Midfield balance

Arsenal's U18's have certainly come leaps and bounds this season. There perfect balance in their midfield is provided through Coquelin's holding play, Jay-Emannuel Thomas's driving force and Jack Wilsheres skill and creativity in the midfield. Good midfield balance is vital in todays modern game. Wenger has been very aware of this. This has been shown on numerous occasions. Big games have seen combinations of Diaby, Denilson, Song and Fabregas. All aimed to provide balance as none are seen as major attacking forces. For me Denilson and Fabregas are naturally gifted with their positional play as they are pure central midfielders. Song started the season as a central defender which means that naturally when put in a makeshift midfielder role he will hold. In this position he has improved grately. For me Diaby is the poorest positionaly but this may not entirely be his own fault. When first siged he was seen as the next Patrick Vieira, so therefore Arsenal's new holding midfielder. But at many times this season (Fenerbache stands out in my mind) he has been played in the role behind the striker, during this game he had one of his best in an Arsenal shirt, but i believe its safe to say he is not the next massiah of the ''Bergkamp role''. Even on occasions he has even been put on the left, but this has had its positives as it has helped with his ball manipulation but at the cost of his positional play. Last season Arsenal has what Wenger described as his ''best central midfield pairing'' since he had been in charge. Balance-wise this was very true. Fabregas and Flamini complemented each other so well. Flamini was the workhorse, winning countless tackles and offloading the ball to Fabregas to playmake and create chances.

The centre is not the only area of midfield that needs balance and Wenger certainly knows this. This is why he has consistantly signed attacking central midfielders and but them on the wings and right footed players on the left handside. Many examples such as; Pires, Ljungberg, Hleb, Rosicky and even Overmars to an extent. This has its positives and negatives. Playing central players wide can certainly help with keeping possession and also helps to create more goals (Pires was excellent at cutting it in from the left and curling it into the far corner). The downside of this is that it encourages less crosses and prevents the advantages of a good attacking headerer of the ball such as Adebayor and Bendtner.

Wengers tactics may have come into disripute in recent seasons but tactically he is one of the greatest managers to grace the premier league. How can we forget Thierry Henry's transition from the wing to become one of the greatest strikers in history. The fans must get behind the team and manager more than ever if they want any kind of success. Just leave it to Arsene and sooner rather than later this team will begin to reap the rewards.