Since our game is on Saturday, things are quieter than usual. However, there's talk Tomas Rosicky will extend his contact sooner rather than later, so we have an opportunity to discuss just what the Czech brings to the team and why the manager is so keen to keep him.
In the immediate aftermath of our game against Sunderland, Tomas drew praise from Arsene, who likened the 33-year-old to Dennis Bergkamp. No small comparison, either, since Dennis just had his statue unveiled.
Wenger talked (however brief) of Tomas' qualities, highlighting the Czech's loyalty to the club as one of the rarest things in modern football. Our experienced midfielder has been pulling on the Arsenal shirt for almost eight years now (only Walcott and Sagna play longer) and, though I may be mistaken, Tomas has had the same wages for the duration of this period.
In one way, it's easy to keep him. Tomas doesn't want a shiny new salary, nor a long-term contract. But Wenger was right when he said Rosicky is an exception to the general rule. Tomas loves the Club and is prepared to stay with us whatever. I don't know, whether other clubs approached the Czech, but I get the feeling those clubs would have been turned down. I call it loyalty, others may apply other terms to Rosicky's stance.
However, it's not just his devotion that deserves praise. Though he is 33, Tomas is full of energy and drive. It's not a coincidence that our game against Sunderland is among the best, when it came to denying our opponents space and putting them under pressure. We've talked how Rosicky sets the right (frenetic) tempo to our game and it is more apparent when we're forced to play off the ball. He closes men in possession tirelessly and it had a direct influence at least twice. First, when he scored against Tottenham. Saturday was a second time. You can read more about the role Tomas played in our 4-1 win here. It's a quite brilliant piece of analysis.
Ozil doesn't do the same amount of work off the ball as the Czech. Or, at least, he doesn't do it often enough to make it count. He's an another type of player, one who prefers to split defences open with an inch-perfect pass. Mesut cuts a less noticeable figure on the pitch, yet his raw numbers are much better than that of Tomas. Sure, he plays more, but the point I'm trying to get across, is that different styles of play is normal and both players are equally important. Some, however, have already written Ozil off, which just goes to demonstrate how quickly people's opinion change.
Honestly, I don't understand the criticism aimed at the German international. For example, all this crap about him shying away from his defensive duties. Ozil does do them, but he's not a defender, for God's sake, he can't be as effective at tackling or intercepting the ball as our back four + defensive midfielders. And for those who think Ozil doesn't track runners, he's second in distance covered to only Flamini (in the Bayern game). Yes, Ozil is going through a bad patch of form, but we all know he's a world-class footballer. He'll find his game soon enough, I'm sure he will. All Mesut needs is support. If not from everyone, then definitely from Arsenal fans. We were all happy when Ozil was signed for a reason and if every time Mesut's form takes a dip we start calling him a shitty footballer, it would have been best if he hadn't signed at all. Give the man some support, he needs it as much as everyone else, even though he's our all-time record transfer.
Until later
In the immediate aftermath of our game against Sunderland, Tomas drew praise from Arsene, who likened the 33-year-old to Dennis Bergkamp. No small comparison, either, since Dennis just had his statue unveiled.
Wenger talked (however brief) of Tomas' qualities, highlighting the Czech's loyalty to the club as one of the rarest things in modern football. Our experienced midfielder has been pulling on the Arsenal shirt for almost eight years now (only Walcott and Sagna play longer) and, though I may be mistaken, Tomas has had the same wages for the duration of this period.
In one way, it's easy to keep him. Tomas doesn't want a shiny new salary, nor a long-term contract. But Wenger was right when he said Rosicky is an exception to the general rule. Tomas loves the Club and is prepared to stay with us whatever. I don't know, whether other clubs approached the Czech, but I get the feeling those clubs would have been turned down. I call it loyalty, others may apply other terms to Rosicky's stance.
However, it's not just his devotion that deserves praise. Though he is 33, Tomas is full of energy and drive. It's not a coincidence that our game against Sunderland is among the best, when it came to denying our opponents space and putting them under pressure. We've talked how Rosicky sets the right (frenetic) tempo to our game and it is more apparent when we're forced to play off the ball. He closes men in possession tirelessly and it had a direct influence at least twice. First, when he scored against Tottenham. Saturday was a second time. You can read more about the role Tomas played in our 4-1 win here. It's a quite brilliant piece of analysis.
Ozil doesn't do the same amount of work off the ball as the Czech. Or, at least, he doesn't do it often enough to make it count. He's an another type of player, one who prefers to split defences open with an inch-perfect pass. Mesut cuts a less noticeable figure on the pitch, yet his raw numbers are much better than that of Tomas. Sure, he plays more, but the point I'm trying to get across, is that different styles of play is normal and both players are equally important. Some, however, have already written Ozil off, which just goes to demonstrate how quickly people's opinion change.
Honestly, I don't understand the criticism aimed at the German international. For example, all this crap about him shying away from his defensive duties. Ozil does do them, but he's not a defender, for God's sake, he can't be as effective at tackling or intercepting the ball as our back four + defensive midfielders. And for those who think Ozil doesn't track runners, he's second in distance covered to only Flamini (in the Bayern game). Yes, Ozil is going through a bad patch of form, but we all know he's a world-class footballer. He'll find his game soon enough, I'm sure he will. All Mesut needs is support. If not from everyone, then definitely from Arsenal fans. We were all happy when Ozil was signed for a reason and if every time Mesut's form takes a dip we start calling him a shitty footballer, it would have been best if he hadn't signed at all. Give the man some support, he needs it as much as everyone else, even though he's our all-time record transfer.
Until later