Arsenal Central Midfield Going In A New Direction

Arsenal’s defensive midfield partnership of Coquelin and El Neny is one that could be cultivated by Arsene Wenger. Should Wenger keep them in the first team?

Due to Arsenal’s typical injury crisis that happened at the start of the 2016 winter period, a new defensive midfield partnership has formed in Francis Coquelin and Mohamed El Neny.

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Both somewhat unlikely first-team starters, the former loan outcast Coquelin and his newly arrived Egyptian teammate El Neny have become the mainstays in the “2” of Arsenal’s preferred 4-2-3-1 tactic. In a team that started with Spanish playmaker Santi Cazorla partnering Coquelin in defensive midfield, now the Gunners have a less creative, more box-to-box player sitting alongside Coquelin.

Arsenal fans have been hot and cold about this new partnership since its inception, citing El Neny’s lack of ability to make those counter-attack passes that Cazorla can make on a regular basis as a weak point in the midfield right now.

Looking at the statistics the two midfielders have put together while playing alongside one another, Francis Coquelin has averaged three more defensive actions per game when El Neny is in the team.

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In the fifteen games without El Neny, Coquelin made 35 interceptions and 15 clearances in total, around approximately 2.33 and 1.00 per game. Since El Neny’s introduction to the first eleven, Coquelin has made 32 interceptions – nearly as many as he had had for the first fifteen games – as well as four clearances and three blocks.

Coquelin’s ability to cut out passes has been put on display in recent weeks, and it is clearly one of his strengths as he leads the league in that category in the last six games. His partner El Neny leads Premier League midfielders in another category: pass accuracy.

Since his induction into the first team, Mohamed El Neny has made 276 successful passes while only misplacing 23, making for a pass accuracy 93%. That has been the highest of any central midfielder in the past six Premier League matches, and also far higher than any other member of the Arsenal midfield.

As fans have seen, El Neny’s ability to pick a long range pass is not that of Mesut Ozil or Santi Cazorla. Of those 276 successful passes, only eight have been more than 25 yard passes. Skills like this develop within a player’s career, and as the Egyptian gains more experience under Arsene Wenger he will learn to make those passes.

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However, El Neny is doing something that has been missing in the Arsenal midfield for a long time: making the simple plays. Too many players who are tasked with creating a tempo for the Gunners are too extravagant with their passes, and don’t often enough give the ball up to somebody else.

Aaron Ramsey, who, at the beginning of the season was picked by Arsenal fans as a key player if they wanted to have a good season, has been underwhelming. His pass accuracy of 85% is far lower than El Neny’s. In fact it is the lowest amongst Arsenal midfielders. Without many goals or assists to his name on the season, fans have to wonder what his huge wage bill has been paying for.

Ramsey is definitely a player guilty of avoiding a simple pass in favor of attempting a world-beater. At times this audacity can be advantageous, but at times we need a player who can play it cool and keep the ball rather than gifting it to the opposition.

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Now that Jack Wilshere is returning and Santi Cazorla is set to return, how long will it be before Arsene Wenger switches around his side? Only time will tell. The team’s results in the last six games have been two wins, two draws and two defeats, but if you observe the statistics it appears as if these two members of the current Arsenal side are doing exactly what’s required of them.