Arsenal: Dani Ceballos has that quality no one else seems to have

Arsenal were yet again treated to a showcase of why Dani Ceballos is here, as he continues to exhibit one thing that this team has egregiously lacked.

I haven’t had a good gush over Dani Ceballos since Burnley, so allow me to have one here, because the Arsenal man (yes, Arsenal man) is well deserving of it.

Against Watford, Ceballos wasn’t perfect. He had some questionable moments where it felt like he was trying to do too much, or felt like he wasn’t quite sure what to do at all, but at the heart of his game was one clear thing that we have been so starved of in years past.

And that key thing is energy. That’s it, just energy. I don’t need precision (well I do, but for the argument’s sake), I don’t need fancy footwork and ingenuity. Those are all great additions to the total package, but the one thing Ceballos kept bringing to this club when it felt bogged down was energy.

When the semi-circle pass-a-thon began, with the Gunners tapping the ball around the box, Ceballos was the guy that took it and said, “that’s enough, let’s actually do something.”

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He twisted and turned through layers of yellow shirts and always emerged in a position of more danger than the club had managed before. He is willing to take chances, he is willing to do the grunt work, and he’s proving to be a crucial part of this team.

And not just in the attack. He may not be a defensive midfielder, but his ability to just be there, constantly, when the opposition has the ball is such a vital piece of the puzzle as well. he swarms the ball and even when he doesn’t win it, he gets in the way. He slows it down. And as we’ve learned from so many failed defensive efforts, slowing down the counter attack could be the difference maker.

Things changed when he came off against Watford. Why he came off in the 60th, I don’t know. But the energy was taken out of the club, helped on by the collapse that we all saw coming. Maybe it’s a coincidence, but needless to say, when Ceballos is out there, there is life. Energy. Passion.

When he’s not? Semi-circle pass-a-thons and complete lack of fight to come back in a match you were once on top of. Probably not a coincidence. And look at that, an entire praise piece without a mention to Santi Cazorla.