We can class Song as nearly there now for experience and he should be a senior member of our midfield and its anchor. However, last season he has been playing alongside two others with minimal experience or game time under their belts. Now Jack Wilshere is a phenomenon and players like this only come along once every few years. No one since Rooney has emerged with so much ability and strength at such a young age, but he can be expected to carry our midfield week in week out, particularly alongside Ramsey, another mercurial talent with no real experience to draw on when the chips are down.
So we have finally recognised that Denilson, and I would guess Diaby when fit, may not be the solution, and we have lost Fabregas and Nasri.
Fabregas was a leader and could be relied upon when a game was not running in our favour, but Nasri certainly was not and tended to disappear. Rosicky and Arshavin should be the senior heads the youngsters look to, be they more often than not fail to step up to the plate.
I am delighted therefore that Wenger has opted to add proven top flight experience and talent to the squad in the form of Mikel Arteta and Yossi Benayoun.
I firmly believe that Arteta in particular is the perfect foil for Song and Wilshire, and the closest match for Fabregas, if of course Wenger wishes to retain the current formation.
Arteta has a Cesc like assist ratio, superb dead ball delivery and at over 5’10’’, has the physical attributes so often lacking in recent times.
Over time, Ramsey will learn from Arteta, as will Jack, and at 29 he will have far more to bring to the Premier League right now than Mario Gotze at 19 would have given us this season.
Indeed I will be topical and quote Jack Wilshire’s tweet of this morning:
‘I am glad Arteta has signed for us! He was one of the best players I faced last season and was not looking forward to playing him again!’
In the attacking third we have already added Gervinho, who at 24 has several years senior league and international experience, and I am sure Walcott can still learn from him.
Yossi Benayoun could play instead of Theo when required on the right of a front three, wide right in a midfield four, or indeed behind RVP in the Arteta role. Yossi too has years of Premier League experience under his belt, as well as European football and captains Israel. Whilst injury-prone, he does have the ability to do the unexpected, considerable vision and a pleasing goal scoring habit.
What is abundantly clear is that our bench will be considerably more assured than it has been of late.
Interesting to see how Park Chu-Yong does as our new replacement for RVP, as he will undoubtedly be called upon. He looks exciting and a more obvious reserve than the unfortunate Chamakh, who appears to have lost all confidence. Add to this the exhilarating speed and talent of Miyaichi and Oxlade-Chamberlain, who can both undoubtedly influence a game and star in a Carling Cup team.
So in conclusion, I am sure many of you reading this wanted the so called ‘marquee signing’ and wanted Wenger to spend all the money we had, but he has not changed that much.
I personally wanted Arteta and wrote as such a week back, so I am content. I also wanted the players to enable us to demonstrate more flexibility of formation and tactics. I also wanted the correct blend of youth and experience, courage, grit and flair, and I feel we just might now have it.
So let’s have a bit of fun with our new first choice 11 and, as always, all comments welcome:
Polish Panache, French Flair, German Authority, Belgian Brilliance, Brazilian Samba, Cameroonian Class, English Grit, Spanish Passion, Ivorian Elegance, English Speed and Dutch Courage.
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Mertesacker is going to struggle with the high line which we play. For this great player to shine, we will have to change tactics otherwise he’ll be playing the opposition on-side all the time from having to run back ahead of the attack. There are players who can dribble with ball to feet faster than waht Mertesacker can sprint.
This may not be a huge proble, He may adapt well to our style, but it is a concern at the moment.