As Cesc has departed, and Nasri seems on his way our squads creativity seems to be losing more power and depth. We have to sign a replacement, no matter what Arsene says about the players at the club currently.
I have identified 5 players who may be asked to take up this role, but simply can't as they lack the craft and vision of Fabregas.
Van Persie - The closest player we have to Fabregas now is our new captain Van Persie. He is probably our only world class player left and as well as his super, pin point finishing he can pick a pass and create many chances for team mates. If we did change our formation, he could drop slightly deeper into a Cesc or even Bergkamp role, but we don't have any strikers at the club to takeover his position.
Chamakh is lightweight and Bendtner is on his way, and moving Van Persie backwards (even if it is to his favoured position) may mean we miss out on his goals which have become so vital to us lately.
Ramsey - Aaron Ramsey was identified by Cesc as he was introduced to the Catalan public as his replacement, and he has all the qualities to make the position his own. However, judging by his performances in the opening two games he doesn't seem ready to carry this most important of roles on his shoulders.
His creativity will not provide to 3 or 4 chances each match the Fabregas would, and throwing him in at the deep end could mean he loses confidence after a few sub-par performances. He will end up being Cesc's heir, but we need another reinforcement for a few years.
Arshavin - The Russian has taken up a similar role to the one which Fabregas had enjoyed when playing for his national team, but to have him playing there would be too much of a luxury. His powers also seem to be on the wane as he gets older and his assists and creativity from out wide has been precious to us and is something we don't want to lose.
Rosicky - Rosicky is not good enough to play for Arsenal any more. That may be slightly harsh, and is not something I want to say about someone who used to be my favourite player, but it is true. His ball retention is awful, especially for a man with so much experience, and his creativity is almost non-existent. This season, he has started like a Denilson with only backwards and sideways passes or simply giving the ball back to the opposition.
He may be carrying slight injury problems, but that shows how unreliable he is with his injury record. He may be useful as a squad play, but the fact that he's started our first two matches highlights the fact we need reinforcements, and as soon as possible.
Diaby - Diaby probably could play the "Cesc role" and he probably would be one of the best players in the world too. But he is far too inconsistent and injury prone and as for his effort and work rate, that's about as visible as a trophy in our trophy cabinet.
Abou is fast energetic and when on form his power destroys even the best defences but it will almost always be a what might have been regarding how talented he could be. Any good performance we get from Diaby would be a plus for our season at the moment and his reliability to play the whole season - or lack of it - shows how we need reinforcements to our shaky midfield.
I would have included Wilshere, but he has cemented his position in the box to box role and his performances in that position last season against Sunderland especially were quite unimpressive.
Overall, I'm not trying to have a go at our players, but merely showing just how much we need players. For the Liverpool game we only have 2 fit mid-fielders at the moment. One of them has only played 25 minutes of competitive football in his career. Lansbury might be on his way to Blackburn, and Nasri's transfer may be delayed just so he can fill in for us.
We need players and we need them soon. You can see my review of some Fabregas replacements here: http://iamgoonerblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/who-can-replace-cesc.html
No comments:
Post a Comment