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A case of Head vs Heart at Arsenal

Date: 14th August 2011 at 10:01 am

Written by Arsenal-Mania

Signed for pennies, (soon to be) sold for pounds, and with plenty

of good memories in between. One of my favourite ever players at the Arsenal, with fire and

passion as well as quality, who single handedly won us game after game at his peak, and scored*that* goal against *them* from up the road. And yet, and yet. The events of this summer havetarnished my memories of a player I thought would write himself into Arsenal history as a

legend, as CescFabregas, AFC.

No, the sad truth is, he will never receive the kind of warm welcome afforded to players such asHenry, Bergkamp, Pres et al. And it didnt have to be this way.

I dont pretend to have an inside view of the Arsenal board room, but as far as I can see, havingdecided we would be prepared to sell, we would have set Barca a fee, a deadline, and when they

failed to meet it (because, essentially, they cant afford what they want, and therefore shouldnt

be allowed to have it) we could have told them to, er hem, go away.

As it is, we are selling a world class player for well under his market value, to a club who have

behaved in a deplorable fashion (from board room and coach right down to the little midgets oftheir midfield) because CescFabregas must have told someone at Arsenal that he is determined to

leave. When a selling club has a prized asset, the buying club usually has to pay well abovemarket value to prise him away, and yet quoted offers for Cesc have all been below the 35m

mark, when even 40m would be an absolute steal. On recent form, he is twice the player thatFernando Torres is, and yet is being peddled for a fraction of the cost.

I dont wish to labour the point, as we are all aware that we are underselling a quality player

because we just want an end to the situation, so we can all move on. I just find it a littledepressing that a player portrayed as highly professional has forced a move through, when to my

mind, it is not the best time for any party involved.

There are reasons why Arsenal could benefit from this sale, but no one would have been

unhappy if Cesc had stayed his quality is undeniable. From a Barca perspective, they cannotafford him nor do they have room to regularly accommodate him in their side, and from Cescs

own perspective, its hard to imagine that a player with such a competitive instinct will be

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content to be a squad player, rotated from the bench. He and Barca have the least to gain (apartfrom a cut-price fee, it seems) yet they have been the ones to force through the transfer.

My head said that Cesc would leave eventually, my heart hoped that he would stay longer, and

that success would make him stay forever. Time appears to have rushed past, somewhat, and

now both head and heart have to adjust to the idea that he wont be here next season. Yet I findthat the prospect of facing a Barcelona side containing Fabregas would simply add to the desireto win, in contrast to the feeling when we play against sides containing Gunners who served their

time, and did right by the club. Remember when we beat Shakhtar 5-1, and we celebrated all 6goals as scored by one of ours? Be aware, Cesc, that kind of reaction will now never be afforded

to you.

Personally, I dont believe the player is desperately unhappy earning 6m a year, captaining ateam he loves, with the respect (and frankly, idolatry) of fans and teammates alike, so I would

have kept him until Barca could afford to scrape together his market worth. However, it seemsthat the powers that be have decided the time is right, instilling anxiety into many Arsenal fans.

So just how bleak does the post-Cesc era look?

We all know what he brings to the team class, consistency and that little bit of magic but

what he gives with one hand, he takes with the other. Because of his consistency, his magic, hecould usually make the difference at crucial times, yet it has led many of our players to pass the

buck and let responsibility for driving this team to success fall upon the shoulders of theSpaniard. Sharing this responsibility will allow each player more freedom, but also force them to

mature, and be able to put in a shift when it really matters.

It is widely accepted that our formation the last few years has been designed to get the best fromCesc, but as a result, it has had the downside of being less dynamic through the middle. In many

ways, it has split the team into attack and defence, whereas the best sides attack and defend as ateam. At present, defending is largely done by the back five and Song, occasionally Wilshere,

while the forwards have little or no defensive responsibility. In Cescs first season at Arsenal, hewas up and down the pitch like a Jack-in-the-Box, making tackles and adding great energy to the

team. In the last couple of years, its difficult to remember Cesc making a tackle or chasing back.I would go so far as to say that van Persie probably makes more of an effort to close down

opponents than a player who is ostensibly a midfielder. Certainly according to WhoScored,Fabregas makes only 1.6 tackles per game, lower than Song, Diaby, Wilshere, and (believe it or

not) Denilson, amongst others, and makes less interceptions.

Its difficult to know how much of that is down to his injuries, and how much is just laziness I

would suggest that it is mostly the former, but in any case, having greater energy and drive in theteam can be no bad thing. We have been signing more and more pace this summer, and havingmidfielders with the energy to support both attack and defence will be of massive bonus. Both

Ramsey and Wilshere are young, hungry and talented. Yes, there are doubts about theirconsistency, but I would rather have players who are a little less talented but have a little more

heart. And neither of these two lack talent.

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The final point with regard to Cesc is he has started just 22, 26 and 22 games respectively in thelast three seasons, due to his injury problems, and even when he has played, he has often looked

a long way short of fitness and form. Compare that to the 06/07 season where he started 34 of thegames, and came on in the remaining 4 games. At 24, it is unlikely that we have had Cescs best

years, but over 300 games isnt a bad return from a player who we have made a substantial profit

on, and who appears to have no hamstrings left.

The day he leaves Arsenal will be the day I no longer refer to Cesc, but to Fabregas instead, and

a sad day it will be. Yet the nature of a great club is that the whole is far greater than the sum ofthe parts. If you dont want us, Cesc, nothing will please us more than to show that we can

manage without you.

The badge of the front is bigger than the name on the back.