Arsenal: Elneny And Xhaka May Not Be Enough Steel

The recent additions of Mohamed Elneny and Granit Xhaka have quietened the shouts for a midfield destroyer but do Arsenal still require a midfielder of Patrick Viera’s ilk?

Many reasons have been used to explain Arsenal’s Premier League trophy drought but one that always seems to resurface is the fact that Arsenal have never truly replaced Patrick Viera with a midfield powerhouse.

Between 1995 and 2005, the Gunners boasted some of the world’s best defensive midfielders in Petit, Viera and Gilberto Silva. All three of these bruisers were brilliant during their spells at Arsenal and led the club to many successes over the years. But has Arsene effectively replaced them in the current set-up?

In the early Emirates stadium years, supporters had to endure Arteta and Flamini as our prime defensive midfielders. While both did an admirable job, they were far from the level of the trio mentioned above.

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More recently, though, Wenger seems to have addressed this area of concern. While the defensive talents of Coquelin cannot be fully put down to Wenger’s nous (due to his freak emergence in the side two years ago), his acquisitions of Elneny and Xhaka were certainly purposefully adept. These two were signed specifically to accommodate the defensive midfield position.

Yet despite these purchases, many fans and pundits still yearn for the purchase of an imposing defensive midfielder. Elneny, while very impressive in his short Arsenal tenure so far, is more of a controlling presence than a destroyer type.

Even Xhaka is seen by many as more of a box-to-box operator and despite his fouling antics over the weekend, is not the pure bruiser Arsenal fans craved. While Coquelin’s style of play most resembles that of a Vieira or Petit, he is not quite the physical specimen compared to his French predecessors .

Put down on paper, the skill set of these three players (Coquelin, Elneny and Xhaka) is certainly impressive and they definitely represent an upgrade on the Arteta-Flamini partnership. Yet somehow, I feel the midfield would have been better suited to the steel of say an N’golo Kante type player.

Kante is a player who’s defensive capabilities are immense and would have much lessened the chance of the capitulation we witnessed against Liverpool at the weekend.

A player of real physical and defensive dominance would perfectly complement the attacking talents of nimble playmakers such as Ozil and Cazorla and give Arsenal the bite and leadership they have so obviously lacked in recent years.

Despite this view, any sane Arsenal fan can see that the areas of central defence and striker present a much more pressing transfer need. A true midfield enforcer is further down the pecking order of requirements, with the right-wing, centre-half and striker also being troublesome positions. But I think an addition such as Krychowiak or Kante this summer would definitely have appeased some of the Wenger Out brigade more than our current summer signings have.

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So what do you think Gooners? Does Arsenal require additional midfield steel or are the current crop of defensive midfielders strong enough to help mount a serious title challenge?

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