Arsenal: Midfield is all about the pairing all over again

Arsenal’s midfield seems to always be the talk of the town, and we are yet again talking about how best to match-up the midfield pairing.

Arsenal‘s midfield, over the past like, 10 years, has been the subject of heated debate. It’s been unique in that it has been the one position that is never understaffed, unlike up top and on defense.

There have been almost too many midfielders to choose from, and it has often left fans toying around with who they most want to see match up in a midfield pairing. Which isn’t an easy equation to solve.

Needless to say, there are certain things we don’t want. We don’t want Granit Xhaka or Aaron Ramsey being the deepest midfielder. We didn’t want Francis Coquelin to get too far forward. We didn’t want Jack Wilshere to sink too deep either. We didn’t want Mikel Arteta to be a defensive midfielder at all.

There have been a lot of things to consider, and nowadays, there still are.

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Three games into the season, we have seen two pairings. Matteo Guendouzi starts with Xhaka every match, but inevitably, Xhaka as the defensive midfielder wouldn’t work and Lucas Torreira would come on in his stead.

Guendouzi and Xhaka doesn’t work. That much is certain. Guendouzi doesn’t give a hoot about where he positions himself on the pitch and Xhaka needs freedom to get forward, otherwise he’s more than a tad bit frustrating.

But Guendouzi and Torreira didn’t work to perfection either (although that may just be a matter of time). They both have tremendous work ethic and defensive capabilities, but they don’t have a lot of of attacking prowess either, and can be a bit loose when it comes to moving the ball forward.

And then we saw Xhaka and Torreira. I think I drooled a little. With Torreira sitting back, winning the ball, and with Xhaka having the freedom to look forward, not back, the midfield turned into a well-oiled machine. Xhaka made some fantastic, line-breaking passes and Torreira didn’t have to do much of anything in terms of moving the ball forward.

I want more of that partnership. I hate to cast Guendouzi aside, given that he has been our best performer, and maybe now isn’t the time to do it, but Xhaka and Torreira looked like it could really work. We just need to see more of it.