Santi Cazorla’s Success At Arsenal Is An Anomaly

It sounds like a token Arsenal move to start a creative midfielder that is 5’5″ as a defensive midfielder. Mikel Arteta much? However, this time, with Santi Cazorla, it worked. Somehow, someway.

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Santi Cazorla has always been one of the best – and most underrated – midfielders in the league/world but he never seemed to seize the spotlight. His overall success with Arsenal is really an anomaly. How can someone so small in stature and so lacking in defensive qualities somehow be a successful defensive midfielder on a team that is historically undersized, at least recently?

Recent stats have revealed that no one has more possession won in the defensive third than Santi Cazorla. He has won possession 44 times in that area. That is far more than Francis Coquelin and also more than most defenders are averaging.

How?

Santi Cazorla always gave Arsene Wenger a bit of premonition. The one thing that nearly held the transfer back was Cazorla’s stature and Wenger’s questioning whether or not he could make it in the physical EPL. But the signing was made and Santi Cazorla came to Arsenal to ply his trade.

In his first season, he raked in 12 goals and 11 assists. Great signing, Wenger. But as the feature on WhoScored.com points out, it was pretty well established that Wenger would go for “a more household name” to take the No. 10 role. They got that household name in Mesut Ozil.

The statistics show that Cazorla’s impact dropped immediately, and for obvious reason. He was forced out wide and all over the place. But not in his actual position. However, his overall impact was still very clear.

Nowadays, Arsenal have been deploying Santi Cazorla in a defensive role. It makes no sense. Literally, no sense. But it is working. Santi Cazorla is an incredibly gifted midfielder. The newest craze, player’s choosing their “ultimate XI” has proven that Santi Cazorla is pretty widely respected in the footballing world.

And yet, somehow he still manages to fly under the radar. How can someone that is so good get so little notice by the general public?

Arsenal supporters have a pretty good understanding of what they have in Santi Cazorla. But not even that dedicated fan base could have expected that he would be a qualified defensive midfielder. But that is exactly what he is.