It is the view of many gooners (myself included) that Song should be a solely defensive midfielder. His job should be to disrupt the play of the opposition midfield and form a barrier to protect the back four. However, I can understand Wenger's temptation to split his duties between attack and defense. When you look at his contribution to the Blackburn game, offensively it was very good. His delightful through ball set up Gervinho's goal and his perfectly weighted pass to Ramsey led to Arteta's. He obviously posseses great offensive attributes. I am not in favour of him straying too far forward but it is understandable that Wenger does not want to waste this other impressive side to his game.
When Wilshere is in the side the balance is much better as Jack and Song seem to have a good understanding and cover each other, Ramsey and Song currently have no understanding and this needs to be addressed. Need to get Jack back asap, himself and Tommy V are massive misses for us right now.
Good response and analysis Gunner I do like Song's positive contribution to our offensive capabilities but a Wilshire return will perhaps allow him to cover the back four a little more. Heaven knows we need this.
Cheers Robin! I think Jack is just such a talented and commited player that frankly he'd make me look half decent in the middle, his workload is incredible for such a young lad. That's no slight on Alex Song. Every time I see him play for us we are just a much better unit, not only does he pass so well but he moves to accept the return so well much like the Barca players. If possesion is lost he always bursts a gut to get back also, complete player, will add goals to his game in coming season. He is one true shinging light for us, hope to see a few more 2nite, Ryo and Oxo will hopefully be able to show their stuff..
The thing is, I'd be happy for Song to play like Vieira. But the thing is, Vieira had Gilberto, who isn't exactly Arshavin in his style of play. People always forget this and, it seems, so does Wenger.
Great post. Very insightful. One thing is for sure though. We need somebody to sit and protect the back line. The you sit or I sit strategy failed badly last year with song and wilshire and cost us a shot at the title imo. I think song should be told to sit, although I agree he is best in a ball-winning box to box midfeild role ala roy keane of pat vieria. It woulld be nice if we had song and someone to sit and hold. WOuld make us solid defensively.
Why was Song standing where he was for his own goal? A shambolic lack of any marking or organisation. When he is well infront of the joke of a back 4 he looks OK.
Shud of read this post before I posted. Spot on mate, exactly my view. Wenger really doesnt understand. This has been a problem for at least 3 years now. The fact wenger doesnt seem to "get" how important having someone shield the back 4 is, makes me think he needs to be sacked. Its the biggest reason why I think wenger has lost the plot.
I think the biggest reason why Wenger has failed lately is the lack of characters at the club. If you're stupid, surround yourself with those more intelligent than you. If you're intelligent, surround yourself with those who will tell you no. He falls into the later part of the statement.
I think Song is allowed to bomb forward as it means the opposing midfielders don't know who to mark. If everyone had specific roles then it would be relatively easy to stop us playing as they would just mark the creative ones (Arteta/wilshire) and that would mean we couldn't create chances. However if Song plays an attacking role than a-we can create more chances as nobody will mark him when he goes forward b-the opposition don't know who to mark so our more creative players may get more space. A lot of people go on about Wenger's lack of tactical awareness however it things like this that show he is not the novice he is seen to be by some.
Thats fine vs blackpool or swansea at home, but in the big games vs the big teams it leaves us too exposed time and time again. Even in tough away games it leaves us exposed.
True, it should only be used in games where we know the other team are only going to defend or when we are having difficulty breaking down someone and are losing.
The problem is now people are blinded by this DM role which I actually think is pathetic and not needed but for some reason people think it is necessary. The DM role takes away half of a dynamic from a normal box to box midfielder. Wilshere is not an attacking midifielder he is a straightforward midfielder, he gets up he gets back. When you have 2 CMs of that ilk you talk to each other, when one goes the other stays and vice versa. with the DM you lose that dynamic and I think it is easier to deal with teams who play with a DM because you always know which midfielder will sit and which one will bomb on, I am NOT a fan of the DM role. Song is not good enough offensively to go forward and whenever he does we have no cover in midfield. Wenger should stop him from moving, it is ridiculous that every season we have this discussion. song should just sit, end of. Personally I'd prefer a player with more pace than Song, he is too slow and has no technique, his distribution is so basic and we gain very little defensively by playing him there. I think Parker and Barton are both better players than him.
5 goals and 8 assits last season says otherwise. He has got a lot better technically than he used to be and his passing can be surprisingly good. See the assist he got against Blackburn?
Alex Song should watch the performance he put in against United at home last season and see what he did well and repeat it week in week out. He was awesome that day. Had Rooney well and truly in his pocket. Just stayed back and broke up any play in midfield and tracked their best player and gave him no space. In the process giving Wilshere and Ramsey the freedom to get on with their work higher up the pitch. That was the perfect DM performance.
Yup pretty much spot on. I prefer song in a 4-3-3 (like in 2009) as opposed to playing him in a 4-2-31 like we do these days. As a holding player song is excellent. He's not a great attacking force and is better suited to the makelele role than anything else - lets not forgot he started out as a centreback.
I would like to see both Song and Frimpong play at the same time, especially in the tougher games. Coq and Frimpomg worked really well last night.
