What does this mean for the club? I feel that Arsenal suffered at times from Song falling in love with his clear development into a CM rather than the DM position the club needed. He was excellent in attack, sometimes, but failed to track back often and Arsenal paid the price defensively more often than Song was able to deliver those wonderful chip passes. The frequency with which Song started to rely on those passes led to Arsenal having the ball less and being more

I’m not going to get into any stats, that’s not what this is about. Arsene had to bring order back to the team and had to dismantle the inept core that have brought the club absolutely nothing these last few years.

Many will miss his jovial demeanor. Most of us will miss his knack for the dramatic. His physical presence was always a plus; too bad it was often out of position. The talent that was brought out by Arsene is undeniable, especially when you compare this version of Song to the one that debuted versus Barnet. In the end, he became his own biggest fan, like so many within this group, and thinks he can do better elsewhere. That elsewhere is Barcelona, and as we all know, that will be a tough proposition for the often lackadaisical midfielder.

Hleb once thought he could do better, so did Petit, Overmars, Gio. Their quality was much more undeniable than Song, and alas they failed to impress at the Camp Nou. I wish him the best, but he is already set to be used from the bench, and to me that is a sign that for all that he has learned, and the attitude that has been reported to posses now, he certainly doesn’t value himself or his talents much, especially when he already knows he begins his career at FCB as a backup.

What does this mean for the club? I feel that Arsenal suffered at times from Song falling in love with his clear development into a CM rather than the DM position the club needed. He was excellent in attack, sometimes, but failed to track back often and Arsenal paid the price defensively more often than Song was able to deliver those wonderful chip passes. The frequency with which Song started to rely on those passes led to Arsenal having the ball less and being more susceptible to a counter, a double edge sword. A true DM is needed; plain and simple. Couple that with a potential stand in for Jack whilst he recovers, and AFC are stacked in midfield.

Lucky for us we have a manager that has been freed up a bit, so it seems, or one that is at his wits end with this group. Wenger is reportedly close to concluding a deal for Sahin, and reports are out that he also wants a true DM. For my money there is only one name that needs to be discussed, M’Vila. Whoever it ends up being, be sure to know they will make the team better.

Arsenal has lacked, for the longest time, a true anchor man. Our fullbacks love to push forward per our system, leaving our center backs isolated without that player in front of them to help out. Song, for all his great play, tended to drift forward and give the ball away often; making it doubly uncomfortable for our CB’s to cope at times. The Gunners may suffer from the lack of his assists, but will gain from a better defense. I for one am all for that.

Arsenal will survive and thrive from now on. Why? Wenger has decided to blend talent with experience in choosing new incorporations, but more and more these are now players that WANT to be at Arsenal. When you have that as one of your prerequisites, you can never go wrong.

I see life without Song being a little less stressful, but at the same time a little more boring. When that translates into more W’s, I am sure we won’t mind so much.