A creative midfielder, is Arshavin the answer.

WengerballAndrie Arshavin Football 1 Comment

“We don’t have that type of player capable of breaking through the tactical scheme of the opposition. There is no tactical formation that can’t be undone by a dribble, but we’re lacking the player who can produce it.”

Quoted by Wanderley Luxemburgo, once in charge of Real Madrid and the Brazilian national team, and a champion of Brazil five different times with four different clubs, on the current state of talent in Brasil. He might as well been musing about the current state of talent at Arsenal Football Club.

Andrei Arshavin heavily linked with Arsenal at £20m

Watching yesterday’s game was painful, it just wasn’t the type of football that we’ve come to expect from the Arsenal. While we did create a few chances and had a lot of possession there was a lack of zip and zest from the Arsenal team.

Portsmouth executed their game well, that they parked their bus and pressured the midfield was no reason for the lack of energy and commitment we displayed.

Far too many times our passing was either across the pitch or backwards, no one seemed capable of driving the team forward. Counter attacking moves were broken down not by Pompey’s defence but by Arsenal preference to slow down the attack.

Far too many times when Portsmouth had possession we chose to stand off the ball rather than pressure to win the ball back. It was as if we didn’t want that ball or couldn’t be bothered.

Far too many times the lack of creativity stifled our game. how many time yesterday did an Arsenal player get past his man with a dribble? How many pieces of individual brilliance did we observe yesterday?

Arsenal is a team known the world over for their style of play, their verve in attack, their free flowing football, pass and move, wengerball that’s what we’ve come to see. Alas there was a lot of passing but very little moving.

Arsene Wenger has hinted that he wants to buy a creative player in the midfield, and while that may seem counter-intuitive at a time when we need defensive solidity it may be exactly what we need.

Someone who is able to unlock the most stubborn of defences with a bit of dribbling genius, who is not afraid to play on the front foot. A player like that would change the thinking of defenders forcing them to make mistakes.

At the moment there is no one in Arsenal’s midfield that scares defenders, teams can afford to play us tightly because we don’t have either the pace or the creativity to get past defences. A player that in Luxemburgo’s words can undo any tactical formation with a dribble is what we’re missing.

We have such players in the squad but Walcott, Rosicky and Fabregas are all injured, Wilshere is such a player but I wouldn’t pin our hopes on the young boy. Arshavin could do the job but don’t think Arsene or Arsenal would make a bid for the Russian so obvious.

Andrei is good but he also comes with a lot of baggage that is not really conducive to the atmosphere in the club right now. The Russian is on high wages, and is renowned for his parting and playboy lifestyle.

If the reports that Arsenal is looking at someone from the Russian league is true Russians then my hope is that he is looking at Yuri Zhirkov. At 25, he is a very creative and skilful player and more importantly he is hard working and very solid defensively, I thought he was in the top 5 midfielders in Euro 2008. Similarly to Arshavin he must be on some major wages and CSKA moskow is not short of funds unless the credit crunch is really squeezing the Russians.

Knowing Arsene I am sure he’s going to buy someone who is under the radar, one thing is for sure he will not buy another young player for the future. He realises we need someone who can hit the ground running. . .but who?

Let me know who you think Arsenal will buy in the comments section.

Posted on 29 Dec 2008, 1347hr Tweet -The discussion is closed