Santi Cazorla says he’s pleased Arsenal bagged their first win of the season at the weekend and that Arsene Wenger now has a number of quality options in midfield, including new boy Granit Xhaka.
The little Spaniard marked his second start of the season with an early goal from the penalty spot and then pulled the strings alongside Xhaka as the Gunners raced to a 3-0 advantage at the break.
Reflecting on his new partnership with the Swiss, Cazorla told Arsenal Player: “I feel very well [next to him]. He’s a great player, we have a lot of players in this position, great players like Coquelin, Elneny, Jack Wilshere. So it’s very important to play together and we are happy to play with him.
Arsenal’s next Premier League game will be against Southampton on 10 September, a two-week break that somewhat slows the momentum the players appeared to be building.
“Yes [the spirit is good] because after one point in two games we needed to win today,” Cazorla added.
“So we are happy now, it’s confidence for the team. Now we have to rest a week, some players play with national teams and after that we have to think about Southampton at home and we need to win at home.”
Seems everybody is happy
The question is if the boss can keep them that way, despite the fact that only two of our five or six talented central midfielders can play any given week. That will take some skills on his part…
We always think that might be a problem and then the kind injury gods deal with it for us. I hope we have that problem. I’m begging for that problem.
Is Santi ever unhappy? :p
Good point
No?
It’s such a joy to see Santi back on the pitch again, the team really lost a lot of its identity when he got injured last year.
I hope that the team can build momentum after the break, the same way as they did in 2013 when Ozil came, they were unstoppable in September and October, it looks as if that spark could finally come again, with new signings and so many healthy players compared to previous years, especially in midfield.
May the injury gods look down favourably on us this season. With the squad we have It seems to be the only roadblock in the way of us regaining some consistency and silverware. Hands of Ozil especially, is it too early to be offering up sanogo as a sacrifice?
Too late… Yaya is already banjaxed!
And apparently Debuchy is nowhere near being sold because he too is injured, and consequently no-one will take a punt on him.
I hope they continue their form after the international break. I watched the video Xhaka. He’s got a Ricky Hatton type build to him with the precision passing of Fabregras. Just the type of player you want sitting n front of the defence. I can’t wait for the Southampton game! COYG!
Ricky Hatton build? Xhaka is not fat lol
Santi is a great pick for vice captain or even captain. His love of the game overwhelms feelings of pressure. It’s a great lesson for the entire team.
My favourite player, hands down. Top man Santi!! With Xhaka on the pitch this could be the season where we get to see hes full potential. Looking forward!!
Gunners also note that Ramsey and Iwobi will be back for soton game, and suddenly big selection headache for wenger, plus on top of that we will have mustafi and perez for the game and giroud even didn’t play last that is the big squad we desperately needed for years. Imagine the players who will be left out of the team.
Yes that’s right, our bench alone will be enough to scare the crap out the opposition, whoever they are!
COYG!!
Mustafi probably won’t play, he will have been with Germany. Perez has a shout of getting some game time.
In all honesty, I’d forgotten how good the team looks with Ozil, Sanchez and Santi all fit and starting.
Also, hoping for more of those terrific long passes from Xhaka.
Sir Santi “Smiles-Alot”
Santi in even decent form really is one of the best things ever. He really is very, very good.
Comment:santi19 the magician,i cant wait to see you engineering that midfield against soton
It always makes me smile when people put “Comment:”
Santi has has to be a starter no matter what.
Sometimes I feel like we lose something from making players like Santi speak English during interviews.
One smile from Santi is good enough to make us all happy!
Our very own Santa Claus!
Oooooooh Santi Cazoooorla
Oooooooh Santi Cazoooorla
Oooooooh Santi Cazoooorla
Oooooooh Santi Cazoooorla
Optimism, optimism everywhere!!!
It won’t last (that was pessimism)
Of course none of the Wenger Out are going to mention the excellent picks by Wenger in terms of premium buys. From the 42.3m Panic buy Ozil to the 35m +1 Alexis or Granit or Santi or Cech recently. All very good buys. Wenger has made his mistakes but in general he pays far lower than some clubs therefore minimises impact to finances. Contrast Falcao or purchase for Mangala etc. One big mistake for us and we are saddled paying the players salaries even if they were on loan or on the bench not to mention we have to absorb… Read more »
Very good points made especially dispelling the idea that Wenger doesn’t do his business early, is unwilling to spend or has no ambition.
Granit is as I mentioned brought in by Wenger to serve two fold. 1) To act as competition for Coquelin. Le Coq partners well with Santi but next to Ramsey, he was poor leaking 14 goals in 8 games. This is a far weaker result than with Flamini and Ramsey but people have selective preferences. Even with Elneny, performances were not entirely convincing, the Egyptian tending to venture too far up field and out of position. Granit will allow Santi, Ramsey, Jack or Elneny (or indeed Coquelin if we should be more conservative) to venture further forward in support of… Read more »