Alexis Sanchez & Arsenal: A match made in delusional heaven

Whether this Goal article has even an ounce of truth to it, it is still amusing.  In it, apparently Alexis Sanchez claims he chose Arsenal because 'With [Mesut] Ozil in the squad Arsenal were [close] to winning the league title. I hope I can make a contribution so we can win as many titles as possible.' Now that's comedy at it's finest.  He must not be aware that the Gooners finished fourth last season.

He also says about Wenger, 'I was told that he is a manager you can learn a lot with. He wants to achieve great things in football and that helped me make the decision to sign for Arsenal.' Wenger was great, 10 or so years ago, but he's well past it now.  Just ask Bendtner or Chamakh how great a teacher he is.

The sad thing is, Arsenal supporters think he will actually be able to improve their club.  If he's so great why did Barcelona want to off-load him? Do you think it may be because he was part of their epic down slide last season when they won not a single trophy for the first time in six seasons? In fact, in the three seasons he was with Barca, they won a total of six honours.  For most clubs, that would be impressive, but Barca averaged a full trophy more the three seasons before including winning two Champions Leagues and La Liga every season.  They won no Cl and only one La Liga title with Sanchez.

I guess that makes them a perfect fit.  On one hand you have a club that won it's first major trophy in nine years last season, almost finished third in the league, and have Mesut Ozil, and on the other you have a player who is okay with his team not performing up to par of their previous seasons' title and cup-winning standards.  If all goes as plans, the Gunners will finish fifth and make the League Cup final.

The age-old debate: Coutinho vs Ozil

Ever since Michael Owen trolled Arsenal fans by claiming Coutinho is superior to Ozil, an endless debate has spawned.  One thing before we look at their complete stats from last season.  They usually don't play the same position, but when Coutinho plays central midfield, Ozil's primary position, the Brazilian has the higher production.  I'll explain more after the stats.

	Coutinho	Ozil
age	22	25
app (sub)	28(5)	25(1)
mins	2323	2139
goals	5	5
assists	7	9
chances	64	76
npg90	0.19	0.21
gcp90	0.47	0.59
ccp90	2.5	3.2
ap90	0.27	0.38
ccv	10.8	11.9
pass %	80.6	88
bp %	36.7	41.5
sacc %	28.7	60
shot %	7	16.7
TTI90	11	12.4

As you can see, Ozil edges out in most every stat, but he should.  He's older, more experienced and usually plays the same position, central attacking midfielder.  Which takes us back to my aforementioned point.

Coutinho played 16 matches at central midfield and in those matches he scored 3 goals and served up 7 assists.  At that rate, had he played all his matches at that spot, he would have probably had more impressive stats than his Arsenal counterpart.

It's all speculation in the end, but to be honest, if Coutinho puts up the same numbers as Ozil in three years, I will be slightly disappointed.  He's nearly at that level now and he's potentially much better.  Rodgers wouldn't trade the Brazilian for the German and neither would I.