Martin Keown Raises Interesting Questions About Arsenal’s Midfield

With all the injuries plaguing Arsenal, it only makes sense that one or two battered players are going to be missed. Surely Hector Bellerin is missed. His pace and intelligence in both attacking and defending had become a vital piece of Arsenal’s winning formula. But the one guy that Arsenal really miss, according to Martin Keown (as quoted by the Daily Star), is the Welshman, Aaron Ramsey.

"Santi Cazorla, Arsenal’s chief creator from deep, could barely get on the ball and I think this is largely down to the loss of Aaron Ramsey through injury. In years gone by, Arsenal have often used an energetic player out wide — such as Ray Parlour — to bolster the midfield and enable them to dominate. But Joel Campbell isn’t that sort of player, and with him filling in for Ramsey on the righthand side Arsenal were unable to outnumber Tottenham in the build up to their attacking moves."

This is a very interesting point to make. At the beginning of the season, the outcry was over the lack of width Arsenal possessed. They had too many midfielders all crammed into one space and teams could bunch up and thwart Arsenal’s mass of collective minds.

The idea was that Arsenal needed two wingers. That way they could spread out the pitch and give their central figures some space to operate.

What Martin Keown says is the complete opposite. Keown claims that Arsenal are severely missing Aaron Ramsey because he provides Arsenal with more girth where it matters – in the middle of the pitch.

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Against Tottenham, what Keown said was proven true. Arsenal were absolutely bullied in the middle of the pitch, just like at Bayern Munich. Santi Cazorla looked helpless. Arsenal were thin as can be with Olivier Giroud, Joel Campbell, Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil all forming a front line much like the defensive back line. It left two guys to manage the midfield.

Aaron Ramsey would have been invaluable in this scenario. It would have turned into much more of a 4-3-3 rather than a 4-2-4 that just spells trouble. Aaron Ramsey on the wings provided Arsenal with a peripheral midfielder that controlled the ball, rarely gave it away, and completed a healthy portion of his passes. He was another guy who was not afraid to get physical and he was capable of dominating in the middle of the pitch.

While Joel Campbell has been very good since taking over, he is a winger, not a midfielder. He is always going to bomb forward long before he hangs out in the middle of the pitch. Ramsey’s box-to-box capabilities keep him relevant everywhere on the pitch.

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Assuming that is the case, and Arsenal do need to change, they will revert back to their old ways when Ramsey gets back. The problem there is that it had caused a problem in the past, so how long before it causes a problem again?

Arsene Wenger needs to start deploying a team based on the opponent, not based on what is working for him. Different teams need different tactics. It was covered here on Pain in the Arsenal earlier in the year. Games against Watford would require an Olivier Giroud-type striker but games against Everton would benefit from a Theo Walcott-type striker. Watford is a physical team that sits deep and invites the other team to control the ball. That is when balls are useful when served into the box. There is no space to get in behind them.

But against Everton, who aim to hold a high line and go toe-to-toe against whoever they play, Walcott would easily be able to make runs and find space.

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The same is apparent with the midfield. Clubs like Tottenham, who control the midfield, would best be countered by enlisting midfielders of your own to counteract them. Yet high-flying teams with very little midfield presence can be matched with two wingers rampaging the touchlines.

Granted, a lot of the problem has to do with injuries. Arsenal do not have any midfield options that could have fit the role that Ramsey vacated. Wenger did his best to compensate by slipping Mathieu Flamini on at half and that realization may be a fantastic sign of things to come. Wenger has proven that he is still learning to adjust. Now he just needs to proactively adjust and not re-actively adjust.