English Premier League: Arsenal vs. Manchester City – Arsenal team analysis (Part 3)
Denilson
Arsenal’s star Brazilian player had been out of action for nearly six months prior to the match against City. Most people questioned the player’s capability and ability to participate in a match of such great importance. However Denilson
had the self belief and the managers support going into the match and at times that is all someone needs.
During the game, despite being positioned in the team as a central-attacking midfielder, the player ended up playing a far more defensive role in the game.
Despite the role of a holding midfielder which is not his natural position, the player didn’t seem to be out of key for a single moment. Denilson was making tackles at a consistent rate and was then running back and forth to help out with
the attack, every time he was required to do so.
Denilson was also having a rather good game with respect to his passing. It is hard to recall a single bad pass that the player played during the entire match and as a result, Arsenal didn’t lose possession at a single vital moment during
the game.
Denilson despite having proven that he is now fit and ready to go, might still find it hard to actually guarantee a spot in the Arsenal starting eleven. This is because the likes of Thomas Rosicky and Jack Wilshere will always be in contention
to play in that position. However what Denilson has done is that he has guaranteed a spot for himself, in the Arsenal Carling Cup and FA Cup team.
Alexandre Song
Alexandre Song has quite simply been one of the best things to happen to Arsenal in a long time. The player is one of the strongest and toughest players around, that along with his natural ability to be outstanding on and off the ball
have turned him from being an Arsenal youth player, to one of the best holding midfielders in the world.
Song was asked to play in the patch as a defensive midfielder however the player not only did that, but also managed to participate in the attack rather regularly. Song for some odd reason found the role of being just a defensive midfielder
a little too easy and as a result he played as a box to box holding-attacking midfielder. That position so far doesn’t really exist in the world of football, but it seems like Song might just create a whole new position in the near future if he keeps the same
form up.
Song was more than just solid in both attack and defensive and his killer instinct seems to have also gotten a major boost, as he scored Arsenal’s second goal out of almost nothing. The ball fell loose in the City area and Song managed
to pounce on the loose ball and blast it into the far top right corner. The goal was not a goal that a normal defensive midfielder would have been able to score, in fact it was the goal that a midfielder with a very keen eye for goal could have scored.
In the patch, instead of looking like the player who was supposed to be the underdog in the star studded team, Song looked like the player who was leading the team from the front. In fact the player’s performance was so brilliant that
in a post match show, one of the football experts even went ahead and said that Song probably mentally felt that he was Zinedine Zidane, that is itself is a feat that is rather outstanding for any player, let alone a player who is just coming up in the world.
If anything Song’s performance in the game went on to cement his position in the Arsenal squad even further, with no player in near sight looking like he might be able to replace the player.
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