Arteta, Cazorla and Wilshere

[markyp]

I may get totally shot down in flames here and i know jack didnt play against villa but i cant help thinking that the midfield trio of A,C +W are simply to light weight together to make a massive impact.they all lack size especially Jack and defo Santi,i know they more than make it up with their silky skills but where is the power coming from??you need some midfield muscle in the premier league more than ever these days.the Viera/pettit combo would have run rings around the current trio simply by having to much power.This brings me back to the Diaby debate(yawn).nigel winterburn himmself even said the other night in the champs league game that Wenker had fielded our strongest side with the exception of Diaby missing,if Winterburn thinks that we need Diaby then its hard to argue against him isnt it,afterall id assume Winterburn knows a bit about football?thoughts please gents

[I Hate Hleb]

And if Winterburn (and thus Wenger) thinks Diaby is the answer to our weakness in the DM position, then we really are in more trouble than even the most pessimistic among us thought!!

[Yankee_Gooner_Dandee]

they are light but its fine because they can pass around other midfields. barcelona's midfield is lightweight and they do just fine (100x better than we do). when those 3 start, and /or rosicky for cazorla I think our midfield is fine. its when ramsey or coq are playing that we struggle.

[QuartzGooner]

I am not against having a tough guy in midfield, but I think Arteta, Wilshere and Cazorla are fine, because both Arteta and Wilshere can tackle well and "punch above their weight", and Cazorla is strong for his size, able to retain the ball and hold off much larger players.

I also rate Coquelin as a physical player and good tackler, though his one emerging weakness is a tendency to give the ball away.

I also rate Yennaris deep midfield, a lightweight but a good tackler.

Flamini was a good physical midfielder but about 5 foot 9, I think it is attitude and tackling ability that counts for more than size alone.

[brazilianGOONER]

i like our midfield trio but just like in every season for the last 6 years or so what we lack is quality replacement in case of injuries/fatigue/poor form/suspension etc. diaby and rosicky are not fit enough, i'm not sure what ramsey brings to the team, and the other options like coquelin and yennaris are not the kind of players you expect to help us win away matches in the premier league.

i think our problems with creativity and scoring goals in matches like today are also a reflection of our lack of quality up front: if podolski is not on his day and with walcott injured, i don't think we have the players who can continuously create chances from the wings. not to mention that giroud is the only decent central striker in the team.

[Vinny1967]

When Arteta does not play well, we don't seem to play well.
Manure put Rooney on him and it worked. Not sure he has the nous to deal with it to be honest.
Our midfield on paper is as good as anyone's in the PL but since Chelsea we just have not clicked.
Agree with others assessment of the Villa game. Too many times the ball was played out, mostly from Mert, and our mid had their backs to the ball and just passed it back. Not sure if its a confidence issue but our midfield was scintillating against Pool, Citeh & Southampton and seemd to be growing together. We have gone backwards in this department.
On a side not I thought Ramsey was our best player outside the back 5 yesterday.
If everyone was injury free would like to see Diaby, JW with Caz in front of them.

[northbank123]

It was just one of those insipid performances where nobody looked like they could beat a man and create a yard of space. We were woeful against Spurs until Wilshere skinned two men with his back to them with one amazing touch, and by creating that space lifted the crowd and rest of the team. His strongest trait is his ability to create a yard of space on the ball, and that's what's really impressed me about Eisfeld too.

I'm not keen on throwing kids in to do the business at the deep end but fucking hell we've been doing it for years and surely Eisfeld (even off the bench) would be a preferable option to Ramsey for 90 minutes and at least give us some spark and help create space for himself and others to play in?

[Vinny1967]

Agree about Eisfeld NB.
He has impressed me every time I have seen him and would love to see him on the bench. Looks like a player who can change a game and he has an eye for goal.

[northbank123]

Agree about Eisfeld NB.
He has impressed me every time I have seen him and would love to see him on the bench. Looks like a player who can change a game and he has an eye for goal.

As I said I don't want to rely on kids but we've been doing it for years and even this season brought on Gnabry against Norwich and Schalke to turn things round, so why not give Eisfeld a shout. Could hardly have done much worse than the rest of the team was playing!

[LDB]

We need Diaby back in the sense that it will keep Ramsey out of the team.

[richpye]

Not worried about the lack of physical size to be honest, if Podolski and Giroud track back when out of possession we should have more than enough to thwart the majority of attacks.

Also have to think that we shouldn't be playing with a midfield 3 with our current players/squad and a midfield 4 would give us a bit more anyway.

[SteveO 35]

I think this thread should be renamed "Why we need Abou back"



Unbeaten in all competitions with Abou in the side including three of the toughest away games at Stoke, Liverpool and Man City

Since the great man limped off after his piledriver against Chelsea trying to drive the team forward as usual its been

Played 13 Won 6 Drawn 3 Lost 4 and with 2 of those wins being Reading in Capital One and QPR at home

Its obvious to me where the problem is

[I Hate Hleb]

We need Diaby back in the sense that it will keep Ramsey out of the team.

Maybe but only until Abou attempts a tackle or a shot!!

[MegaGooner]

I don't think that we need a DM as bad as everybody else thinks. I feel that with this trio, we keep the ball well enough. If you have the ball, you don't need to defend.... I think our defence is more of the problem, trying to "play it out from the back" and losing the ball. .....ffs, just boot it away.

[gavbacon]

I think we've missed Gibbs more than we realise. Without.Gibbs we've had Santos... which meant Podolski has been dragged out of position the midfield becoming skewed and Giroud not getting the service he needs.

Basically, its all Santos' fault.