Arsenal: Henrikh Mkhitaryan preference shows winger problem
Henrikh Mkhitaryan conducted an ‘ask me anything’ on Reddit on Wednesday. In it, he stated that he prefers to play centrally. This illustrates the greater wide problem at Arsenal. Nobody actually wants to play there.
On Thursday, Henrikh Mkhitaryan hosted an ‘ask me anything’ session on Reddit where he invited fans to question him about whatever they wanted. You can view all the questions and answers in this lovely summary by Football.London.
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The one answer that caught my eye was when he was asked about his preferred position. I am guessing the questioner had the same inkling that I — and many others — have had for much of the season: Mkhitaryan does not especially like playing out wide.
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Indeed, the Arsenal midfielder confirmed such suspicions, stating:
"“I like to play in the centre more than on the wing but playing on the wing, you have a different plan of the game. The most important thing is to play. It doesn’t matter where! I am just trying to help the team as much as I can and to make proud my fellow Armenians.”"
Politically, he is quick to add the caveat that he is happy to play wherever the manager selects him and that he is simply ‘trying to help the team’ as much as possible. But the initial point still stands: Mkhitaryan wants to play as a central attacking midfielder. And yet, so far this season, he has been Arsenal’s primary wide attacker.
The other player that Unai Emery has relied upon to fill the wide positions most this season is Alex Iwobi. The Nigerian, like Mkhitaryan, has the qualities to play on the flanks, with decent pace, a dangerous burst of acceleration and quick feet when dribbling with the ball, but his most natural position is also centrally.
The same can be said for new signing Denis Suarez, who Emery specifically stated was brought to the club because of his ability to play on either flank or in the number 10 position. Emery is right. He does have the ability to play out wide, with skilful play on the ball, deceptive speed and a nice eye for a pass. But like Iwobi and Mkhitaryan, while he can play on the wing, he should be playing from a central position.
This points at a major problem with the current make-up of the squad: there are no natural wingers. It is not that Arsenal do not have players capable of playing out wide. In this trio, along with the adapted Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Sead Kolasinac and even Mesut Ozil or Aaron Ramsey, they do. But in every single case, their best position is not out wide.
In fact, I would argue that there is not one player in the squad whose best position is winger. And that, in the modern game where width and speed are so important, is absolutely criminal. When does the summer transfer window start again?