After a 2-0 loss to Napoli which could have ended much worse and a 6-3 mauling at the hands of Manchester City, Arsenal suddenly don’t look as strong as they did two weeks ago.
Tomas Rosicky is Arsenal’s best option in centre-midfield, and although he is getting older, he still has more class and talent that Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey. Having led many Arsenal comebacks in the past, and also being the main protagonist in the Gunners’ late season push for 4th place, he is the main reason why Arsenal are playing Champions League football this season. If he is the one they turn to when they are down, why not play him when they are winning?
This season has seen Arsenal play 4-3-3 more often than any other formation, and it works most of the time, but the more physical Premier League requires two holding midfielders, and also against larger European clubs playing a holding midfield partnership reaps greater rewards. They were pulled apart by Manchester City, as Ramsey and Wilshere were dragged out of position by Jesus Navas and David Silva, which let Fernandinho and Yaya Toure run riot down the middle. If Ramsey and Flamini had been there to protect the defence, the scoreline would have been less humiliating. With Arsenal also set to meet one of Europe’s most intimidating teams in the last 16 of the Champions League, they must perfect the 4-2-3-1 formation.
Lukasz Fabianski, Carl Jenkinson, Emmanuel Frimpong, Ryo Miyaichi and Chu-Young Park. Seemingly every season that goes past sees Arsenal add to their list of players who are seemingly there for no reason. Other than the aforementioned names, there are also arguable mentions of Jack Wilshere, Mikel Arteta and Abou Diaby, who also fail to convince most weeks, while Diaby may be one of the most talented players on the Arsenal squad, his injury problems have seen him make only 123 appearances in almost 8 years. If they sold all of their useless players, they could make £15-£20m, which could go towards a new striker and a couple of new wingers to add depth to the worryingly shallow Arsenal attack.
Poland international Wojciech Szczesny has had his best season so far at Arsenal, and he has been to thank for quite a few Arsenal points in the Premier League, but the only argument against him, is that sitting on the bench is a superior goalkeeper in the form of former Fiorentina man Emiliano Viviano. It seemed like an ingenious move when Arsene Wenger picked him up on loan from relegated Palermo after he had a hugely impressive season on loan at Fiorentina, but what was the point if he wasn’t going to play him? Starting to seem like a waste of a good player.
It may seem like it’s something I go on and on about a little too much, but Nacho Monreal is one of the best defenders in the Premier League and is a current Spain international, while Kieran Gibbs is nothing but a liability. Monreal is a typical Spanish defender. He loves to get forward and is very good at keeping possession, while his distribution is also brilliant. Gibbs is not that good at anything and should be dropped, or even better, sold.
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