Time to Cesc to stand up and be counted.

Those who read that title are wondering if they read it correctly. Yes, we are talking about our captain, Francesc Fabregas . I believe we were starting to see him take his performances to another level last season until a fellow Spaniard in Xabi Alonso decided to give him a 4 month break.

Of course Cesc returned in spectacular style in a span of games where he was involved in almost every goal but I got the feeling he was still not playing with that “angry” streak that a lot of Arsenal players seem to use.

Throughout the summer, almost every Arsenal fan has been pleading for an midfield enforcer to be added to the squad, one that can supposedly compliment the attacking nature of Cesc’s style. Denilson, Diaby, Song and even Nasri simply aren’t good enough because they don’t tackle enough, aren’t strong, lack positional ability and lack the height (excuse for all 4 players) respectively.

We also seem to forget that Rosicky also played in defensive midfield at Dortmund and for the Czech Republic at International level to good effect. The ‘Mozart’ had the drive needed in the DM position to match his ambitious passing but we tend to ignore what he can offer as the truth is, we just don’t want to disappoint ourselves lest he gets injured again.

Anyway, with about 37 days left before the season starts I get the feeling that this midfield enforcer will probably not arrive at the Emirates. So what do we do? Do we hurl abuse at our defensive midfield players because we think they aren’t good enough? And how do we judge this? For me it comes down to inexperience, I believe these players will be much better this year. They have to be.

But what about Cesc? What about this crap about standing up and being counted? Well, this is what I mean… Before Cesc, the midfield combination was Vieira and Gilberto. Preceding this, Vieira and Edu sometimes even Vieira and Parlour, Vieira and van Bronckhorst and now and then we had a guy called Grimaldi who played in central midfield. And a guy called Petit (who wasn’t tiny) played there too.

All of these guys bar Cesc, loved everything about playing in midfield and they made their share of tackles. They didn’t leave it to the other guy if they could do it themselves. This is where I think Cesc could improve a great deal. At times when the opposition had the ball, Cesc left too much for the others to do the chasing and tackling.

I don’t see Cesc in the Zidane/Kaka/Figo mould where he can be given free rein. When teams tend to block his passing range, I’ve not often seen Cesc showboat or almost barge his way through defences. It seems that he almost loses that battle which he simply shouldn’t do. Great teams have always had a gifted players in midfield but these players also have this mentality where they will simply not give up.

So instead of this midfield enforcer (we don’t need Melo) that we are crying out for, all I’m saying is this. Cesc, get stuck in when needed!

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