Arsene Wenger has again underlined his surprise that Santi Cazorla was not included in the PFA Team of the Year and reaffirmed how impressed he’s been with the way the Spaniard has adapted to life in the Premier League.
At the end of a debut season that has seen him notch 12 goals and 12 assists and feature more than anyone else (48 games in total) it’s fair to say the summer signing has done more than most to prove his credentials as one of the boss’ ‘top, top signings.’
“I think he is a bit of an underrated player in the Premier League,” Wenger told Arsenal Player.
“When you think he was not in the [PFA] team of the season picked by the players, it’s quite harsh. Personally I would have put him in there.
“When you look at his quality, that is of course outstanding, but also his attitude and workrate for the team. He’s one of the players who has been absolutely outstanding this season.”
While his Premier League peers may still be warming to his qualities the fact the little Spaniard’s name rings out at every game, home or away, is proof that he’s earned fan favourite status.
Indeed, judging by straw polls both in the terraces and on social media, he’s leading the way in the Player of the Year vote despite competition from the likes of Walcott, Arteta and Mertesacker. Well done to him, he deserves all the praise that comes his way.
This was the masterstroke pulled off by Wenger, and once again, he rides out to 4th place on the back on a single world class player.
And Theo’s goals. And Ramsey’s revival in the second half of the season. And a much-improved BFG+Kos defensive partnership, and Arteta’s discipline…
The great thing about this season is that even though the team’ve won fuck-all (save maybe the 4th place trophy), at least they did it as a team, unlike last season, when they won fuck-all (save the 3rd place trophy) but only because of THAT guy.
“That” guy was world class last year and single handedly got us into the ECL. This year it took “That” whole team and four new signings Podolski, Cazzorla, Nachoman and Giroud PLUS a returning Jack Wilshire to equal “That” mans performance. Its a real Conundrum. On the face of it if we keep our top players and stop buying crap we should start winning trophies. Yet even with Cesc, Nasri, Toure, Song, Cliche and years with Van Persie we still did not win anything. And we got beat by Blackburn and Bradford. Is it the management , coaching, player attitude… Read more »
You’ve gotta remember that all those players you mentioned did not hit their peak at the same time during their Arsenal careers.
With our restricted budget since moving to Emirates, it has been frustrating but i’m still proud of our consistent results, no matter how frustrating the season.
Hopefully this off-season we can open up a bit more financially as we won’t have the same restrictions, or at least to the same extent. We shall see.
This would all be very nice if we were playing Fifa13 manager mode.
“single handedly” David? what do you mean: Dutch Cunt got the ball by himself, drible all the defenders, and beat the keeper at the end? What about those guys runing on defenders and give him the space to do his thing? How many times can u remember him scoring tap-ins? This is TEAM SPORT! Do not forget other players. Remember Theo and his milion crosses for the Dutch muffing Head? Even Gervhino? shut up and watch All Blacks…
TBH Theo VanNasRegas hit their peak together and it was a two horse race between us and United until stupid kuyt scored that 101st minute equaliser…so what ‘;m saying is that we could have and should have won something that year…we also made the league cup final and beat barca at home
Fuck off you muppet. “he’s leading the way in the Player of the Year vote despite competition from the likes of Walcott, Arteta and Mertesacker”. I couldn’t agree more with blogs about this. BFG, Arteta & Walcott have been fantastic this year. It’s like saying Man United won the title because of fuck face, when Carrick should of earned a whole heap more of the plaudits. (think hes just won uniteds player of the season, but who gives a fuck really) I wouldnt go past the contributions that Podolski (his assists stats are great, he gets harsh criticism because people… Read more »
If given the chance I think Mr. End of Season could be an All Season man too
Cazorla – our little giant.
What Arshavin promised to be, Cazorla delivered.
Well put!
Arshaving was also amazing in his first season.
I’d say his first half a season
Yes,seen as he was signed in January it was his first season.
Yes Ashavin was good for a season or so.
Thanks Davey,someone finally gets it.
now don’t jinx Santi. Hope he doesn’t show any second season syndrome.
Different players, but Santi has succeeded n a much weaker side.
And for a similar price tag too! Santi is so damn amazing
Even on his bad games, which usually only happen when he’s being overplayed, he still has flashes of brilliance. He’s fantastic. I remember last week against QPR he dribbled the ball between three blokes that were less than a metre away from him. What a top, top player. Hopefully we’ll have more like him coming in during the summer!
I’m sure we will! New financial deals are kicking in and it’s finally time we have the resources to make a real statement to the footballing world!
He is that top top top quality player that arsene keeps talking about. If we get 2 more like him next season god knows what will happen..
indeed, bergkamp does know
Love him.
“Santi Cazorla: Has completed 990 passes in the final third this season – at least 213 more than any other player in Europe’s top 5 leagues” by WhoScored.
My second favourite player in the current team.
Oh Santi you have been a breathe of fresh air on an otherwise pungently aromered season.
If he does what most top class ‘foreign’ players do and improves due to greater adaption to the English Prem in season two, then we are in for some exciting performances my gooner friends.
A couple of top top tibidy tip top additions to the squad (thinking Schweinstiger type quality) and we will shit on allcomers!
Wenger, he just knows.
You just spell shit however you want. I respect that.
As much as I like Santi, I think he is overrated by Wenger and most Arsenal supporters. His physical weakness costs us a lot of possession and if we are honest he has not been as consistent as others in the premiership. He was important this year because we were not getting enough attacking threat out of other players, but if we are going to develop into a great team it needs to be built around Jack, not Santi. I hope they can learn to play together.
I have to disagree. I think Santi has been one of the more consistent players in our squad this year. He’s created 24 goals, and in a debut season that’s absolutely amazing. I don’t know if I like the idea of building a team around a single player, even if it is one as promising, passionate and loyal as Jack. I see it differently. I see all the squad players as cogs in a machine, with their own traits and abilities that help towards the success of the team. The more evenly sized these cogs are, the better in my… Read more »
One of my biggest gripes is the idea of building a team around one player who becomes one of the most odious and overused words in the media – the “Talisman”.
Build a team with balance. Adams was not the Talsiman, without him there were others who took responsibility. Same with the Invincibles, without Henry we still had the likes of Pires and Ljunberg.
It’s what can be seen in this current crop, the blueprint for a great TEAM rather than one individual player.
We need cliche ridden sports articles. They are the staff of life our rozon detour . Ha ha. Yes the belief that Jack Wilshire is going to lead Arsenal to years of trophy riches and play till he’s fifty is childish. Same as Jenks and Co are the British core of Arsenal when OX and Jenks rarely play and when Jack was out injured all last year. Just like Arsene signs top top players but only signed an injury cover in January because no one else in the world was available. And Arsenal has two top players in every position… Read more »
Have you actually seen him on the ball skipping past the majority of challenges or do you just not watch football?
have you seen santi track back to defend? Jackthelad’s point is valid
Jack’s over-zealousness has cost us quite a few times as well…. none of them are perfect…. but Cazorla has simply had much more influence
In all fairness Santi rarely loses possession… And in terms of leading an attack, I think Santi is more suited to that as opposed to Jack, who is more defensively natured (in terms of midfield), with the ability to push through to attack as and when opportunities arise.
A team is only as strong as its weakest link. Let’s not build a team AROUND Santi but with him instead.
Jackthelad… get a sleep dude…a long one..thats just rubbish
The beautiful thing is that the 3 additions made last summer, Santi, Podolski and Giroud, are not only reaching their peek in terms of their ability but their careers. They aren’t exactly young so it’s very much likely they will be here for the remainder of their careers. And they bring a maturity to our squad which has been lacking. Our youngsters are promising, and couple that with the fact that we’re heading into an era of financial stability, the future looks bright. I suspect Wenger will buy another 3-4 in the summer, with at least one being a big… Read more »
Sigh! AW always seems to leave the team short by a player or two. By all accounts we were in for Cazorla before he signed for Malaga & paid Malaga the same amount they originally paid – why couldn’t we have done it earlier?
The only concern is has AW finished touting 4th place as a trophy & aiming for some real trophy, with the ££ from the new commercial deals available!
By whose accounts?
For me, Carzola is our player of the season. He has had a few quiet games, but overall has been excellent since the start of the season. And he has that bonus of being one of those players who rarely gets injured.
He’s why we shouldn’t bother trying to re-sign Fabregas, even if we are offered him. We need a quality defensive midfielder this summer instead.
Why can’t we have both? Cesc was unbelievable for us, and just because he’s going through a hard time with Barcelona doesn’t mean he’s not a great player anymore. This season has shown us at times we need more creativity in breaking down sides that park the bus against us, a Santi and Cesc combo would be sensational!!
DM haven’t been played for years now!
What we need is more passing midfielders, in the shape of Cesc, who can help keep possession, make interception and close down. Tackling is less common. DM are getting pushed out by modern tactics.
Name me one in the top Prem sides doing well at the moment?
Lucas? Essien? Fletcher?
No.
Its Arteta, Carrick, Luiz.
Ramsey
David Luiz? He’s awful. He knocked about 75% of his passes out for throws against Villa.
Maybe that’s why the Premier league’s top teams are suffering in comparison to teams like Bayern with Martinez and Schweinstieger and Dortmund with Bender. Your right the players you mention have not had great seasons in the premier league yet maybe that is because Fletcher has been out all season, Essien is playing in Spain and Lucas is both awful and Injured. Players like Vieira and Gilberto would still dominate today regardless of how football is changing, good players always do!!
We’ve got plenty of creative midfield talent. As well as Santi we have Wilshere and Arteta (who is not a holding midfielder and is better further up the pitch). We need a midfield destroyer like a young Vieira. A genuine winger would be nice too.
Exactly, I agree with Fat Gooner. United has Carrick but Bayern has Martinez. Chelsea have Luiz, Madrid have Khedira. In a 4-2-3-1 I THINK (remember, this is only my opinion) you need: ——-Goalkeeper——- LB—-CB——CB—-RB —–DM——-B2B—— RW——AM———LW ——-Big Bastard——- You can either have one dedicated destroyer and one player to transition from defense to attack or they can both be box-to-box. Against bus-parkers, the wingers and attacking midfielder needs to be able to take players on one-on-one. Santi and Rosicky can do that, Lord Theo can’t (unless using pace on a counterattack). We need to be able to ping passes off… Read more »
Yes, I did get the fullbacks the wrong way around.
Would we, though, see Ramsey suffer as a result? Cesc is one of the greatest players we have ever had though the likes of Aaron and Jack, who are on the verge of greatness, would be hampered but I wouldn’t say no Cesc – though I doubt it will happen, Cesc stuck with is when things were not going great before he eventually left and I suspect he doesn’t want to leave with the potential of being labelled a flop. Our midfield is as diverse as it as ever been, something Cesc never had, and I am really excited by… Read more »
Have to disagree with fatgooner here. Maybe its because i have a mancrush on cesc but if we had the opportunity to get him back we should do everything on our power to do so. At the time he left and for the previous 2 seasons(ish) he was the best midfielder in the prem, just sensational. I love santi but i don’t think he’s as creative as cesc (no one in our current squad is). Santi has incredible feet, a great shot, is fantastic at retaining the ball and dribbling his way out of danger and around several players in… Read more »
The discussion of who’s better between Santi and Cesc, is a bit like comparing Zidane with Ronaldinho – Santi being similar to the latter – it’s just a matter of taste. According to wikipedia Cesc had his best season (in terms of numbers) for us in 2009-10 when he produced 19 goals and assist each. Cazorla’s season has 12 goals and assists each so far. Was the rest of our team then superior to what we have now? Did we have better strikers then? Could Santi improve on is his first season with us? My answer is a bit of… Read more »
Even in this “bad season”, if you look at whoscored.com, Cesc number’s are behind Cazorla’s, but they show similar players and the diferences can be attributed to the number of games played and mainly to Barcelona’s style: Cesc was bad on crosses in the season, has half less shots and less key passes (1.6 vs. 2.4 per game) than Cazorla due to the ball possession, safe game Barcelona plays. Their accurate trough balls per game are 0.6 (Cesc) and 0.7 (Cazorla); long balls are 4 and 4.3; average passes per game 68.5 and 63.5; passes suceded 89.1 and 86.7. Even… Read more »
—-Wilshere—Arteta
Ox——-Fabregas—–Cazorla
———–Giroud
One can only dream…
Realistically we are fine without Cesc, and he wouldn’t come anyway. Rather than wanking over his return, which is a non-starter because it would require spending money, we should focus on our main priority, which is getting competition for Giroud, a new back-up keeper if Fabianski and Mannone leave, and slipping drugs into the Bordeaux manager’s drink so he’ll buy Chamakh back off us.
A Wilshere-Arteta axis at the base doesn’t work.
The thing about Cesc is, IMO, he can play anywhere from CF, to CAM, to a deep lying CM. He excels at long passes, short passes, and finishing. Definitely worth bringing back if Barcelona is selling for many reasons:
Leadership
Class
Skill
Passion
He’s fucking Cesc. Any team is lucky to have Cesc in their lineup.
OHHHH SANTI CAZORLAA!
OHHHH SANTI CAZORLAA!
Think the most admirable thing about him is that there’s never a game he’s not happy or doesn’t give 100%, can’t wait to see him push on even more next season!
I’ve got a different theory as to why he wasn’t selected. First of all, don’t get me wrong I think he’s technically top notch and that we are fortunate to have him. But he’s gone missing too many times against the big teams. Even when he had the central role behind the striker there were instances when we simply wouldn’t see him that often in the game. To make a difference, a player like Cazorla needs to have the ball at his feet. I don’t think he can read the game to the same level that Rosicky can, someone who… Read more »
The fans undoubtedly love him. Can’t remember the last game I watched where there wasn’t an “OHHHHHH SANTI CAZORLA!” chant.
I wonder what that feels like. 60,000 people singing your name.
If that was me i’d milk every single corner, score permitting of course.
Wenger forgot to mention how well-endowed Santi is. I am just saying…I hear rumors 🙂
he is one of the few players who geniunely like football. I can easily guess he was the kind of kid who will not go anywhere without a football.
What a shocker of a comment that is from “jackthelad” i mean WOW! Like seriously??? He cost us a lot of possession? You sir……..
……. are a idiot
An impartial mind would call him an idiot. I`m sure he thinks himself more of an agitator though *rolls eyes*
*an
Crouching tiger hidden dragon
He is the best signing we have made in a long time. I am really looking forward to next season. This team has gelled and Wilshere and Cazorla are too good to not be able to play with each other. They will figure out a combination. Just look at Cazorla’s page on Whoscored.
http://www.whoscored.com/Players/4522/Show/Santiago-Cazorla
It is beautiful, look at all those strengths. Santi is truly a Complete Midfielder. Jack and Aaron will develop into complete players as well.
Yes, but the same website states that Gervinho’s finishing as very strong.
Love Cazorla though.
Yeah, I know. There are a few errors but when it comes to real world statistics, Whoscored is the best source.
Now fans can look at the FIFA rating, the Whoscored stats, AND watch YouTube compilations before judging players. Haha
Great finisher?
Next theyll say his forehead is tiny and his hair cut is ‘trend setting’.
Video game hero come to life!
http://rocketdock.com/images/screenshots/megaman_jump.png
Santi my vote for player of the season.
Of course we should re-sign Cesc if we have a chance, he is undoubtedly a world class player and we would be a lot stronger with him in the side! (And it would be two fingers up to those Spanish cunts)
A Cescond chance perhaps.
Come back home fab, we still love u
The only way to solve the debate is to buy back Cesc and start both Santi and him for the rest of their careers.
The way he dribbles is amazing.. the ball really is just stuck to his feet.