Arsenal: The influence of Santi Cazorla cannot be overstated

Santi Cazorla has missed almost two years of football. I’m not sure his influence on and importance to this Arsenal side can be overstated.

I am not usually one to bemoan the detrimental, decimating ramifications of injuries. While, as someone who has suffered a mire of long-term injury issues, I have great sympathy for the individual going through them — they really are horrible –, I do not count them as a viable excuse for a team’s inability to perform across a whole season.

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The odd game can be explained, perhaps, by a series of key absentees. But over the course of a year-long campaign when injuries and suspensions are inevitable, I believe that it is up to the manager and the club to plan in a manner that can handle the impact of injuries on the squad. It is only in poor planning that injuries substantially derail seasons.

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That said, there is perhaps one player that I make an exception for. I am not sure that the impact of the extended absence of Santi Cazorla on Arsenal football club can be overstated. And Arsene Wenger agrees, at least to an extent. With the Spaniard’s contract set to expire at the end of the season and his future very much up in the air, he was the subject of a series of questions in Wenger’s press conference on Thursday morning. Here is what Wenger said:

"“We miss him a lot. I never spoke about it in the press conferences, or not many times, as he was not the subject of the debate, but we have missed him a lot in our game. He is an exceptional football player and it is very sad what happened to him, and very sad for Arsenal as well.”"

I could not agree more. I do not really have many stats for my staunch belief in the importance of Cazorla. There is this one: As of February 2017, from 2013 through to that point, Arsenal averaged 2.15 points-per-game with Cazorla and just 1.70 without Cazorla. It is more from watching the games that you understand the quiet, soft, subdued, almost unspoken influence of the diminutive midfielder.

For instance, in the past 18 months, Arsenal have proven themselves extremely vulnerable against high-pressing opponents. None of their central midfielders, perhaps other than Jack Wilshere when you catch him on a good day, have the calmness and quality on the ball to receive it under immediate pressure, spin away, and initiate an attack like Cazorla does. It has always been one of my biggest gripes with Granit Xhaka.

The tempo of Arsenal’s passing has also slowed, ponderous through the thirds, unable to shift the ball in and out of the midfield with pace, precision and attacking intent. It is no surprise that the Gunners’ are suffering perhaps their worst season under Wenger when Cazorla hasn’t played a single minute.

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I do not think that it is possible to overstate the importance of Cazorla’s influence. That does not excuse the disparaging form since October 2016, the last time that he took to the pitch for the north London club. But it does provide a context to the brilliance of the little man, a truly wonderful footballer that we may never get to see again.