What a man and what a player. Amazingly, he has been at the club for seven years (where has the time gone?) and is still for me a vital member of the squad. Love his style of play and at his best, he can dictate the pace of our game. Never stops running and always gives his best, no matter what. Sadly, injuries robbed him of his peak years, and for me, he could have gone on to become one of the best in Europe in that 07-08 season had he not got injured because he was that good. His contract is coming end, and I hope he signs an extension because having players like Rosicky in a squad is invaluable. When we were defending a corner last night, I noticed him having a quick chat with Gnabry and geeing him up. That is what experienced players bring to our squad, and we have lacked that in the past eight years. All hail, Rosicky!!!!!
Yep agreed. A few people have been claiming recently he does little but run around and look busy, but for me he's an industrious and tenacious little player, technically gifted and hard working. He's also a tackler and isn't afraid of 'mixing it up'. The goal he scored yesterday was typical Rosicky, chasing down the player forcing him into a mistake, then having the speed and energy to bear down on the keeper and having the technical guile to finish with aplomb. Little Mozart deserves another contract with Arsenal.
Yup love Rosicky. Quality player and seems like a nice guy. He injects energy and commitment into the side. Shame he never really added goals to his game. He deserves a 2 year deal not the 1 year we normally offer players of his age.
MOM contender yesterday for me, replacing him with someone of similar talent would cost £15m+, maybe his injuries will allow him to carry on for longer given the lack of miles on the clock....
The question is whether he is, in one or two years time, going to be better than the player he is keeping out of the squad. It isn't really a question of being deserving now.
Surely you want to keep some experience around? Better than having a frightfully young team full of losers, it's as if we've been there, done that.
Keeping experience around is fine if it doesn't cost anything. If you are not Chelsea or City, you always have to ask, what is this going to cost? What am I giving up, if I spend money on this?
I agree with both you and Hans. If he's holding out for silly money it's probably best to cut him loose. On the other hand, if he's willing to be paid the wages of a 33 yo squad player, I say keep him and the positivity and experience he brings to the club. Also, I don't think he's the type to make outrageous demands concerning his contract. I believe he genuinely loves the club and is hopefully grateful for the patience we've all had with his injuries. On a lighter note, I think he's one of the classiest players we have and would love to see him in some sort of coaching capacity five years from now.
At the moment, Rosicky when he starts, isn't keeping anyone out of the team, he's starting based on merit. Nobody can say ah why is Rosicky starting, person A should've played instead of him. Rosicky is a very good asset to have in the team, and he definitely deserves a new contract.
As I said, it isn't who he is keeping out of the team now that is the issue. You need to know who he will be keeping out of the side next season, to make that decision.
I'm hoping we'd learned our lesson in releasing experienced, useful players too early. One of my biggest gripes was Wenger's old age policy which saw us lose the likes of Pires and Gilberto far far too soon. Rosicky is starting games on merit and adds experience and versatility to the squad. I can't see how offering a two year extension can be anything other than a good thing. He's not going to suddenly drop off overnight and even if other players deserve to be starting ahead of him in a year or so then I imagine he'll still easily be good enough as a backup player. Squad depth innit.
...or we could end up like United with aging worthless veterans and no money to replace them. Unfortunately he is getting to an age where he is going to drop off overnight, both in terms of value and performance, particularly playing in a position which requires high energy and pace. But in all honesty his value is probably pretty low right now, so we might as well hang onto him. I would hope though, we could pick up another couple of mids/attackers in the summer and with Ox coming back, Gnabry stepping up, I can't see Rosicky getting too many games.
I'm reasonably confident we have money should that situation arise... Which it won't . There's a vast difference between Man U and their 40+ year old winger and Rosicky who's 33.
It's impossible to tell because this comes down to genetics. One thing Wenger is really old school about is this whole over 30 contract situation. The fact is that Footballers eat/live considerably 'cleaner' than they did 15-20 years ago, people are living longer and medical/sports science has improved. What does this mean? well it means athletes are performing at the top level for longer. We will start to see considerably more 'Ryan Gigg's' type scenarios over the next few years.
It'd be the same players, I doubt we are going to add any new midfielders, and at the moment, the most likely player to breakthrough from our academy into the first team would be Gnarby, who plays in a different position than Rosicky. Other young players who are not getting kept out of the team also include Ramsey and Wilshere who have been able to get ample playing time in midfield, so the balance and numbers are just right.
If you didn't know Rosicky's age, and someone just asked you how old you thought he was based on his performances-style etc, I'm pretty sure most people would assume he's around 26-28 years old, times have changed from a decade ago when entering your late 20's meant your career was winding down, in many cases, that still does apply to some players (due to injuries, how they handled themselves off the pitch, and as you said genetics as well), but it's no longer the standard rule these days. Even look at Cazorla, he's just turned 29 in December, but does he look like a man who's playing career is coming to an end or he's coming off his peak?
I wonder why are so dismissive of one of our best midfielders? In my view Ox does not even come close. You will disagree, but I put Rosicky in the same league as Cazorla and Ozil, as one of the key players this season. He is a different player, but I would say broadly he is the same class. Do not be blinded by transfer fees and fame. Wenger plays Tomas in key matches this season and it is not that difficult to figure out why.
