Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is one of those players who always appeared to be on the cusp of greatness but never quite got there.
Injuries early in his career at Arsenal hampered his progress and now it seems as if he’s stuck in a limbo, which he’s trying so hard to break out of but in doing so, keeps making mistakes.
He reminds me a lot of Aaron Ramsey after he returned from his horrific leg break. The forward keeps over-complicating things and it makes him, at times, seem inept. Of course, we all know that he isn’t but being over-eager is stopping him from being as good as he could be.
After the 3-1 win over Sunderland in the FA Cup, Wenger defended the 22-year-old by highlighting his second half performance, which was better than his first.
“He came on stronger as the game went on and in the second half he was strong,” he said.
“I must say he was stronger in the second half.”
I feel for the Ox. Watching him repeatedly mess up what should be simple is getting frustrating to watch so I can only imagine how he feels.