He might not get regular game time this season but Abou Diaby admits that playing as a defensive midfielder is something he’s open to after a test run in the position in the 2-1 Capital One Cup defeat to Southampton.
Making his first start in over 18 months the French international was deployed in an unfamiliar deep-lying role for 60 minutes before retreating to the bench looking a little frazzled.
Reflecting that it’ll take some time getting used to a new role at this stage of his career the 28-year-old told the official matchday programme ahead of Arsenal’s clash with Galatasaray (a game he’s not been picked for) that he is keeping an open mind.
“The boss told me he could see me playing in that position and that he thinks I have the ability to do it.
“I’ve never played there before, so it’s something new for me but I think it could be an option for the team and for myself to add something to my game.
“I have an attacking mentality so to stay back and create the link between the defence and attack is something new. I would like to get used to it, to learn how to be effective in that role if I play there, and then we will see.
“The way I see the game will be different, as will my position. I need to learn how to do that effectively.
“First of all, when you play in this position you have to be effective defensively. I would need to track back, break up play and also avoid the opponent from playing through the lines.
“For me, those are the first things. At the same time, you are always involved, you take a lot of touches and you need to make sure that you play the right passes to find strikers and midfielders in good positions. You need to be able to contribute to both sides of the game.”
Arseblog News is happy to see Abou getting his career back on track but realistically, unless even more injuries hit, it seems unlikely he’ll be handed too many first team opportunities to play as a defensive midfielder this season. Out of the Capital One Cup and with a group stage Champions League dead rubber unlikely after losing to Dortmund on matchday 1, he’s looking at a possible run-out in the FA Cup at best.
As we’ve suggested before it feels like this experiment is being undertaken to protect Diaby’s fitness with a view to giving him the best possible opportunity to earn a move elsewhere when his contract ends in the summer.
What a pleasant surprise it would be if he goes from strength to strength and regularly provides that much-needed physicality in the middle of the pitch on a weekly basis.
We’d love for him to succeed with us!
I think you might be wrong about where this is headed Hound.
I have a feeling we this won’t be Abou’s last year with us.
It would be rather “Wengerish” of Arsene to transform him into our long awaited DM and extend his contract for another 5 years!
I think we would all love that to be fair… (If it works!).
It would be Wengerish to let him flourish then let leave on a free a la Flamini
And then re-sign him on a free in a few years??
When the sentiment value will give us 8-9 good games with him.
Diaby will be on his way out at the end of this season, without a doubt. Hopefully he can get a few decent games in before then to show some clubs he can still play some good football. Arsene probably just trying to help the guy get on with his career, otherwise I’m not sure which club would take a chance on him.
Will enjoy remembering some of his big performances in midfield for us and France. That specia way to turn around a man and take off with that giraffe-like gait.
Wonderfully gifted player. I have always felt he had it in him to play that position very well. For now he needs to stay fit and injury free to get a chance to show he can do it. Wish the best.
diaby is a pure example of a man with determination. I love his spirit.
Am I wrong in thinking that he has actually played DM before? Could’ve sworn he was dm in FIFA….maybe it’s been too long since I’ve seen him play often
No, he never has. The same people that saw Vieira as a DM see Diaby as a DM, despite neither playing there for Arsenal.
But Song was a DM and if you consider his passes, he could be offensive at times.
Song was not a DM – in fact there was not a midfielder in england that was too slight or to small that they couldnt push him off the ball.. i saw him out muscled by modric once ffs. he was a central midfielder who was better going forward and at fouling or running very slowly back to defend
Song’s attempted rabona on the goal line that missed before he panicked and bundled it in……. I’m only just recovering now.
Wow, there’s a lot of Alex Song revisionism going on since he left. Granted he had his flaws but he was a vital member of our squad for about 3 years. It kinda smacks of getting rejected by a girl and then saying, “Yeah, well she wasn’t that good looking anyway.”
Indeed, it’s a synonym for ‘big and powerful’ when people use it, rather than meaning ‘Defensive Midfielder’. Much like when people talked about us lacking pace last season, they didn’t literally mean speed (maybe Redknapp did, I don’t know…) but penetrative running, that’s what comes of employing pundits who don’t understand the meaning of the word nuance, let alone how to apply it to actually expressing their thoughts (if there were any to begin with).
Maybe you never saw Vierra play for us, he played with Petitt, and later with Gilberto, both sitting and going forward in alternating fashion. Or are you saying Vierra was an attacking midfielder, wonder why or where he used to battle with Roy Keane if not at the heart of our midfield?
vieira was a central midfielder – he didnt specialise in either attack or defence – but he definitely wasn’t a CDM – he again was far better going forward and launching attacks – Wenger sold him so that he could accomodate Fabregas.. which kind of says it really…
Keane and vieira clashed over incidents – bergkamp and keane would more often foul / tackle each other
In the infamous 4-4 game with Newcastle where he got red carded, Diaby was playing in a midfield 3 with Wilshere and Fabregas. I’m pretty sure he was playing a more defensive role than Wilshere was that day – he was certainly positioned deep when he got crunched by Barton.
And before he got sent off, he was completely bossing the game from deep. So I think he can do it.
I think he has the natural body attributes to play a DM role but as he said he was an attacking player before the injuries ravaged his career… Can he be converted? I honestly think that he can… As Blogs and James alluded to in the Arsecast Extra I don’t think his body can handle the intense physical demands the DM role requires of the player. But would love to see a fit Diaby shut up all those people who claimed that he was “nicking a living” at Arsenal. It wasn’t his fault that he got so many injuries you… Read more »
Pay as you play contract going forward for Abou? Just in case he finds more consistent fitness.
You can go study with jack the best DM’s in the world. Will save Arsenal alot of money and effort…….sorry im in a bad, cynical mood today. Returned home 4 HOURS late last night thanks to London Midland and their long book of excuses……damn cunts. Good luck Abou, hope it works out for you and Arsenal………(CUUUUNTS)!
Jack can study all he wants, he can never be the DM needed, himself and Arteta/Flaminni, not their fault their limbs are too short! We need a power house like Yaya-like DM, why are we paying scouts/talent spotters all these money?
To find players like Gedion Zelalem, Serge Gnabry, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Theo Walcott, Calum Chambers, Aaron Ramsey, Wojciech Szczesny, Bacary Sagna, Kieran Gibbs, Carl Jenkinson, Ignasi Miquel, Cesc Fabregas, Amaury Bischoff, Alex Song, Denilson, Bendtner, Dan Crowley…
And a few years ago Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, Lauren, Ljunberg, Pires, etc etc etc etc.
We’re going around in circles. Yaya Toure is NOT a DM. Why do people say that? Because he’s big? People are obsessed with size for no good reason. Schneiderlin, Xabi Alonso, Sergio Biscuits are all top class DMs, but none of them are what you would call ‘power houses’.
And add Mascherano to that list.
In fairness, Yaya was used strictly as a DM at Barcelona (and occasionally as a CB). That turned out pretty well.
I feel a phoenix metaphor coming!
Moving to DMA a la Arteta seems like a natural progression for a tall athletic midfielder as he gets older
I can’t see us trying to offload him in the summer, firstly because he’s an absolutely brilliant player, which we saw in his performance against Liverpool where he won MOTM as well as in the Southampton game where he was one of the standout players, and secondly because nobody’s going to be willing to pay any significant amount of money for him. Offering him a contract (bearing in mind that he said he won’t be receiving wages for the time he’s injured) in the hope that his injury record clears up a bit and he can become a great player… Read more »
City or Chelsea would. They can happily absorb the losses, even with FFP breathing down their necks, and the potential gain is through the roof.
I’d like to see him go back to France if he doesn’t stay with us, maybe Monaco would be willling?
if anyone deserves a break (in the non literal sense obviously) it’s Abou
tremendous talent like that shouldn’t go to waste
Hope he gets a couple of chances at some point this season. Good luck to him.
Not sure I agree with you at all there blogs. It’s only 6 games into the season, some people thought rosickys career was all but over for us, yet look how pivotal he became over the last few seasons to earn himself a new contract.
With flamini being quite wreckless of late, and arteta struggling to beat mertersacker over 50 metres. I would be suprised to see diaby stick around and make an impact the second half of this season.
Goontang……..
Arteta struggling to beat Mertersacker over 50 metres!!!………. Cruel but true.
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Nobody wishes Abou ill but to me this seems more like wishful thinking, how can a player who was/is always injury prone playing a non combative role unsuccessfully now suddenly convert to playing a more robust/combative role as a DM in the BPL, reality is different from what we wish, what we get most of the time is far from what we wish. Like i wish my father was Bill Gates!!
Arteta was quite injury-prone and apparently rushed through the medical as in Arsene took a gamble on an injury-prone midfielder usually played offensively at Everton and it worked.
Perhaps it’s wouldn’t be as physically taxing on him to be playing deeper and making tackles, rather than constantly being tackled. Playing in a box-to-box role and driving forward regularly puts a player at risk of getting scythed down from behind – just looked at how Wilshere is constantly hacked down.
Yeah what surprizes me is that he’s a Dm on fifa…I noticed that too….
It’s been so long since anybody has seen him play they probably just had to guess.
I’ve got a lot of respect for Diaby and I like the guy but realistically he will never be injury free for a long enough period to have a run in the team.
Just read on tonight’s team news (BBC and Sky Sports) that he will not be in the squad today because of his knee problem. He will get a few part games here and there then be released when his contract is up at the end of season.
My thoughts exactly, wishful thinking is different from reality of 8 previous years!
I remember an Arseblog from around 2008 where blogger was Pissed off after a poor run of form and talked about how maybe we should let these injury prone guys go. The only two I remember are Van Persie and Diaby.
Arsene has really kept his faith in this guy
Wengers been playing too much Fifa 15
Hahaha
Ha! Playing Fifa online always used to be really frustrating as I would insist on being Arsenal and I would always get beat by those annoying twats online who play with RM or Bayern, and make you watch the whole pre-match build-up, and make you wait the full 30 seconds at half-time, and then pause for another 30 seconds when the second half kicks off, and then do those stupid bum dance celebrations when they score. Then I took Arteta out the team and put Diaby in CDM and pow! I’m all over those twats like a fat dude on… Read more »
Also helps that 15 has more fluid play akin to the way The Arsenal plays! Diaby has been a beast at cm for me.
Oh Abou, there are few players that fans want to see do well more than you. First things first, get healthy and stay healthy then watch footage of Vieira, Makelele, Busquets, Pirlo and Alonso at their best in that role, then become a hybrid of those 5 players!
Is he injured again?
I would love to see this work out for Diaby, but. I am pretty skeptical. Despite obvious physical attributes, I can’t remember him having positional sense for this role. Not to forget the mental barrier he needs to cross before diving into a tackle; he must really hate getting into a collision.
Well at least now people will stop saying Diaby has always been a defensive midfielder as we’ve now heard it from his own mouth that he never has been
My gosh Arseblog, why are you so pessimistic about Diaby?
At the end of the day we can’t predict the future, who knows he might end up injury free for the rest of the season and earn a new contract. Please be a little more positive.
I might sound a little biased as I’m a huge Diaby fan but I’d like to think I’d feel the same about any injured player we have with his talent.
First Abou, one must get fit. Then we work on the mythical DM role. Still love the guys determination though.
Diaby has always been one of my favorite players. I hope he gets to play. If not at Arsenal after this year, then somewhere.
Good luck Abou whatever you do. He deserves it. A very talented player. Hoooof terrys head. COME ON YOU RIP ROARING REDDDDSSSS!!!