season, could you describe our attacking play?

The exact reason why Mata plays so much and is on the right is because he is responsible and helps facilitate our attacking patterns when we have a lot of the ball. We have different patterns when we have less of the ball and have to play a lot more direct.

When we played direct against Arsenal and sweeped across the pitch and had movement between the likes of Lukaku, Martial and Lingard we looked clinical and unstoppable. Lingard’s press triggered movement and linked runs between our other players.

Like I said when I got bashed for saying Mata is our best option on the right, he helps link play with Valencia and the AM (which was Mkhi, and is now Lingard). Lingard very often makes runs cutting from the left to the right. His runs across and behind defenders triggers Mata and Valencia on the right hand side.

Other teams have problems with their attack but no one says they lack attacking patterns and link play. Are we forgetting Spurs struggling? Liverpool against deep defences? Arsenal failing to find a balance in their team away from home (we are the only team to win at the Emirates)? Chelsea looking lost unless Hazard does something? All of these teams look lost for attacking patterns and play but some people on here claim we dont train the attacking side of our game. Im sure all of our forwards improving is just a fluke.

 

[roonster09]

I think mhiki is a better fit for our team than Sanchez.
There were many times where I felt if he wasn't hogging the ball too much and released it at certain times, we would have won more games. As good a player he is, he has his faults.
You will see what I mean by end of season.

Yeah let's see when you play some teams away from home. Revisionism is awesome though.

 

[el3mel]

I think mhiki is a better fit for our team than Sanchez.
There were many times where I felt if he wasn't hogging the ball too much and released it at certain times, we would have won more games. As good a player he is, he has his faults.
You will see what I mean by end of season.

I think you're deluding yourself all honestly.

Sanchez saved your team thousands of times the previous season. Mikhi plays one good game and out of sudden he's better fit for Arsenal than Sanchez, very strange.

I agree that we'll see by the end of the season, but not won't be Sanchez who will be looking at by the end of the season,but Mikhi.

 

[TsuWave]

I think mhiki is a better fit for our team than Sanchez.
There were many times where I felt if he wasn't hogging the ball too much and released it at certain times, we would have won more games. As good a player he is, he has his faults.
You will see what I mean by end of season.

All this side stepping. Just answer the question, is Sanchez better than Mkhitaryan, yes or no?

You came in this thread talking about "wow so much dislike and hate" for Mkhi, and now its like "well, at certain times, if Sanchez had released the ball we might have won" when in reality the dude was your outstanding player for the time he was there and his record speaks for itself. Mkhitaryan on the other hand has been flabby and sick for majority of his time in England, and even in Germany, he only had one outstanding season. Good player, technically gifted, wildly inconsistent and with a tendency to disappear.

The answer to the question regarding which one of the two is better shouldn't entail you telling all these tales like you're trying to get us to buy into a pyramid scheme. Is Sanchez better than Mkhi, yes or no?

 

[Gomes]

Probably not the best place to ask, but did United fans here kept telling themselves that it was good getting rid of Ronaldo because he kept ball hogging?
The way Arsenal fans talk about Sanchez and now Mhikitaryan is quite funny.

 

[R'hllor]

I've got a feeling some of you will be back here to remind us about that, every game he plays.

"Fun fact", in his first start for Arsenal, Mkhi's already got the same amount of assists as Mata has for all season.

"Fun fact" has nothing to do with his performances in our shirt.

 

[Seveneric]

This thread will go the way of the Welbeck thread. Decent first few games, his cult and the talking heads start bashing Utd. Revert into his shell soon enough when Arsenal go into meltdown again, as they always do, then the same fanatics will disappear with a whimper and everyone move on.

Hope and pray with all your heart that this happens, because if it doesn't, unlike the fanatics who will just disappear, the people desperately hoping he fails to be proven wrong will probably be slitting their wrists. It's not even been 3 games and it's already getting to you lot.

 

[Dumbat12]

What happens if it’s a repeat of Swansea?

He’s the new Welbeck, will blow up regardless for a while.

C'mon, only handful of our fellow United fans deluded themselves into thinking Welbeck had the potential of Messi and we would regret selling him. Mkhi is actually a proven player who may actually fit in Arsenal's system. He was easily the Bundesliga's best player before we brought him and even though he didn't perform that well for us, he still had his superb moments. To compare him to Welbeck, a guy that did absolutely nothing to justify the praise of some United fans, and later Arsenal fans (when they brought him) is utterly insane.

 

[haram]

I've got a feeling some of you will be back here to remind us about that, every game he plays.

"Fun fact", in his first start for Arsenal, Mkhi's already got the same amount of assists as Mata has for all season.

Good thing Mata’s role in the team isn't just about direct assists. Lingard has replaced Mkhi and Mkhi could not do what Mata does for us on the right.

 

[Epicurean]

I think Mkhi will come good for Arsenal. A different culture, different manager with different ideas, different strikers in front of him.

Sanchez, albeit a good player, is also a very selfish one. We will see how either one of them works out.

At the end of the day Arsenal are 6th when Sanchez was in their team. Not because of Mkhi.

 

[FlawlessThaw]

C'mon, only handful of our fellow United fans deluded themselves into thinking Welbeck had the potential of Messi and we would regret selling him. Mkhi is actually a proven player who may actually fit in Arsenal's system. He was easily the Bundesliga's best player before we brought him and even though he didn't perform that well for us, he still had his superb moments. To compare him to Welbeck, a guy that did absolutely nothing to justify the praise of some United fans, and later Arsenal fans (when they brought him) is utterly insane.

I'm not going to get into the semantics of how good and proven a player Mkhitaryan is/was. The purpose of the comparion from myself though was the likely Caf reaction to the player's every performance for Arsenal. We had it with Welbeck, good or bad, we'll have it with Mkhitaryan as well.

 

[InfiniteBoredom]

Hope and pray with all your heart that this happens, because if it doesn't, unlike the fanatics who will just disappear, the people desperately hoping he fails to be proven wrong will probably be slitting their wrists. It's not even been 3 games and it's already getting to you lot.

I'm not the one sitting in here waiting for a perforamance to pounce and crow about how right I am. Nice try.

 

[haram]

I think Mkhi will come good for Arsenal. A different culture, different manager with different ideas, different strikers in front of him.

Sanchez, albeit a good player, is also a very selfish one. We will see how either one of them works out.

At the end of the day Arsenal are 6th when Sanchez was in their team. Not because of Mkhi.

They’re 6th because they cant defend.

 

[FlawlessThaw]

I think Mkhi will come good for Arsenal. A different culture, different manager with different ideas, different strikers in front of him.

Sanchez, albeit a good player, is also a very selfish one. We will see how either one of them works out.

At the end of the day Arsenal are 6th when Sanchez was in their team. Not because of Mkhi.

What's your point here? Are you saying United are 2nd because of Mkhi?

Also difference doesn't always = good. Certainly not with Wenger in recent years.

 

[Hugh Jass]

I think Mkhi will come good for Arsenal. A different culture, different manager with different ideas, different strikers in front of him.

Sanchez, albeit a good player, is also a very selfish one. We will see how either one of them works out.

At the end of the day Arsenal are 6th when Sanchez was in their team. Not because of Mkhi.

They are 6th because they cannot defend.

 

[Fahad Jawaid]

Not surprised by his performance yesterday. He is still a good player and he was occasionally very good for us. I remember him against spurs last season he had Rose on a roast all game and he scored aswell. Similarly his form during mid season was great.

But he is not a consistent player, he will be great for two games, then he will keep disappearing in the matches with poor passing and inconsistency will be fine at Arsenal since they are already bottlers and nobody expects them to perform well in tough matches. But like yesterday when the team will be playing well he will perform to a very high standard.

Lastly i am extremely happy with the swap, the performance of Sanchez yesterday puts into perspective Miki's career here. He was never as good as Sanchez was yesterday even on his best days. He was never unplayable. The grit, the physicality to ride challenges and going past two players in an instant is something Miki is never capable off.

 

[tinfish]

A lot of butt-hurt fans here it seems.

We can all agree that they are two different players and cannot really be compared.

Overall as a player Sanchez is the superior player. But as I stated before, he is an individualist. A selfish player but in a good way. His main asset is the ability to draw the opposition towards him freeing up the others within the team. He gets fouled a lot, so many dead ball opportunities are presented also. We saw this the other day when he claimed the penalty, you'll be seeing that a lot from him over the course of the season! The reason why he will work at United and be praised by many is those typical games you see where you guys look a little dull in attack. He can be and will be the catalyst to spark something which will lead to many goal scoring opportunities. This was especially useful to Arsenal, where he essentially produced moments of brilliance to secure some points for us or to further extend our lead to a comfortable non losing situation. However there will be many games where he frustrates, mainly due to the fact that his game changing techniques might not quite pull off.

However, he seems to be exactly the same kind of player he was at Arsenal. He wont adapt his playing style, so I highly doubt he will change or become a superior footballer over his time at United. You've got a ready made, PL adapted player. He will bark orders when the going gets tough and will often display his frustrations. Reading the match day thread I noticed many posts stating he was a class above the rest...I would say that's true. I think he is your top player at United (besides DDG) just as he was at Arsenal (although not this season). United are the bigger club, we all know that, but the truth is you are closer in quality to Arsenal than you are to Manchester City.

Furthermore I don't understand this BS argument about pressure. I would say that the pressure on Arsenal players is sky high. It may not be from the manager, who I admit takes it easier than most on his players..look at Cech STILL starting after that clanger... The fans have been restless for many seasons are not afraid to show their dismay when the going gets tough for Arsenal. For example Ozil has received plenty of flack from fans, opposition supporters and pundits for not turning up when the going gets tough. We don't see this kind of crucifixion on Pogba? We also have Arsenal Fan TV, a joke for many, which I admit, but the popularity of such channel and the fact that it often doesn't go ignored is another format of exerting pressure on players. You do realize AFTV has almost the same followers as Arsenal Official Youtube channel? lol...

Pressure is pressure, we are out of the champions league and it looks like we may be out this year too. Remember we have qualified for 20 years straight.
There is no difference in pressure for winning the league (which your team do not have as you wont win it this season) and competing for 4th or even getting a project done before the deadline at work. Arsenal fans arnt *****, we are spending a hell of a lot of money and expect to see a return.

-------
Now onto Mkhitaryan, as I stated in another thread. He is the perfect Arsenal player. Folding under pressure relates to our defensive liabilities more and not necessarily the attacking/midfielding play. It's the defensive liability which you can't blame much on a player such as Mkhitaryan. However yesterdays performance he was the best player on the pitch easily. Ramsey scored 3 but Mkhitaryans overall play was sensational. Assisitng, tackling and tracking back to help out when needed. again it's early days but IF he carries on this form which we all know he is capable of, then we have one hell of a player on our hands. Essentially a better fit than Sanchez for overall team play.

He reminds me a little like Pires. He isn't naturally a winger but wanted to get involved so much with the play he that he just shifted his qualities out wide. 3 assists is a brilliant start. Attacking wise i'm not worried, but we still look shaky at the back. Mhkitaryan did try to contribute by tracking back and getting involved in all round play... Which is what we have to do in order to negate our defensive issues - defending as a team.

Another bonus with Arsenal, is that the responsibility no longer seems to be pinned on 2 players - Ozil or Sanchez. Ozil is our main creative outlet, with Sanchez being our main attacking outlet. This is no longer the case with Mkhitaryan and Aubameyang coming into the fold. Our "two main men" seems to no longer be an issue, we have other quality players now to spread the load. An overall positive for us.

Again it remains to be seen how well we will do with the remainder of the season, but truth be told we are in a better position now than before. The dark clouds circling over the club, with Sanchez staying/leaving, with Ozil Staying/Leaving .. eventual replacements, if any money will be spent etc etc have gone for now. This is a huge lift for the club and should correlate with better performances. Arsenal have the quality on paper, we all know it. Now we need to prove it and get as close to the top 4 as possible.

Sorry for long post.

 

[SCP]

Mourinho has played a huge part here in why he failed, tactically he didn't fit and clearly he didn't know how to deal with him as a person.

Don't want to add more fuel to the fire if you know what I mean...

I still don't know what our team's identity is.

Probably he wants to play a football based in transitions, nothing wrong with that, the worrying trend is post Real Madrid the number of creative players who seem to struggle or accept his football concepts imho.

I thought his first season was OK, second season was woeful and his third season was excellent for Dortmund?

I didn't had the time to consult this, so I forgot to mention he had 3 seasons at Dortmund when he came from Donetsk, without checking all the numbers his first season under Klopp was good, the second season was the worst, but all team performance was, and third season under Tuchel was excelent.

Not saying it was a mistake for United, only just sometimes is too simple just to say he wasn't good because was lazy and all that, forgetting the colective context in the team, how the team is structured to play, league context and all that, I am a neutral on this one.

 

[L1nk]

Don't want to add more fuel to the fire if you know what I mean..

It's the truth though quite frankly, even if some people can't accept it, people have different opinions. There's a case for him failing under Klopp as well, so it's not like Mourinho is the only one in this case, only Tuchel and his system got the absolute best out of him, which was quite a high ceiling

 

[Hojoon]

Probably he wants to play a football based in transitions, nothing wrong with that, the worrying trend is post Real Madrid the number of creative players who seem to struggle or accept his football concepts imho.

Maybe, but we're not good at soaking pressure against good teams and we're not good at counter attacks. And it's not just creative players who have struggled so the cherry picking is weird.

 

[SCP]

There's a case for him failing under Klopp as well

Don't agree he failed under Klopp, didn't performed at the same level as it was under Tuchel to be more precise.

Maybe, but we're not good at soaking pressure against good teams and we're not good at counter attacks.

Even more strange if we remember the football played in transitions regarding the Real Madrid team with Ozil, Di Maria and Ronaldo.

Even the Chelsea team who won the title when he returned to England was better at that, even if post Spurs defeat at White Hart Lane he resorted to voodoo tactics, like that dreadfull performance vs PSG or Atletico, don't remember well.

Not to mention players like Cuadrado, Salah or De Bruyne who apparently were not good enough for him...

 

[Vidyoyo]

Ozil's actually taken on a lot of responsibility for the bad performances the last few years. Doesn't always act on it in a classy way (like walking off the field without clapping the away fans after a loss) but he has been vocal even a little of Wenger last year. He is not even close to an ideal captain but Ozil has done better than our actual captains in showing leadership the last two years ironically.

Yeah I have a lot of time for Ozil. Granted I don't watch a lot of Arsenal (so take what I say with a pinch of salt) but he comes across as a decent enough leader. My comment was more generally down to expectations. I get the feeling a lot of Arsenal players don't expect to up there challenging for the title so they can get away with bad performances - something United can't. Media pressure and all that.

Mourinho clearly had an issue with Mkhi and I reckon Wenger will be more lenient. Maybe that'll even help him as he seems inclined to play better when the pressure is off.

Edit: Not to imply there's no pressure at Arsenal. Just probably not as much as here.

 

[redIndianDevil]

Stop the insults, would you like it if i said stick to cricket or hockey cause you haven't a scooby doo what attractive football looks like on every second post? Plus they add nothing to the conversation. It's a forum, we're not supposed to agree on everything.

Many like myself don't think our football is attractive, even if it works to some extent. As I said, in football you don't have to play great attacking football for it to work, there's a reason Jose has been so successful despite his teams sometimes being a cure for insomnia. It's a Jacques Kallis or Rahul Dravid if you get what I mean. Where as we prefer a Tendulkar or a Lara!

Last season was a disaster, we did come 6th you know. 30 points are up for grabs this season against the other big sides around and given how we perform in such, its no surprise we're so far behind the league leaders. 300 million to park the bus against our main rivals? no thanks mate.

Whilst I agree with you that our football is not good on the eye. But the example you have chosen really pisses me off, Jacques Kallis and Rahul Dravid are the most technically accomplished batsmen I've ever seen, the things both have achieved in the toughest form of cricket is incomparable. Don't insult them by equating them to Mourinho's percentage football.

 

[redIndianDevil]

Again full of mistakes.

Last year Chelsea had a poor away record vs top 6. Yet they were comfortable league winners. You need to win against the other teams. We ended up 6th last season mainly because we drew against many dross teams.

Yesterday we didn’t find it difficult to open up. We had lots of chances in the first half. And even though it was 11 behind the ball. We had many shots (16 shots and 7 on target) and had many chances saved by last ditch blocks too.

Unfortunately for us we have a competitor who is blowing away the top 6 and the fodder teams so unless we do well against the top 6 we are never going to win the title.

 

[Di Maria's angel]

Yeah let's see when you play some teams away from home. Revisionism is awesome though.

Guy almost broke his back carrying Arsenal's shit arse for the last 3 years.

I swear Arsenal fans come off as deluded as Liverpool fans. All of sudden all is rosy, Sanchez was the reason Arsenal have been horse shit since 2004 and Wenger in. Watch when they lose to Tottenham, Wenger out brigade will be back until, of course, they smash another shit team 5-0 at home.

 

[ShadesOfTomato]

Thank you, that's a very good post. Much better than he's better than Pogba/Sanchez drivel we've seen from the Liverpool fan on here. It's laughable how @FCBarca(who's banned for wumming now) and @ShadesOfTomato have tried to wum here. Pathetic.

The last post was sarcastic in response to Ban.

The others weren't wumming in the slightest. But if you want to ban people for voicing an opinion...

 

[NotoriousISSY]

He's quite clearly more suited to an expansive attacking unit where he isn't bogged down by a specified role.

He just isn't good enough as an individual to justify the free role, which is seemingly what Sanchez will be given here.

 

[redIndianDevil]

Guy almost broke his back carrying Arsenal's shit arse for the last 3 years.

I swear Arsenal fans come off as deluded as Liverpool fans. All of sudden all is rosy, Sanchez was the reason Arsenal have been horse shit since 2004 and Wenger in. Watch when they lose to Tottenham, Wenger out brigade will be back until, of course, they smash another shit team 5-0 at home.

I don't understand why you get riled up so much. Sanchez has been fecking around with Arsenal fans for a while like his "being sick at home" video, I can understand why Arsenal fans don't want to credit him too much. It's normal for every football fans.

Whilst this has been the best deal for both the clubs involved, we have got a world class player for free and they have fixed a problem position in their squad for free(they had no decent right sided attacker as both Walcott and Chamberlain were utter dogshit the last couple of years).

 

[JustAFan]

Probably not the best place to ask, but did United fans here kept telling themselves that it was good getting rid of Ronaldo because he kept ball hogging?
The way Arsenal fans talk about Sanchez and now Mhikitaryan is quite funny.

No

 

[breakout67]

Guy almost broke his back carrying Arsenal's shit arse for the last 3 years.

I swear Arsenal fans come off as deluded as Liverpool fans. All of sudden all is rosy, Sanchez was the reason Arsenal have been horse shit since 2004 and Wenger in. Watch when they lose to Tottenham, Wenger out brigade will be back until, of course, they smash another shit team 5-0 at home.

Arsenal fans are extremely deluded when it comes to anything Man Utd, this is because United and Arsenal were massive rivals in the 90s and 20s.

A perfect example is DT from ArsenalFanTV, when it comes to discussing Arsenal he is very rational and calculated. When he starts discussing Man Utd he loses all sense. He said Sanchez moved for the money because 'why would he want to go to United?' and then when Ozil resigns for massive money he says Ozil loves Arsenal.

 

[Di Maria's angel]

I don't understand why you get riled up so much. Sanchez has been fecking around with Arsenal fans for a while like his "being sick at home" video, I can understand why Arsenal fans don't want to credit him too much. It's normal for every football fans.

Whilst this has been the best deal for both the clubs involved, we have got a world class player for free and they have fixed a problem position in their squad for free(they had no decent right sided attacker as both Walcott and Chamberlain were utter dogshit the last couple of years).

Riled up so much? I posted one comment on the subject. I guess its because I read some comments on BBC and Arsenal fans were spouting the same nonsense.

 

[Greck]

Tbh I think Arsenal have a great attacking system with principles that make the game easier for attackers, maybe better than ours (imo we don't really have a system).

The reason they don't win is the countless blind spots Wenger seems to have as a manager, including overlooking players mental fortitude and weighing finesse in defenders over actual defensive ability.

 

[SpyLuke10]

Worth pointing out that he now has more PL assists than Ozil, a player many on here wanted us to bring in this summer. Very similar deficiencies too.

I reckon English football culture places way too much importance on those deficiencies. Most #10s go missing in games when their team isn't playing well, misplace simple passes, break up attacks by overdoing it etc. It's the nature of their role.

I was sad to see him go. We've never had a #10 that was so dynamic before and if we'd found a way to really tap into that, we would've been playing beautiful football much more often.

We saw glimpses of it this season but once his form dropped off Mourinho was ruthless with him. I'd rather he took a different approach but Mkhitaryan himself takes a big share of the responsibility.

However Sanchez vs. Mkhitaryan is a no brainer. In the end I think both teams got a good deal.

Rubbish, Ozil is a much better player, Mkhitaryan stat padded 5 assists in his first 3 games, in which he was only actually any good in the opening game, went missing since, Ozil doesn't have to get assists to play well, his involvement in the play/build up is much better, also a bit of a scapegoat cos there have been some big games where he has played quite well but people have still said he went missing in bad losses for arsenal.

 

[Revaulx]

This thread will go the way of the Welbeck thread. Decent first few games, his cult and the talking heads start bashing Utd. Revert into his shell soon enough when Arsenal go into meltdown again, as they always do, then the same fanatics will disappear with a whimper and everyone move on.

Except they’ll crawl out of the woodwork on the rare occasion he does something vaguely decent following months of mediocrity, smugly pointing out how they were right all along

 

[kouroux]

I hope (there is zero chance) that caftards will show intelligence by talking about his performances without mentioning how Mourinho stiffled him. It's lazy and so wrong on so many levels.

 

[roonster09]

I hope (there is zero chance) that caftards will show intelligence by talking about his performances without mentioning how Mourinho stiffled him. It's lazy and so wrong on so many levels.

Too late.

 

[Bergkampesque]

Far too early to say how Mikki or Sanchez will work out IMO.

Sometimes great players don't work at one club, and do brilliantly at another. Look at Thierry Henry.... he looked like Bambi on ice at Juventus and was brilliant at Arsenal.

Ditto Denis Bergkamp. Brilliant at Ajax, fish out of water at Inter, and then brilliant at Arsenal.

There's a good chance both will do well. We'll know in a couple of months.

 

[FanBoyRed]

http://metro.co.uk/2018/02/05/henri...ed-perfect-arsenal-says-wayne-rooney-7289654/

‘I think he is [better suited to Arsenal],’ Rooney told Monday Night Football. ‘I saw it in training with him – he’s a very talented played. At United he didn’t get the freedom he really wanted to perform which he had at Dortmund. ‘It was a different style and at Arsenal he’ll have players round him. He’ll create goals, he’ll score goals and I think he’ll kick on.’

Rooney's thought on it.....

 

[Halftrack]

I didn't had the time to consult this, so I forgot to mention he had 3 seasons at Dortmund when he came from Donetsk, without checking all the numbers his first season under Klopp was good, the second season was the worst, but all team performance was, and third season under Tuchel was excelent.

Not saying it was a mistake for United, only just sometimes is too simple just to say he wasn't good because was lazy and all that, forgetting the colective context in the team, how the team is structured to play, league context and all that, I am a neutral on this one.

I think a lot of people who saw him in his first season at Dortmund will agree that there are many similarities to his time at United. Decent stats given his position, and looking at them alone, you'd think he was good overall. In reality, though, he was likely to disappear whenever the going got tough, and was generally considered to be a bit of a disappointment.

Time will tell whether his season under Tuchel was the real Mkhi, or if it was an outlier and he simply reverted to type at United.

 

[tinfish]

I think it's fair to say both players will perform for their clubs respectively. Sanchez, as he's proven in the past is more likely to be a bigger hit at United. That much is obvious.

However as an Arsenal fan, i'm giddy. We've had months of dark clouds circling over the club, apart from Wenger the Sunshine is starting to peep through the holes. Ask any Arsenal or neutral fan - Mkhitaryan's home debut for Arsenal was one of the best I've ever seen (at Arsenal). He was 10/10. Faultless, attack and in defence. A you're aware he is capable of such performances, if he can get some consistency or not remains to be seen - another point as he hasn't proven it like Sanchez has.

But the key fundamental differences of the players is that Sanchez is more of an individualist, if the team is playing crap he can produce that moment. Mkhitaryan seems to excel when the team is functioning properly. Again I think Arsenal is more suited to his play style as Rooney correctly pointed out.