Arsenal: Santi Cazorla Absence May Not Bring Bright Future

Santi Cazorla is only furthering his importance to this Arsenal team with his continued absence. However, he still may not able to bring a bright future.

Since the 2-0 home win over Hull City on February 11th, thanks to two rather controversial and fortuitous Alexis Sanchez goals, Arsenal have won just six games. Of those six wins, two came against non-league opposition in the FA Cup – three have come against struggling Premier League sides – West Ham, Middlesbrough and Leicester City – and the other was a referee-dependent victory over Manchester City in the FA Cup semi-final.

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It might well be the worst run of form that I can remember during Arsene Wenger’s 21-year tenure in North London and has led to many questions regarding the future of the club, from the playing personnel, to the infrastructure of the board, to the role of Wenger himself.

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What has been especially concerning during these struggles is the manner of the defeats. Ambivalent and apathetic, disinterested and almost bored, Arsenal rarely challenged their opponents, were exposed defensively and, perhaps most worryingly, were uncharacteristically mechanical in possession, lacking rhythm and fluidity as they played the ball through midfield areas.

That last issue can be primarily attributed to the absence of one man: Santi Cazorla. Here is an extract from a piece by Phillip Ekuwem in the Daily Mirror that peaked my interest regarding the magical Spaniard:

"“To say the Spaniard’s absence is the main reason for Arsenal’s streak of despondency would be a blatant overestimation of his ability, but not having him on the pitch certainly constitutes a significant part of the team’s fading top four hopes… His absence has resulted in a dissonance that can’t be rectified by any midfielder presently within the club’s ranks.”"

On Thursday night, in rather stupid fashion considering that I had work on the following morning, I stayed up late to watch the NFL draft. In it, two top tier talents dropped through the opening round due to injury concerns: Jonathan Allen and Rueben Foster, both of Alabama.

I retell this story only to highlight the importance that NFL teams place on the reliability and the durability of their players. Notable stars are regularly cut or traded because the team believes that, physically, they can no longer handle the demands of the sport and that they will not reap the rewards of keeping them at the organisation due to prolonged absences through injury.

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And that is why the eventual return of Cazorla is something that far from guarantees a brighter future for Arsenal. He may well be the key, missing cog in the machine. But if he continues to struggle with injuries, then all he will be is missing, and that is no use to the Gunners whatsoever.