Willian | Arsenal player

[TheMagicFoolBus]

Have to agree. Willian is one of those players where if you do not watch a lot of his games and only really catch highlights you probably think he is a really good or even world class player. If you did watch him a lot you think he is a ok to good player but one that is way overrated.

I watch a lot of Chelsea as my half of my close mates are Chelsea fans so we end up watching a lot of Utd and Chelsea together. From doing that, I agree with Chelsea fans in their assessment of Willian. Incredibly frustrating player.

Further, in these types of conversations you need to look for common denominators, after having him for 10 games Arsenal fans are saying what Chelsea fans were saying for years. Either both are on crack or Willian is the problem.

Exactly - if you go by highlights, he's absolutely world class. Problem is, he doesn't do that consistently and what's most frustrating is that it's purely down to the mental aspects of his game - if one were to look solely at ability, there wasn't a tremendous distance between Willian and Hazard. What separated Hazard was his willingness to be bold & take people on, as well as an uncanny ability to make the right pass or shot or dribble based on what was presented to him.

Personally I could not be happier to see the back of him - I'm very glad the Chelsea board had the foresight to circumvent any sort of awkwardness about who was first choice between him and Ziyech because on ability it's night and day.

 

[Footy van de Geek]

It's bizarre that I'm comparing his 14 assist season in 27 games to the best assist seasons by United players? The comparison is lost on you? Also Valencia played 27 games that season. He go injured remember. He missed both games against Spurs and one against Arsenal, Liverpool and City and one of the games against Chelsea was his first game after injuries off the bench. But you go ahead and dismiss 14 assists in one season in only 27 games. Only 16 players have done better in the entirity of the PL.
The Lukaku criticism is also not comparable. Lukaku never scored against Liverpool, City, Spurs or Arsenal and he had 1 goal against Chelsea. In his 2nd season with us he played in 45 games and scored in 10 of them. Last season he failed to score against Lazio and Juventus. Didn't score against Lazio either this season even though half their squad has the virus and even though he plays much better for Inter than United in general.

You were literally given context to discredit your overrating of Valencia and that season. You chose to ignore it. If you want to go back to his 09/10 season, it's a very similar pattern in the league.

So to summarise, you are a hypocrite who picks and chooses when stats matter to your argument. Lukaku had problems of his own, but is a big part of the reason why Ole is our manager. He scored against Real Madrid, Sevilla, Chelsea and PSG x2. He provided assists against Spurs x2, Chelsea, City and Arsenal x2.

 

[Dancfc]

 

[Snow]

You were literally given context to discredit your overrating of Valencia and that season. You chose to ignore it. If you want to go back to his 09/10 season, it's a very similar pattern in the league.

So to summarise, you are a hypocrite who picks and chooses when stats matter to your argument. Lukaku had problems of his own, but is a big part of the reason why Ole is our manager. He scored against Real Madrid, Sevilla, Chelsea and PSG x2. He provided assists against Spurs x2, Chelsea, City and Arsenal x2.

I'm overrating the United's player of the year for that season with the 16th highest assist record ever? And you call me a hypcrite for picking and choosing stats when that's exactly what you were doing?

Lukaku had problems of his own, but is a big part of the reason why Ole is our manager.

What are you trying to say here? Because he was bad is why Mourinho was sacked?

 

[Henrik Larsson]

I've watched Willian even when he had played in both Ukraine & Russia and he still failed to fully stamp his mark on either of those leagues as a player of his talent should've (yeah, I know that he had even won POTY once). It's really hard to say what exactly does he miss as he has a great technique and an even better mentality/workrate, but somehow those two components don't add together in the way that they usually do. A rare case where the whole is lesser than the sum of its parts, I guess.

This is a brilliant assesment of the guy. Fascinating enigma, how his obvious qualities and workrate somehow don't really combine into a true special player.

 

[Footy van de Geek]

I'm overrating the United's player of the year for that season with the 16th highest assist record ever? And you call me a hypcrite for picking and choosing stats when that's exactly what you were doing?


What are you trying to say here? Because he was bad is why Mourinho was sacked?

Yes, racking up 33% of the assists in 2 routs against 20th placed Wolves is quite the achievement. You provided no context. Glad to have helped enlighten you. You're fine with that when it comes to Valencia. Different story with Lukaku. Hence being a hypocrite.

Luke Shaw won United's PotY and PPotY only recently ffs. Tells you everything you need to know about standards post Ronaldo leaving. De Gea was practically hoovering up the award each season due to having no contenders until recently. You would never have seen a Shaw, Valencia or Chicharito pick up the award pre 2010.

I'm saying he's not as bad as you claim he is. His goals against PSG gave Ole that infamous win in Paris. He won us games against Palace, Southampton and Arsenal (FA Cup). These 3 wins all went towards Ole's good January and February form. The PSG game was what made Woodward shoot his load to early. So whether you rate him or not, he contributed in his 2nd season. He didn't down tools despite Ole benching him and even moving him to RW on occasion.

And that's me done on the matter of Valencia and Lukaku. This is a Willian thread.

 

[TheMagicFoolBus]

Yes, racking up 33% of the assists in 2 routs against 20th placed Wolves is quite the achievement. You provided no context. Glad to have helped enlighten you. You're fine with that when it comes to Valencia. Different story with Lukaku. Hence being a hypocrite.

Luke Shaw won United's PotY and PPotY only recently ffs. Tells you everything you need to know about standards post Ronaldo leaving. De Gea was practically hoovering up the award each season due to having no contenders until recently. You would never have seen a Shaw, Valencia or Chicharito pick up the award pre 2010.

I'm saying he's not as bad as you claim he is. His goals against PSG gave Ole that infamous win in Paris. He won us games against Palace, Southampton and Arsenal (FA Cup). These 3 wins all went towards Ole's good January and February form. The PSG game was what made Woodward shoot his load to early. So whether you rate him or not, he contributed in his 2nd season. He didn't down tools despite Ole benching him and even moving him to RW on occasion.

And that's me done on the matter of Valencia and Lukaku. This is a Willian thread.

Dude, just take the L. You're having an absolute mare in this thread.

 

[Footy van de Geek]

Dude, just take the L. You're having an absolute mare in this thread.

You've been on my ignore list since your 1st reply.

I have exposed Valencia. And I'm not the only United fan to have said they prefer Willian. You would expect a bias towards Valencia on a United forum. Lots of red tinted glasses.

Life is to short to be dealing with such ignorance. Had to block you. Reply if you want. This is my last interaction with you.

 

[Dancfc]

You've been on my ignore list since your 1st reply.

Clearly not.

 

[TheMagicFoolBus]

You've been on my ignore list since your 1st reply.

I have exposed Valencia. And I'm not the only United fan to have said they prefer Willian. You would expect a bias towards Valencia on a United forum. Lots of red tinted glasses.

Life is to short to be dealing with such ignorance. Had to block you. Reply if you want. This is my last interaction with you.

The only thing you've exposed in this thread is your own idiocy. My word. Imagine boasting about your huge achievement of "exposing" your former captain (who incidentally was a far better servant to your club than Willian was to ours).

Enjoy holding that L and good luck getting out of the newbies

 

[Snow]

Yes, racking up 33% of the assists in 2 routs against 20th placed Wolves is quite the achievement. You provided no context. Glad to have helped enlighten you. You're fine with that when it comes to Valencia. Different story with Lukaku. Hence being a hypocrite.

Luke Shaw won United's PotY and PPotY only recently ffs. Tells you everything you need to know about standards post Ronaldo leaving.

Even if you discount the Wolves assist he still managed a good number of assists and that includes assists against the biggest clubs. He just didn't have a chance to get more assists against the bigger clubs because he missed most of those games. Still the best player that season which we won and you compare it to Luke Shaw who was one of like 3 okay performers in one of the worst PL seasons for United.

Lukaku who failed to score in the league against a top 6 opponent each season. Lukaku was average with us. His first season was fine, he was awful in the second season. You can pick a few games all you want but he was a striker that didn't score 78% of the games that season and assisted only twice and then gave up and left after blaming the club for what the media was writing about him. He didn't have it in him to be a United player.

I don't believe you're a United fan. Half your posts since joining are anti-Ole and the rest are mostly something positive about something related to Arsenal. You also don't know what hypocrite means. I'm going to show you what ignore really means so maybe you can get a hang of it.

 

[Pagh Wraith]

I thought Chelsea offering him two years was mental but then Arsenal went ahead and gave him three.

 

[Samid]

Awful signing. He's there just to pick up the wages.

 

[mu4c_20le]

Karma for Sanchez

 

[Amarsdd]

Surely, he has something in his contract in terms of regular playtime? No way, even Arteta is unable to see how Willian has been absolute shit.

 

[Adisa]

Disgraceful decision.

 

[Brophs]

More like Will I Ain’t, amirite?

 

[WeePat]

He's worse now than he ever was at Chelsea. He looks like he doesnt give a feck anymore.

 

[GifLord]

 

[Dancfc]

He's worse now than he ever was at Chelsea. He looks like he doesnt give a feck anymore.

He's for all intents and purposes done a "gone to China" but people don't want to admit it.

 

[TheMagicFoolBus]

Despite our injury issues on the wings at the moment it's unequivocal that we made the right decision on Willian, especially as he wanted a 3 year deal. That said, I thought he'd at least be playable this year; seems not though as he's been abominable.

 

[Sigma]

Not one Arsenal player is doing well, not just Willian. I think its more likely there is a problem in the system than with all the players.

 

[Isotope]

More like Will I Ain’t, amirite?

I'm guilty that I wanted him at United also. I thought he could be our Mandzukic or Dirk Kuyt of RW. Not prolific at all, but would make the team better.

 

[WeePat]

He's for all intents and purposes done a "gone to China" but people don't want to admit it.

Sweet deal for him. He gets to stay in London and look after his businesses while collecting a humongous pay cheque from his side hustle for the next 3 years.

 

[ClaytonBlackmoorLeftPeg]

What does he actually ‘do’? He has no productivity at all.

 

[Robbie Boy]

Bizarre signing.

 

[roonster09]

People here moaned about not signing him and when he made couple of assists in first game, Mou fans used that to shit on our players saying how Mou was always right.

 

[el3mel]

When will they drop him? It is a terrible business that they have to pay him a lot of wages but he's fecking their attack more than helping it.

Why did they even decided to become the retirement place for Chelsea washed out players? Instead of taking such route why didn't they spend these terrible years investing in some youngsters for the future? What's the purpose of buying a past it winger that wasn't even that productive in his prime and was mostly a functional player in Chelsea, when you are playing mostly defensive football and wants flair and individual qualities up top to create something out of thin air?

This is really a clusterfeck of a business done by Arsenal.

 

[Van Piorsing]

I seriously thought he'll be a decent squad option, maybe even help them have a go in Europa League while he'll be okay to play on that level... and now he's looking more like Stuart Downing only with less effort.

What a great piece of business by Willian.

 

[flappyjay]

What does he actually ‘do’? He has no productivity at all.

He is the winger version of Firmino. He suppose to help with link up play and is a hard worker

 

[kouroux]

I thought yesterday was far from his worst this season.

 

[duffer]

100% nailled on that he'll score next weekend against Chelsea.

 

[UpWithRivers]

He is the Lingard equivalent. Works hard and has the ability but produces very little. Few games here and there looks like a top player, maybe scores a blinding goal but has 0 consistency. You can see why people still have hope they will come good because it just makes no sense but the fact is that they are just missing something.

 

[Adisa]

Some posters here wanted us to sign him.
He's in retirement.

 

[awop]

Do an Özil on him, terminate his contract, pay it all and don't let him wear the shirt ever again. Disgrace of a player.
When Chelsea with unlimited funds hesitate on giving him a third year, that should give you a clue...

 

[jakko]

He's only there because he wanted to stay in London and nobody else would offer him a three year deal, and its showing. He doesn't care.

 

[Rooney in Paris]

Not really. We have with Saka, Nelson and Martinelli three very young wingers/ offensive options.
Pepe just had his first PL season and did it okay so far.

We lacked creating chances last season. Willian had created the 6th most chances in the league last season and with Auba as a striker, it could be a good combo.

His wage is completely fine. We freed up a lot of wage in the last seasons and have a very young squad. So some offensive PL experience is quite important for us. But still we need another central offensive midfielder for next season.

Still feel the same way?

 

[jus2nang]

Not one Arsenal player is doing well, not just Willian. I think its more likely there is a problem in the system than with all the players.

Smith-Rowe and Saka have both been miles better.

Willian has been the most impotent of all of our players. We're lucky if he passes the ball forwards twice in a match.

He's awful. Yes the entire team has underwhelmed but he more than anyone needs to be as far away from the team as possible.

 

[WeePat]

First goal of the season.

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[FrankDrebin]

Bargain.