Arsenal do not need new defensive midfielder - Martin Keown Keown makes some good points especially on how Wenger is setting up his teams and what Coqs is bringing to the table. He talks about how he is displaying good discipline and maintaining our midfield structure better due to his good positional awareness. I agree these are all very good positives and it's been the main criticisms leveled at Wenger, but isn't it a little premature to suggest our DM woes have gone after a few Coqs performances? What it clearly shows is how much we've benefited by someone playing the DM role properly. I still think we should be in the market for a top quality DM, but also allow Coqs the chance to make it his own. He shouldn't be given it due to our lack of choices but be given the spot by consistently good performances.
As much as Coquelin has improved our defensive play, I think you make a good point about it being that we have somebody who is playing that DM role, whereas before we haven't. I think we still need to go out an buy an established DM. As good a Coq has been, he can't play every game there and injury or loss of form would expose us once again.
Exactly. We have strength and depth in every position now but the DM spot. Yes we have players who can do a job in that position but Coqs has been the one this season to warrant the spot. But he is still new to this position and we need to see more of him before we become more comfortable giving it to him. Another DM would be very welcome and the investment would really help the team. We have a lot of attacking options now, but without a quality DM style player who keeps it all together, we won't be able to see the best from our team.
Agreed, I don't think there is any major urgency for a DM this Jan. Unless of course we can get a great deal, waiting until summer would provide us with more options.
I also think a major part of the improvement (as Keown alludes to) is that Wenger has given Carzorla and Ramsey greater defensive responsibility, ensuring that they decend like a net almost on anyone trying to drift 'between the lines' in that classic no.10 position (see how they nullified Silva in the Man C game). Both have been pressing the ball a lot more, and dropping back to help out Coq/the defence than previously. It's a sea change from the Liverpool and Swansea games - in the Liverpool game, their midfielders basically just spread out and run either side of Flamini, and without any help he was left chasing shadows, unable to close down two (or sometimes 3) players at the same time.
This has given us greater protection at the back than ever before. While we don't have as much possession, we are harder to break down and less likely to get exposed on the counter. We also have the quality in attack to switch things very quickly from defence to attack. All our pace, skill and creativity is used more effectively now.
