The Midfield Problem Revealed At Norwich

Every successful Arsene Wenger midfield has characteristics that contrast sharply with those we saw at Carrow Road on Saturday. We are used to seeing pace, power, inventiveness and dynamism. Why then has the boss put together a squad that is one midfield injury short of being utterly ineffective?

The defence at Norwich had the odd panic but we are used to that. Don’t be fooled into thinking that even the great Arsenal defences didn’t get flustered every now and again either, they did.

In attack all three forwards had poor games but Poldi has shown enough to look to be an asset, Gervinho provided our only attacking pace at Carrow Road and Giroud is an option when our pretty stuff doesn’t work.

But the midfield Arsene, what have you done? You can make a case for all of them as players but the blend was all wrong. It was the most anaemic, one-paced, uninventive, concoction we’ve seen for a long time. I will predict (the bleedin’ obvious I know) we will win nothing with that midfield playing most of our games.

Those that doubt Diaby will surely see his value now. It’s easy to imagine the big Frenchman powering past Norwich players on Saturday as he did at Anfield. Cazorla , Arteta and Ramsey barely ran forward off the ball. There was simply no penetration from the middle of the park at all.

As well as Diaby we have other reinforcements to come. Wilshere of course and maybe just maybe …Gnabry. The pass at the weekend to play in Gervinho was a real gem.

It wasn’t just that the midfield was more stagnant than my local pond either. Ramsey passed square on all but four occasions and each attempt at a ‘key’ pass failed. Cazorla looked tired, time for a break after the CL game? Arteta was the best of the three but he has found his role at Arsenal now and we will only rarely see again the rampaging Mikel of his Everton days.

Arsene may well argue that it is unfortunate that Jack and Abou, the two most forward running of his midfielders, are still injured. Then why not play Oxlade-Chamberlain?

All this will be forgotten if we get them back fit and we go on to have a storming season. But if not, and there is always an if with Diaby, then firstly, we cannot play the same midfield again and secondly, we need make sure the squad has the balance to ensure we don’t have to.

Do you think the blend in midfield was a problem against Norwich? Get involved in the comments section.

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