El Capitan – Fantastic Captain Fabregas

Arsenal has played 10 games in 32 days. Basically in 10 games, Arsenal have only lost 2 points from the Man City game, but progressed significantly in 3 competitions. Arsenal has won all six games in the last 18 days. You can’t complain about that.

Wenger had to use the entire squad including 3 goalkeepers to achieve this. He has publicly stated that this is the best squad he has ever had and wants to make the best of it. That is big vote of confidence to the players from the manager. It is also a statement to the players that the days of excuses are over. There is something different about Wenger’s public statements recently.

After the Man City game, Wenger did not blame Man City for parking their bus at the Emirates. That was new. When Sagna got sent off he said the decision was harsh but correct and challenged Sagna to improve his self-control and said Arsenal would not appeal because Sagna was wrong albeit giving reasons for Sagna’s reaction. He did not blame long balls for the Ipswich win, he blamed the defence for not taking charge. There was a time when Wenger had to encourage the boys to realise they had potential. He had to protect and nurture them. Now he feels the time is right to challenge them instead to deliver on it.

There is talk about Wenger’s comments about this being the best squad. Is it wide or is it deep? Every team has the same number of players so we are as wide as everyone else although we can use as many kids as we want. Man Utd, Chelsea, Man City, Liverpool and Spurs don’t really have all that many kids to use at this level. Arsenal’s kids are also a little short. We have a staggering 11 young players out on loan. So our squad is not really wider than anyone else.

However the quality of our squad is more decent than most fans realise. First of all, Arsenal’s best eleven, if we assume it includes Vermaelen and Nasri is no worse than anybody else’s. In fact on the evidence so far, I would put that team on equal footing with Man Utd. You should note that most of the encounters between Arsenal and Chelsea and Man Utd over the past 3 seasons have been missed by Fabregas due to injury. We have never played those teams recently with a solid first team on a good run whilst they have usually been on a good run with a full team when they play us. In fact last season, we played Barcelona largely without Fabregas, Song and van Persie. So I think our first eleven is as good as any team in league.

Then looking at subs, I know we would all like Squillaci, Denilson, Diaby, Eboué, Bendtner, Gibbs, Chamakh, Arshavin and Rosicky to be much much better but when you start comparing them with the subs from other challenging teams it looks very good indeed. Their age, number of premiership games (premiership experience), European experience, their experience in the first team with this group and their general skill level is all very good.

Our much criticized defence has only conceded one less goal than Man Utd with the much admired centre back pairing of Ferdinand and Vidic. Our much criticized defence contains a very young Djourou who has hardly played there for the first team and has just returned from a season long injury. He has never played with Squillaci or Koscielny before. Koscielny and Squillaci are new to the premiership and have never played with each other before. Our two goalkeepers who came in have never had a run of games before and don’t know the defence. Without Vermaelen, our defensive record is not what we want it to be but compared to our rivals, it shows how well they have done. Our position in the league is down to not having scored in certain tight games where we lost 1-0 or by one goal and less by being as rubbish at defending as most claim.

Roberto Martinez remarked about squad that we had two good players in every position and Mourinho used Arsenal’s squad as an example to justify signing a new striker. So I think Wenger is right about the squad. However, there is one huge problem with that squad. No combination of those players works without Fabregas and even then it is never balanced without Fabregas AND Song. That is our Achilles heel. We have 25 good enough players who cannot work really get it together without two players or at least one.

What makes Fabregas so important?

The easy answer is that he is a good player – a world class player with amazing vision, skill and intelligence. But after spending 90mins doing a painful review of the draw against Leeds when Cesc came on as a sub, I got some interesting insights. I did a “before Cesc” and “after Cesc” review of the game and noticed that the biggest change was not Cesc on the ball but the change in the other players after he came in. I took the hypothesis and used it to review the Leeds game at Elland Road where a few of the players stayed the same and looked at how the other players played when Cesc was on for the full game compared to how they do when he is off. Watching the Everton, I noted the same things.

Basically, the biggest thing Cesc brings into the team is not his own raw skill but how he forces the team into a pattern of proactive and adventurous competitive behaviour. When Cesc was not on the pitch, Arsenal players played good passes to each other. But all passes were safe. They played passes to people in comfortable positions that then followed it up with another safe pass. We kept the ball and then lost it without doing much with it. The opposition organised around our predictability. It was very much like the past 3 seasons. You take a pass and pass it to someone who is free and keep going until you lose it.

When Cesc is involved, it is different. Cesc passes the ball to someone who is not “free”. He would give the ball to Rosicky when Rosicky is crowded with his back to goal. Rosicky has to pass the ball back under pressure with defenders clipping on his heel. When he plays back to Cesc, he is then forced to turn and make a run instead of just standing there since he has brought two or three defenders out with him. The next time Cesc has the ball, Rosicky then realises Cesc could do the same so he either runs to Cesc with his back to goal, bringing one or two defenders with him in order to get to the pass earlier than last time or he makes a run immediately behind the defence. That changes the comfort zone mentality of every player. Cesc passes puts his team mates under pressure and forces them to be alert and get active.

On one occasion, Bendtner who had been the subject of receiving two tight passes from Cesc, decided to come running from the D into midfield to receive an anticipated Cesc pass expecting to put it back to Cesc and then make a run. Instead, Cesc played the ball to Bendtner and then made a run himself forcing Bendtner to turn with the ball and find someone else. Cesc could see that Bendtner’s early reaction gave Niklas time to turn. It makes Niklas more alert and ready for the unpredictable when Cesc is on. The alertness gives us a big edge over most teams because our superior ball skills start making a difference.

Basically, Cesc rarely passes to feet of a standing man, he forces movement. Even when he is forced to pass short to the feet of a standing man, he himself makes a run forcing that person create forward momentum – he takes himself away from being a standing man for that person to pass to.

The effect is that the mentality, alertness and involvement of every player is transformed. It also means people run to balls rather than receiving them in tight spaces. Bendtner cannot be expected to beat full backs from a standing start like Nasri or Ronaldo, but when he races to the ball, he has much better chance. The same is true for Walcott.

It is worth noting that Alex Song does exactly the same as Fabregas with his passing. He is not as advanced and does not have the same execution skill but it still pays off. He is making assists and is rarely more than 2 passes from a goal. Watching Arsenal games after the heat of the moment really cements how important Song is for every part of Arsenal’s game. He is surprisingly present in attacking moves and is constant in midfield and defensive play. He protects absolutely everybody in that team when they go forward or go out of position and that includes the strikers. Song is immense. If you doubt how important he is, watch a few games in your downtime.

The second important thing that Fabregas does is that he is prepared to play a long pass. It is not our way and very few of our players can hit a long pass accurately but Fabregas is prepared to look for them and use them. We have scored at least 4 goals from chips and long passes over the defence. Cesc is far more practical than a straightforward purist. Note from this comment he made about Jack Wilshere’s assist to Bendtner’s goal against Leeds.

“It came from more good play by Jack – a longer pass of the type we don’t always make. He’s improved a lot with that kind of delivery, chipping the ball over defences to give us another dimension when we are looking to break through. That’s very useful because it can be a precise way to beat a crowded line of players. He is making decisive contributions like this and is getting better all the time.”

Fabregas has a lot of fight and determination this season and it is necessarily annoys a few people. He talks a lot to referees and remonstrates with managers at the end of games. I know that is a direct result of his incredible will to win but I would like him to ignore other managers. However, I still think he must continue to tell referees when he has grievance in a respectful way. He is the captain and he must talk to referees. It is his right and Terry and other players do it without criticism so why not our Captain.

Arsenal have a lot of fight this season. Seeing van Persie and Walcott wrestling Everton players was testament that the fight had spread throughout the team – the fight that started with Sagna, Song and Cesc is everywhere now. Koscielny has got in the act and has also started scoring.

How will we cope with injuries? We have the squad for it, there is no doubt but what if Song and Cesc are missing? That’s where I get uncomfortable because the fight is easy when Cesc can create the rhythm on the pitch and Song can provide the power that allows everyone else to dare. Without the rhythm, the cover and the power, the fight is a lot harder.

So please someone else step up. Ideally we need two players to grow in the same miraculous way Koscielny seem to grow against Everton. Please step up whoever you are. We need you now!