Both Theo and Gervinho were very important to van Persie’s excellent scoring record and although Gervinho’s and Walcott’s goal return was not yet as great as we would have liked, the general consensus was that it would improve in time. Theo Walcott for one is a player who I expect to score regularly and we are slowly seeing that now. Gervinho has been very wasteful at times but has managed to get into scoring positions, the hope is that in time he would develop the much needed

Hello fellow Gooners,

I am struggling somewhat today both physically and mentally as Arsene would put it. After playing football in what seemed like tropical rain at Battersea park last night, that was followed by an intoxicating evening. That is easy enough to deal with but when you have to wake up not long after you go to sleep the rest of the day is remarkably painful.

Ok, enough about my condition and to the Arsenal. Jack Wilshere is supposed to have had yet another set back and if that is true then that is massively disappointing. After his first set back I mentally wrote him off for the season, I didn’t see the point of rushing him back before the end of this season. Ideally Wilshere would miss both the Euros and the Olympics and concentrate on getting fit for pre season but you know life is never that simple. Whether it be Stuart Pearce, Harry Redknapp or whichever unlucky sod gets to manage the England team, they are going to pick Jack Wilshere.

Losing Cesc and Nasri in the summer was one thing but then to lose Jack Wilshere for the season was a lot for our team to cope with. I often wonder where Jack Wilshere would be in terms of his development had he not picked up that original injury. I cannot help but think that Wilshere is the type of player and person to make huge strides every season. I hope we can see that improvement by the start of next season at the latest.

Now onto the main part of the blog today. Aaron Ramsey’s wide starting position has been one of the biggest talking points since our defeat at Queens park rangers at the weekend.

As you all know there has been a shift in our approach since last season. With Samir Nasri and often Andrey Arshavin in the wide positions we found ourselves over passing the ball and not getting in behind the opposition which lead to many a frustrating afternoon against teams who parked the famous bus. Our 0-0 draw to Blackburn at the Emirates stadium springs to mind, a game that all but waved the white flag in our race for the title.

With Samir Nasri moving away for Arsenal for every other reason but money Arsene brought in a more direct attacking player in Gervinho. Theo Walcott who jumped ahead of Andrey Arshavin in the second half of last season started as first choice on the right of our forward three.

Both Theo and Gervinho were very important to van Persie’s excellent scoring record and although Gervinho’s and Walcott’s goal return was not yet as great as we would have liked, the general consensus was that it would improve in time. Theo Walcott for one is a player who I expect to score regularly and we are slowly seeing that now. Gervinho has been very wasteful at times but has managed to get into scoring positions, the hope is that in time he would develop the much needed composure to start taking those chances regularly.

Arsene had deviated from the usual system in the Carling cup, sometimes to pair Chamakh and Park together in a 4-4-2 but more interestingly against Bolton in the Carling Cup where Arsene deployed Andrey Arshavin in a central attacking role behind Ju Park. In that game Arshavin scored and made an assist. Arsenal fans have been calling for Arshavin to start ahead of youngster Aaron Ramsey in the first team but Arshavin had never been given that chance, well not from the start of games anyway.

Post match Arsene gave an indication as to why that was.

“I believe that he is more at ease now in a more central role because if he is on the flanks it is very physical and you have to defend a lot, That’s not always his strongest part in the game. You can see that in the future he can be a very influential player behind the striker.”

Arsene Wenger had spoken about the balance needing to be right because he saw Andrey Arshavin as a forward, so he played Yossi Benayoun wide left to give the team the defensive balance.

Arsene was basically explaining that having Arshavin in a number 10 role behind van Persie with Gervinho and Walcott out wide would leave the team open in the center of midfield and it explains Ray Parlour’s role in our 1997/98 team. Parlour was Benayoun while Marc Overmars was Andrey Arshavin.

It was the only time that Arshavin would be given that role before his departure to Russia on loan. But that wasn’t the last adjustment to our team for this season.

Against Tottenham Hotspurs at home Mr midfield balancer Yossi Benayoun came back into the team on the left, a game that we really needed to win it almost felt as if we were planning to contain Tottenham but adopting a more defensive approach. Pre match I was wrongly concerned that we were paying Tottenham too much respect.

Arsene spoke post match about the balance of the team being right, Arsene almost had a glint in his eyes when talking about it. It sounded like he had changed his mind about the system.

The midfield on that day was fantastic. Benayoun, Rosicky, Song and Arteta fought like tigers to win the midfield battle and Theo Walcott, especially in the second half had more licence to make central runs from the right.

That same team continued at Anfield where we battled out a victory. Against Milan at home we were forced to go for broke and Gervinho, Walcott and Chamberlain all started. Chamberlain moved out wide with Arteta returning to the side against Newcastle United.

Then the rotation of attacking wide player or wide midfielder begun. At Everton Yossi Benayoun’s role was handed to Aaron Ramsey who had just returned from injury that was picked up in the defeat at Sunderland in the FA Cup.

Ramsey had contributed to a great defensive display from the whole team, he had chances to score goals earlier in the game, chances that he had failed to take as was the case for much of the season but the balance of the team worked a treat at a tough ground like Goodison park. Szczesny was hardly tested in 90 minutes and that was down to the whole team from back to front.

Gervinho came back for the victory against Aston Villa and Aaron Ramsey was sat back on the bench. This chopping and changing of our starting eleven for certain games, especially for away matches is not the Arsene Wenger of the past. Arsene usually sticks to a first 11 and that team is kept together through thick and thin, kept home or away and even through periods of bad form from either the whole team or individuals.

After a top performance against Aston Villa with Gervinho, Arsene reverted back to Ramsey out wide against Queens Park Rangers. Out of all the matches to reinforce the midfield, away to a relegation struggler is probably the most surprising move. Arsene has always spoken about not worrying about what the opposition do and just to concentrate on what we do.

So where does that leave us for the future?

Is that Rosicky, Nasri, Hleb, Benayoun and even Ramsey type of wide player back in Arsene’s plans for the long term? If that is the case then we have a collection of players who can realistically slot into one place in the team.

Walcott
Gervinho
Oxlade-Chamberlain

Are all classed as attacking wide forwards who are available from now until the end of the season.

Andrey Arshavin is another forward who is still on our books for now, only time will tell if he will move in the summer but both player and manager have suggested that he could be back.

Ryo Miyachi has excelled at Bolton and has made a huge difference to them in such a short space of time. You would expect a player who has created the most amount of chances per minute in the Premier League since his Bolton debut, to come back to Arsenal for the pre season.

And then you have a proper wide forward in Lukas Podolski who we all fully expect to put pen to paper in the summer and given his goal return, you would expect him to be penciled in as a starter.

That is five, potentially six attacking wide strikers who if Arsene continues his new system change they could all be fighting for one place which seems highly unlikely.

The other question is which defensive/creative wide player is good enough to have an established place in the Arsenal team? Yossi Benayoun is likely to move on in the summer and I cannot imagine that Ramsey will continue to play wide next season.

I do not know what the answers are and I guess these are more questions that I am leaving out there.

Next on the fixture list is a rather tough home game against Manchester City, you would expect that to be the exact type of game where we accommodate a player like Aaron Ramsey to compete with the likes of Gareth Barry, Yaya Toure, David Silva and company.

It will be interesting to see where the balance of this team lies both for the rest of the season and for the new season.

Before I go, can I remind you that James ‘Raul’ Stokes will be posting his weekly piece up on Arsenal Vision later on.

’till then.