
While scouring through the Coquelin videos, it struck me just how good that lad is at winning the ball back. We all know this already of course but when you watch his highlight reel, it's just amazing. The speed of which he gets across the pitch and the timing of his challenges is really second to none. Rosicky is just such a classy player but at 35 and coming off a long term injury, I don't see him starting many games unfortunately, perhaps a few cup games perhaps but what a player to bring off the bench when you want to grab some control of the game. Watching Ramsey earlier in the season, I thought to myself that a fit and younger Rosicky would suit that role so well.

It’s hard not to like someone who knows their limits, or put another way, it’s difficult to like someone who is unaware of their limitations. That mate who has one too many and offends every person in the bar or that guy who tries to talk to every 8/10 that he sees. Alex Song springs to mind, a player who was tasked with patrolling the Arsenal midfield, protecting our often maligned back four and acting as our safety net when our attacks broke down. He did none of these things. In fact looking at his statistics this season, he wins a measly 0.8 aerial duels a game compared to Coquelin’s 3.1. In fact, despite his affection for joining in on the attack, his pass completion rate stands at a shocking 76% behind Coquelin’s 83%; whilst a fair amount of that is down to long ball tactics, it is also Song attempting through passes that not even Ozil would dare try. No, it is Coquelin’s limitations that make him so valuable to this Arsenal squad. He rarely joins the attacks, preferring to either sit back between

Aaron Ramsey has praised the defensive work of Francis Coquelin in the middle of midfield. The Frenchman who came back from Charlton on loan a different player has given Aaron Ramsey the keys to roam forward and bomb into the opposition box and Ramsey appreciates the cover his team mates
Alex Song has been providing passes like his former captain ever since Cesc jumped ship. I recently asked the question as to whether Alex Song could contribute more to the team further forward and the general consensuses was that he would be or in fact is more effective from a deeper position and that may well be the case. Song has more time and space to pick
I found myself getting rather snappy when I glanced across a headline on a news feed about Manchester City swooping for van Persie after contract... blah blah. I didn't even complete the headline before screaming out obscenities on my way to the train station this morning. Let alone click the link. Please, if you can do one thing for me today, it is please do not click that hit whoring filth. We do not need to encourage them any further to make up news rather than report on actual news
A player like Zinedine Zidane started out as a right sided player but because of his influence he was moved inside so he could be more involved in the game. The same was the case for Dennis Bergkamp at Ajax and even our very own Robin van Persie who last contributed to Feyenoord from the left wing. When you are a player who flickers in and out of games and find it difficult to dictate a