Sambi Lokonga: Sam Be the Man in Midfield?

[Maybe]

If Arteta drops Sambi for Xhaka he should be canned. He played a couple of loose balls, but he is a midfielder that needs to keep getting time and learning tons of potential

Xhaka will be here in time Partey leaves for AFCON, Lokonga was lucky in a way how things played out. Lokonga fully deserves a starting position

 

[Farzad Stoned]

I agree buddy he lost the plot a couple of times but did what Xhaka not capable of which just use his pace to recover without reckless fouls.

 

[blaze_of_glory]

Been outstanding these past couple of games, really improved from the start of the season!

 

[REWB]

I agree buddy he lost the plot a couple of times but did what Xhaka not capable of which just use his pace to recover without reckless fouls.

Last time Xhaka played against Leicester we completely bossed the game from start to finish with 56% possession compared with today's 35%. That Partey - Lokonga midfield got completely bossed today. Lokonga was missing for most of the game; hiding in certain parts which xhaka doesnt do. Lokonga is talented and will get better but stop overrating him just because he has a bit of pace and technique...

 

[RunTheTrap]

Last time Xhaka played against Leicester we completely bossed the game from start to finish with 56% possession compared with today's 35%. That Partey - Lokonga midfield got completely bossed today. Lokonga was missing for most of the game; hiding in certain parts which xhaka doesnt do. Lokonga is talented and will get better but stop overrating him just because he has a bit of pace and technique...

You also conveniently left out the part when Xhaka got pressed which let Leicester score. This Leicester team is better than last season's one.

 

[Farzad Stoned]

Last time Xhaka played against Leicester we completely bossed the game from start to finish with 56% possession compared with today's 35%. That Partey - Lokonga midfield got completely bossed today. Lokonga was missing for most of the game; hiding in certain parts which xhaka doesnt do. Lokonga is talented and will get better but stop overrating him just because he has a bit of pace and technique...

Sorry man I just don’t rate Xhaka and never have. He doesn’t like to be pressured, he loses the ball, then can’t recover because he is slow. You don’t want him to recover because Xhaka recovering usually involves red. For a player who has this many deficiencies he doesn’t rack up goals and or assists or even key passes to make exceptions for his difficulties under pressure, his tendency for red cards, or his lack of pace. A player that goes to ground too much is a liability in the modern game and it also shows lack of recovering pace and poor positional sense to be in that position in the first place.

 

[RunTheTrap]

Last time Xhaka played against Leicester we completely bossed the game from start to finish with 56% possession compared with today's 35%. That Partey - Lokonga midfield got completely bossed today. Lokonga was missing for most of the game; hiding in certain parts which xhaka doesnt do. Lokonga is talented and will get better but stop overrating him just because he has a bit of pace and technique...

And btw what you said is mostly true, but the issue with this team runs deeper than Lokonga vs Xhaka. We cannot show the same intensity for 90 minutes. Luckily we already scored 2 before the first half so us sitting back suited us. However, we need to improve our overall fitness and build up play. When Leicester became more proactive with their press, we abandoned our build up play a bit. Leicester last season barely pressed us cos they were knackered from their mid table Europa game.

 

[REWB]

You also conveniently left out the part when Xhaka got pressed which let Leicester score. This Leicester team is better than last season's one.

But what about his influence on the game as a whole? Players as brave as Xhaka tend to get pressed a lot because they want the ball more than most and dont hide when the going gets tough, thats why we bossed that game.

Hardly any difference between Leicester this season to last.

 

[Farzad Stoned]

And btw what you said is mostly true, but the issue with this team runs deeper than Lokonga vs Xhaka. We cannot show the same intensity for 90 minutes. Luckily we already scored 2 before the first half so us sitting back suited us. However, we need to improve our overall fitness and build up play. When Leicester became more proactive with their press, we abandoned our build up play a bit. Leicester last season barely pressed us cos they were knackered from their mid table Europa game.

Yeah the kid is young like I said he made some mistakes but he also was slick on the ball and tracked back well. I agree with your criticism except I think we controlled the game after the 75th minute mark, you don’t mention while we coukd of easily shipped a goal or two to Leicester we could of easily scored a third as well with the Auba chance. Young team I am not putting all my eggs on Sambi there are a lot of quality young guys on the squad and of course you got to be cool headed. But remember they are youngest squad in division so there is source for optimism

 

[Melquiades]

I liked Sambi against Villa and thought it was by far his best game.

Did not think he was nearly as good tonight - far too many turnovers and loose passes, was probably the most guilty culprit in helping Leicester turn the momentum of the game.

To his credit he is working hard out there.

 

[DasBootist]

was probably the most guilty culprit in helping Leicester turn the momentum of the game.

From 2-0 to 2-0?

Excellent analysis.

 

[Barry]

I think Lokonga is doing well but some of the praise is going a bit overboard and he's benefitting from the new player bias in people's eyes. Partey was the central presence in our midfield today as you'd expect - thought he had a magnificent performance. Pleased that Lokonga is getting game-time whilst Xhaka is out. He still has a lot of learning to do and hopefully his form will give Arteta a dilemma in the new year.

 

[Melquiades]

From 2-0 to 2-0?

Excellent analysis.

Seriously?

We carried the play for the first 25-30 minutes.

Then we lost our direction, got sloppy and started making lots of loose passes, and they turned that possession into momentum. The fact that they didn't score didn't mean they didn't have momentum.

 

[MutableEarth]

Thought he was OK today. Some really good moments but his reluctance to engage more often than not leads to his performances fluctuating in-game - between dominant; composed to subdued; unsure. While I was quite happy with Arteta's subs, I think AMN would have been a good person to replace him for 20 mins or so. That said, I thought he did well to regain composure in the back-end of the game.

 

[Farzad Stoned]

I think Lokonga is doing well but some of the praise is going a bit overboard and he's benefitting from the new player bias in people's eyes. Partey was the central presence in our midfield today as you'd expect - thought he had a magnificent performance. Pleased that Lokonga is getting game-time whilst Xhaka is out. He still has a lot of learning to do and hopefully his form will give Arteta a dilemma in the new year.

Maybe that is part of it but it isn't just bias for a new young player. He is objectively faster and better at running with the ball than Xhaka, just like Xhaka has better left foot; I have no doubt he would lose a foot race under 80 yards to Sambi. As for running with the ball passed someone, Xhaka couldn't dribble by my granny in a tight space even if she was hung over.

 

[RunTheTrap]

I liked Sambi against Villa and thought it was by far his best game.

Did not think he was nearly as good tonight - far too many turnovers and loose passes, was probably the most guilty culprit in helping Leicester turn the momentum of the game.

To his credit he is working hard out there.

Lokonga got a 90% pass completion today. Are you sure he was giving away the ball or are you being harsh cos Xhaka’s not on?

 

[North5]

He's doing fairly well. He'll only improve with game time and whatever gives us a shot to finally move on from Xhaka I'm all for

 

[tap-in]

I think Lokonga is doing well but some of the praise is going a bit overboard and he's benefitting from the new player bias in people's eyes. Partey was the central presence in our midfield today as you'd expect - thought he had a magnificent performance. Pleased that Lokonga is getting game-time whilst Xhaka is out. He still has a lot of learning to do and hopefully his form will give Arteta a dilemma in the new year.

I agree re Partey had a great game. I said earlier in the thread that I felt Partey had improved with Sambi beside him. I don't mean he's learning from Sambi just that maybe its a better pairing I wondered if anyone else thought the same?

 

[Barry]

I agree re Partey had a great game. I said earlier in the thread that I felt Partey had improved with Sambi beside him. I don't mean he's learning from Sambi just that maybe its a better pairing I wondered if anyone else thought the same?

I'm not sure yet to be honest. I thought Xhaka / Partey were growing as a pair as well. I think on form Partey is good enough to elevate whatever partner he has. I like Sambi though - he looks to have a bit of everything about his game whereas Xhaka has a few weaknesses. I think he's not quite there physically though yet. Needs a few pounds of muscle a bit more experience defending at this level.

 

[Mrs Bergkamp]

I agree re Partey had a great game. I said earlier in the thread that I felt Partey had improved with Sambi beside him. I don't mean he's learning from Sambi just that maybe its a better pairing I wondered if anyone else thought the same?

I agree. The main thing imo is a simple thing-Partey has less ground to cover. Sambi seemed to do more roaming across the pitch which allowed Partey to patrol in front of the defence and go b2b when he wanted to. Both are fairly complete albeit Sambi lacks experience and that just works better. It's a bit like Petit and Vieira and Vieira and Gilberto Silva lite.