Why This Spanish Maestro Is Important To Arsenal?

They say football is a team game and it can’t be won if a team isn’t adapting to a collective approach while playing. Everyone has to contribute with his bit if a team has to succeed and win games on the trot. Teams which are ridiculously nothing more than a one man army won’t prevail for too long. A time will come when they fall and that one savior of theirs falls with them.

13 times Premier League Champions Arsenal are close to being called a one man army right now. With Chilean Alexis Sanchez firing on all cylinders, Arsenal have climbed up to the second spot in the league, behind Manchester City and ahead of Manchester United. But a point worth talking is that Arsene Wenger’s men can’t actually be referred to as a ‘one man army’. Mesut Ozil has returned to his top form and is chipping in with his contributions. Theo Walcott is performing efficiently well up top too. But there’s a man whose performances have so far gone rather unnoticed. And he goes by the name of Santiago Cazorla.

The 30-year-old Spaniard was deployed as a winger or as an attacking midfielder till last season when Arsenal finished 3rd in the league. This season, his deployment as a deep-lying midfield player did raise some questions, but he has answered his and the critics of Arsene Wenger’s decision strongly.

30 is an age when a players’ career is increasingly on the essence. Peak times are well behind them and the pangs of age start to take over them. Similarly, Cazorla has lost at least a yard of pace and he isn’t quick enough to feature as a winger, who is supposed to be nippy and must have a burst of pace. Arsene Wenger, himself revealed that he was taking a gamble by playing Cazorla deep in the midfield, looking at the amount of physicality that dangerously lurks in the Premier League, but he has proved his decision to be a ‘gamble worth taking’.

The deeper midfield position is a one which requires a player to have a good amount of vision, passing accuracy and ability to dictate play from the midfield. And Cazorla has those traits too, not just now, but during his stint at Malaga too. Alongside young Francis Coquelin, whose tackling suggests him to be a battering ram but his passing isn’t too convincing, Cazorla has played the role of creating chances and allowing Coquelin to do his job excellently well, unlike Cesc Fabregas, whose unwillingness to drop deep has led to Nemanja Matic’s dip in form. But Cazorla has been 8 out of 10 in almost every single Premier League game so far.

This season, Cazorla has created a total of 28 chances, second only to Mesut Ozil, who has created just 3 more. He has a passing percentage of 91%, which is the joint highest at Arsenal. Despite being played deep in the midfield, Cazorla has completed an average of 2.38 dribbles per game, which is impressive enough for any manager to start him in that position, blindfolded.

And despite his diminutive frame, Cazorla has won 2.25 tackles and has made 18 interceptions too, which brings to the fore the amount of defensive discipline he has brought to his game. In terms of interceptions, he stands at the second spot, just 1 interception behind young compatriot Hector Bellerin and exceeds those of Francis Coquelin, who has made 15 interceptions.

In fact, comparing him to Cesc Fabregas would be a straight out embarrassment for the Chelsea man, considering he’s created just 13 chances from a similar position as Cazorla. But drawing Cazorla’s comparison to Spurs’ breakout star Dele Alli would make perfect sense. He’s arguably one of the best midfielders this season and his performances have earned him an England call-up too, but Cazorla has overshadowed him too. While Cazorla gets ousted by Alli in terms of tackles won and interceptions, the Spaniard emerges a winner when comparing other statistics. He’s completed more take-ons (73% to 40%) than Alli, and the difference is somewhat convincing. He’s created 23 more chances than Alli (28 to 5), has a better passing percentage than him (91 to 77) and has supplied more key passes than the Englishman too- 26 to 5.

He provides that extra bit of experience that Coquelin needs alongside him to do his job to perfection. He is someone who keeps Arsenal ticking and makes sure that the play doesn’t end up being stagnant. Whenever he’s on the ball you get the feeling that he’ll do something out of the box and create an opening for Arsenal. All in all, Cazorla is acting as much a gem in the midfield as he is further up the pitch. The difference lies in the amount of goals the likes of Alexis and Mesut Ozil end up racking up.