UNTOLD ARSENAL » Blog Archive » Do we need a defensive midfielder?

As we all know Mr Wenger did not buy in the transfer window (to the great dismay and frustration of most bloggers and commentators it would seem) because he felt that he had the squad he needed.

My guess (and of course it is never more than that) is that the plan was to play Diaby next to Fabregas, and allow Cesc to move forward looking to score.   But the early injury to Diaby and the unavailability of Bischoff meant that the system that had worked so well between Flamini and Fabregas had to be changed.

Enter Denilson, and we return to a modified version of the Gilberto approach – the invisible wall mark II.

Which raises these questions:

a) When Rosicky finally returns to fitness does he return to the wing where Nasri has been playing?

b) If Rosicky, Nasri, Diaby, Denilson, and Bischoff were all fit, who would play next to Cesc?

c) Is Ramsey ready for more of a place in the team yet, or is he just going to get emergency back-up and short fill-in jobs this year?

d) Do we need to sign a new midfielder?

The last one is, for me, the easiest to answer – absolutely not.  I know I am out of phase with the vast majority of commentators on this, but I kept arguing the position through the summer and it still looks that way to me.  If you say, “Flamini did x and we have no one to do x” then of course you need a new midfielder.   But to me, and it is just a personal  view, that is not how Wenger thinks, and it is not the right way to think.

Players are individual, and have individual strengths.  You have Ian Wright in the team, and you play to his strengths – down the middle.  You have Henry in the team and you know he goes left, so you buy a right footed left winger who can score (Pires) and tell him to run into the middle when Henry goes out to the left.

So to my mind Wenger was never going to replace Flamini with Flamini II, he was looking around at what he had and who was available, and then thinking, how can I change this to accommodate everyone in a winning formula.

And to answer an earlier question – if Denilson and Cesc continue to develop as a pair, and the team continue to win, then that’s the pairing, and Diaby and others will lose out.

One final thing – the strength among the younger players is now so great that every year we automatically have a couple of signings – players who break through.  I suspect by this time next year Ramsey and Wilshere will be more fully integrated into the first team and there will be others moving up.   The signings are done –  it is just the press doesn’t notice them until they come out with all the old phrases about the “Wenger production line” when we play in the Little Cup – as we do tomorrow – and “Arsenal are broke” during the transfer windows when we don’t sign anyone.

The truth of this final point is that the spivs own Manchester U, Chelsea and Liverpool, but they don’t own Arsenal.