The Royal Arsenal

I guess most Arsenal fans have got to have a player to hate. I’ve never quite understood why that figure has to be an actual Arsenal player as opposed to, oh I don’t know, an opposition player, but there you go.

This week, and not for the first time, it seems that player is Denilson. 

The arguments both for and against Denilson are pretty well worn, so i’m not going to rehash old ground now.  It basically boils down to whether you find overwhelmingly positive stats a convincing argument or not. To the untrained eye, he’s not a swashbuckling Steven Gerrard type or even a put the ball on a sixpence style midfielder like Cesc Fabregas. Therefore, he must be worthless.

And that, it seems to me, is the biggest issue he faces in winning over the unconvinced. Denilson you see, is very good at winning the ball through interceptions (witness his goal vs Everton) and is very good at giving the ball to more creative players.  Whilst he wins his share of tackles, he doesn’t do it in the eye catching manner of Everton’s Fellani who had a very good game against us this weekend or indeed our own (and former Arsenal fans figure of hate) Alex Song.

Some only really start to understand Denilsons value when he’s paired with those sorts of players. In tandem with Song and Fabregas, Denilson is fantastic.  Song does the muscle work, Fabregas applies the coup de gras and Denilson quietly goes about winning the ball and keeping the tempo nice and high.

The Arsenal midfield is a well oiled machine, the balance is effective, take two important cogs out and you upset that balance. Replace those parts against Everton with Diaby and Ramsey neither of whom had fantasic games and you highlight Denilson’s weaknesses.

Denilson is one of the top midfield players in the league. He’d walk into any other side other than perhaps Chelsea’s. A subtle player who keeps the ball moving which is vital to our style of play.  He’s also 22 years old so he’s only going to get better.

Lots of people watch football, but not all of them see the game.