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With Arsenal flying high at the top of the league this season, things have gone according to plan and then some for Arsene Wenger. Questions of mental fragility has fallen by the wayside, they’ve tightened up at the back and they’ve even forked out the best part of £40m on Mesut Özil, finally adding a glossy sheen to a creative but often inconsistent side lacking true star quality.
Everything has simply clicked and fallen into place perfectly. With the Gods conspiring in their favour to lend weight to a strong title challenge, if you had to slice and dice their side into a five-a-side team, who would make the cut? Let’s take a look.
Wojciech Szczesny
A relatively simple task to start with given that Lukasz Fabianski is a fictitious footballer and Emiliano Viviano is well on his way to becoming a fictitious footballer. That notwithstanding, the Pole in goal has seen a revival of his fortunes this term. He’s the best performing goalkeeper by Performance Score in the entire top flight this season with 504, leaving a healthy gap ahead of his main rivals Tim Howard (399) and Asmir Begovic (381).
Szczesny has always been blessed with an enormous amount of talent, but his decision-making and erratic behaviour have often let him down. But in a small 5-a-side goal, he’d be some test to get beyond, given his penchant for a flamboyant fingertip save and quick reflexes.
Lauren Koscielny
Another frustrating figure at times for Arsenal fans, the Frenchman only infuriates so much because when he’s on form, he has few peers in the Premier League. Capable of dropping a game-changing clanger at a moment’s notice, Koscielny has sought to cut out his error-prone ways to good effect this season, establishing an excellent partnership with Per Mertesacker at the heart of the Gunners back four, further building on their good progress last term. His mobility and pace across the ground are nicely complimented by an outstanding 92% pass accuracy from his 17 top-flight outings.
However, what really stands out is the fact that he’s made 48 interceptions, the most in the entire Arsenal squad this season. To put that outstanding figure into context, that’s more than Mathieu Flamini and Bacary Sagna combined with 44. He’s one of the quickest defenders in the league and his awareness at snuffing out dangerous situations is improving all of the time. He’d make a formidable defensive shield.
Brilliant. I could just finish by writing that. He scores goals. There’s some more in-depth analysis for you. What’s there left to be said that hasn’t already been said by others? The superlative well has truly run dry by now. Eight Premier League goals, 26 chances created and six assists. Intelligence, movement, drive. If I’m starting to sound like Alan Hansen, it’s because speaking in staccato-like triplets of gushing praise is the only narrative that does such displays justice.
The simple fact of the matter is that Ramsey would excel on a 5-a-side pitch just as much as he does on a full size one. His bite in the tackle, to the tune of 56 tackles won, would be hugely beneficial in winning the ball back quickly. His shot accuracy of 74% is exceptionally high given he’s had 31 efforts in total already (he had 30 all last season in 36 games), while his increasing skill in tight situations sees him leave Jack Wilshere behind as the neutrals favourite. It’s a no-brainer.
Five-a-side football isn’t the place for sustained periods of possession; teams don’t have a monopoly on the tempo and flow of a match as they would on a much more expansive surface. As such, threading the ball through the eye of a needle becomes even more vital. Enter stage left, Mr Özil. This is what he does. He’s kind of a big deal, you see. He owns many leather-bound books. Whether it be drifting out wide to create space for others or floating between the lines and through the middle, there’s always been such an intelligence to his natural game that it’s worth remembering that he’s still just 25 years old. He’s not even at his peak yet, but in just a few short months he’s already become one of the most valuable and important players in the entire division.
He’s created 45 chances for his team-mates in 15 league outings at 3 chances per game, which is a quite ridiculous statistic. Throw into the mix four goals, an 82% shot accuracy and seven assists and it’s a simple and obvious choice. Santi Cazorla’s fire has well and truly been stolen and the mantle of Arsenal’s creator-in-chief has been taken over by this world-class Germany international.
Right, this is where I might lose you. On a five-a-side pitch, there’s simply no need for Olivier Giroud’s muscles, glorious hair and big legs. Holding the ball up and spreading it out wide isn’t needed to quite the same extent as it is in a league match. That’s not to say that Giroud hasn’t been excellent this season, he has, he creates space for others with his willing running and he’s posed more of a threat in the final third this term, lending further credence to the theory that he always takes one season to fully settle at a new club before flourishing, but Walcott would simply offer more in this instance.
This a team that needs pace to put pressure on the ball up top, as opposed to laboured but well-intentioned graft. There will always be those that knock Walcott simply because he hasn’t morphed into the player we all hoped we would become. He’s not the saviour of English football, rather just a quick bloke with great end product. Four assists and 5 goals in 13 Premier League games is not to be sniffed at, while his passing accuracy of 81% is substantially better than Giroud’s 67%
Whichever attacker was chosen was always likely to dictate what sort of side this would be. A counter-attacking, fluid side, or one that dominates possession and builds slower. Having plumped for the former, people often forget that Walcott is a fine finisher in one-on-one situations and his ability to beat a man, certainly more so than Giroud anyway, counts heavily in his favour. He’s far from perfect, but the fact that his six-month injury lay-off is sure to dent both Arsenal’s title hopes and England’s already wafer thin World Cup chances speaks volumes for how valuable he can be.
