Because of his quick feet, brain and low centre of gravity Cazorla was harder to knock off the ball than any 6 footer in the league bar perhaps Dembele at Spurs. His only major weakness was aerially but apart from contesting goal kicks it doesn't really matter. He obviously also had a great eye for a pass too.
Xhaka is awful, GT is blinded by .... just like he was with Giroud
comment by Lexington 125.2 (U8879)
posted 13 hours, 52 minutes ago
Last day of my holiday, so didn't (bother to) see the game.
So surprised to hear that Xhaka didn't have a good game though.
I mean really, apart from everyone on this forum (barring Geets and Andre's Samba Scarf) who could have seen that coming?
'It's a good job you don't run the club...' indeed.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Eh? You won't find me blindly being Xhaka.
Because of his quick feet, brain and low centre of gravity Cazorla was harder to knock off the ball than any 6 footer in the league bar perhaps Dembele at Spurs
----------------------------------------
How many challenges did he put in? What defensive work did he do? When you play in a two deep midfield thats just as important as the other stuff.
comment by Jenius99 (U4918)
posted 50 minutes ago
Because of his quick feet, brain and low centre of gravity Cazorla was harder to knock off the ball than any 6 footer in the league bar perhaps Dembele at Spurs
----------------------------------------
How many challenges did he put in? What defensive work did he do? When you play in a two deep midfield thats just as important as the other stuff.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Santi did a lot of defensive work. His ability to read the game meant he could spot things and stop or slow dangerous attacks. He also did a great job of disrupting opposition attaks and slowing them down which gave the rest of the team a bit of time to get more organised defensively, a crucial requirement. Xhaka on the other hand stands and watches as they run past him and attack the unprotected defence at pace which leaves them exposed, vulnerable and struggling to recover.
And if you think Im exaggerating by blaming him for that, watch out for when players run past him as he stands there or slowly jogs back and that player then contributes to an opposition chance or pulls defenders away from the ball creating space for others. To some degree I think that has been a contributing factor in loads of goals we have conceded since he came into the team and last season I stopped counting at 8 times a player stood near him ran off him into space and scored or assisted. It was January i stopped counting so how many by the end of the season......
comment by Jenius99 (U4918)
posted 2 hours, 5 minutes ago
Because of his quick feet, brain and low centre of gravity Cazorla was harder to knock off the ball than any 6 footer in the league bar perhaps Dembele at Spurs
----------------------------------------
How many challenges did he put in? What defensive work did he do? When you play in a two deep midfield thats just as important as the other stuff.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.espn.com.au/football/arsenal/story/2695701/arsenal-duo-mesut-ozil-santi-cazorla-top-europe-midfielders
Cazorla rated top DM.
CIES' rankings are determined by six key performance indicators: shooting, recovery (intercepting), distribution, take-ons, chance creation and rigour (minimising chances for opponents through duelling).
Fair enough Santi Cazorla was a complete midfield player and we never had a soft middle that cost us points. We won the premier league 3 or 4 times and reached the Champions League late stages even winning it once. Santi was also not injured for years because of the tackles he faced and of course his own tackling were feared in the league because the stats said so. I wish on occasion this site should stop becoming such a p!ssing contest.
Hand on your hearts. Honestly as gooners tell me from your experience of watching games that we have not been soft in the center of the park for years! And if this is a not main issue in us not challenging for the title! Have we ever actually control the midfield against our direct rivals with Arteta, Santi, Wilshere, Cesc, anyone else we dropped in there whose main attributes was passing and linking play and not actually working without the ball?
Quite a nonsensical rant there Jenius.
I'm baffled as to why you can't admit Cazorla was an excellent DM?
*He was at his best with the Coq though, him partnered with Arteta is very soft and an awful combo.
Much like how Flamini allowed others to shine, those proper destroyers are needed even if they are average as fack
Because I don't think he ever even played as a dm. We mostly played with a deep two man midfield under Wenger. Only changed to a 3 at the back in his final years. Wenger always played one of those to drop back and the other to link play forward. Those who dropped back since Gilberto were Song, Denilson, a few games from Arteta, Coq, Flamini, and most recently Xhaka last season when he was partnered by Wilshere or Ramsey.
Its actually this season that Emery is trying to push Xhaka further forward to position himself slightly ahead of Goudenzi or Torreira.
My point is however in this thread that although Santi was in my opinion one of the better players to play for Arsenal in the latter years his output is somewhat exaggerated by a section of fans. The truth is even with Santi as with Cesc, Wilshere, Ramsey, Arteta we have always lacked a player who is able to contribute both on the ball and off the ball defensively. The last such player we had was Vieira. We tried to train Diaby to do that but he was constantly injured after breaking his ankle. Thats the problem we have had and is still present today with Xhaka. I am not talking only abt the holding player now. Maybe Torriera will be the answer to that position. I am referring to someone whose job is to link play needs to be more than just a gifted, technical passer. He needs a bit of devil in him as well.
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Page 4 of 4
posted on 3/9/18
Because of his quick feet, brain and low centre of gravity Cazorla was harder to knock off the ball than any 6 footer in the league bar perhaps Dembele at Spurs. His only major weakness was aerially but apart from contesting goal kicks it doesn't really matter. He obviously also had a great eye for a pass too.
Xhaka is awful, GT is blinded by .... just like he was with Giroud
posted on 3/9/18
comment by Lexington 125.2 (U8879)
posted 13 hours, 52 minutes ago
Last day of my holiday, so didn't (bother to) see the game.
So surprised to hear that Xhaka didn't have a good game though.
I mean really, apart from everyone on this forum (barring Geets and Andre's Samba Scarf) who could have seen that coming?
'It's a good job you don't run the club...' indeed.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Eh? You won't find me blindly being Xhaka.
posted on 3/9/18
Backing *
posted on 3/9/18
Because of his quick feet, brain and low centre of gravity Cazorla was harder to knock off the ball than any 6 footer in the league bar perhaps Dembele at Spurs
----------------------------------------
How many challenges did he put in? What defensive work did he do? When you play in a two deep midfield thats just as important as the other stuff.
posted on 3/9/18
comment by Jenius99 (U4918)
posted 50 minutes ago
Because of his quick feet, brain and low centre of gravity Cazorla was harder to knock off the ball than any 6 footer in the league bar perhaps Dembele at Spurs
----------------------------------------
How many challenges did he put in? What defensive work did he do? When you play in a two deep midfield thats just as important as the other stuff.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Santi did a lot of defensive work. His ability to read the game meant he could spot things and stop or slow dangerous attacks. He also did a great job of disrupting opposition attaks and slowing them down which gave the rest of the team a bit of time to get more organised defensively, a crucial requirement. Xhaka on the other hand stands and watches as they run past him and attack the unprotected defence at pace which leaves them exposed, vulnerable and struggling to recover.
And if you think Im exaggerating by blaming him for that, watch out for when players run past him as he stands there or slowly jogs back and that player then contributes to an opposition chance or pulls defenders away from the ball creating space for others. To some degree I think that has been a contributing factor in loads of goals we have conceded since he came into the team and last season I stopped counting at 8 times a player stood near him ran off him into space and scored or assisted. It was January i stopped counting so how many by the end of the season......
posted on 3/9/18
comment by Jenius99 (U4918)
posted 2 hours, 5 minutes ago
Because of his quick feet, brain and low centre of gravity Cazorla was harder to knock off the ball than any 6 footer in the league bar perhaps Dembele at Spurs
----------------------------------------
How many challenges did he put in? What defensive work did he do? When you play in a two deep midfield thats just as important as the other stuff.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.espn.com.au/football/arsenal/story/2695701/arsenal-duo-mesut-ozil-santi-cazorla-top-europe-midfielders
Cazorla rated top DM.
CIES' rankings are determined by six key performance indicators: shooting, recovery (intercepting), distribution, take-ons, chance creation and rigour (minimising chances for opponents through duelling).
posted on 3/9/18
Fair enough Santi Cazorla was a complete midfield player and we never had a soft middle that cost us points. We won the premier league 3 or 4 times and reached the Champions League late stages even winning it once. Santi was also not injured for years because of the tackles he faced and of course his own tackling were feared in the league because the stats said so. I wish on occasion this site should stop becoming such a p!ssing contest.
posted on 3/9/18
Hand on your hearts. Honestly as gooners tell me from your experience of watching games that we have not been soft in the center of the park for years! And if this is a not main issue in us not challenging for the title! Have we ever actually control the midfield against our direct rivals with Arteta, Santi, Wilshere, Cesc, anyone else we dropped in there whose main attributes was passing and linking play and not actually working without the ball?
posted on 3/9/18
Quite a nonsensical rant there Jenius.
I'm baffled as to why you can't admit Cazorla was an excellent DM?
*He was at his best with the Coq though, him partnered with Arteta is very soft and an awful combo.
Much like how Flamini allowed others to shine, those proper destroyers are needed even if they are average as fack
posted on 3/9/18
Because I don't think he ever even played as a dm. We mostly played with a deep two man midfield under Wenger. Only changed to a 3 at the back in his final years. Wenger always played one of those to drop back and the other to link play forward. Those who dropped back since Gilberto were Song, Denilson, a few games from Arteta, Coq, Flamini, and most recently Xhaka last season when he was partnered by Wilshere or Ramsey.
Its actually this season that Emery is trying to push Xhaka further forward to position himself slightly ahead of Goudenzi or Torreira.
My point is however in this thread that although Santi was in my opinion one of the better players to play for Arsenal in the latter years his output is somewhat exaggerated by a section of fans. The truth is even with Santi as with Cesc, Wilshere, Ramsey, Arteta we have always lacked a player who is able to contribute both on the ball and off the ball defensively. The last such player we had was Vieira. We tried to train Diaby to do that but he was constantly injured after breaking his ankle. Thats the problem we have had and is still present today with Xhaka. I am not talking only abt the holding player now. Maybe Torriera will be the answer to that position. I am referring to someone whose job is to link play needs to be more than just a gifted, technical passer. He needs a bit of devil in him as well.
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