I guess my observation about Arsenal's '2nd XI' for that season was that yes they had an impeccable first team, but still mostly mediocre/unproven players in the bench. I certainly don't think that a 2nd team with the likes of Cygan, Aliadiere, Kanu, Keown etc is much to speak of... My point is that Arsenal have never had much depth in their squad, which is a problem.
I don't think you can compare (now) Cazorla to Michu. Michu has clearly been a great buy, but don't tell me that you would have been happy to see him arrive even for £2million at the start of the season. Also while Arsenal miss having a goal scoring midfielder, creativity is probably more vital, especially after the loss of Fabregas. You don't need to score to be effective- see Modric. And Cazorla clearly has a great eye for a pass, and definitely a step up from an increasingly insignificant Arteta.
Vela had his chances, and he never performed. So maybe he never got a proper long run in the PL, but what if he did? People would have just slammed Wenger for giving him a run.
Last season Michu got 15 goals, and Carzorla got 9, at no point would upon being told we're getting a 15 goal player for 2mil, would I be happier if they turned around and said we're getting a 9 goal 15-17mil player instead. Do you need a goal scoring midfielder, with a 30 goal a season striker, and two wingers scoring well, no, with Giroud, Walcott, Podolski and Gervinho, yes, yes you do need a goal scoring midfielder.
Secondly, Santi has an eye for a pass... maybe. For the past 2 months his form has been meh, with no real stand out performances, shooting far too much when he seems bad at it. How much is the team and who he's passing to and how much is him, i don't know.
Personally 15mil plus on a player a team was seemingly trying to offload, whose place has been taken by someone more effective.... considering he's had more average/poor games than great games so far I'm wondering if we simply bought a half decent player who isn't consistent and wasn't good value. Time will tell, I've neither written him off nor think he's brilliant over a few games, the situation comes across as not great. Think "hey, theres this kid Bebe, he's a real star, you've got 7 minutes to sign him or someone else will". Cazorla "hey, this club is in trouble, they've got this impending date where they need cash desparately so are willing to get their
best player go on the cheap, pay up quick or else".
All I'm saying is, not convinced he's a patch on Cesc yet. Arteta's descent into rubbishness this year.... I don't know how much I blame him and again how much I blame the team, same for Vermaelen.
How many times does Vermaelen, or Kos, or Arteta decide to commit the foul, step up early and take out a player or whatever else, answer, WAY too much. But is that because if a player has the chance to go at Mert, he'll do that and leave a massive whole behind the other team will exploit? We've seen Arteta and Verm be better for Arsenal, MUCH better, there is only so long you play "properly" and wait for those around you to screw up, before players start to try and save the team themselves, but it ultimately tends to leave even bigger gaps.
AS for Vela, he DID perform, he was played out of position almost from the start and put in some great performances.
Fact is after 1-2 months getting some match fitness he got 12 goals 7 assists last season in a poor team, and he's got 6 goals 3 assists in 12 this season.
He's not the best striker in the world, he's better than Gervinho, he's better than Chamakh, he's better than Walcott, he's better than Santos(who has been used at left wing several times). he's better than players we've collectively paid around 30mil or so(including Chamakh getting 30-40k a week more than he would have if we paid a transfer fee, he essentially cost 8mil in extra wages rather than transfer fee), thats a player we had and simply refused to give a chance. He's since proven he can perform , very few if any players given 10 mins if that, at the end of games that are basically over, will perform well. Its not that he didn't perform, he wasn't ever given a run in the team, I'm not sure he ever had two starts in a row. Players who join from a club where they played most of a season tend to be in good form, those who haven't played for 6 months look crap, we took an in form Vela, barely played him, then judged an out of form, not match fit player.
You only have to watch him for Sociedad to see the player he is with form and match fitness, he was fantastic last season, he's in great form this season. That was a player who is significantly better than some of the crap in this team, and he would have cost nothing to keep, and nothing extra to play, and if we kept him, played him and didn't buy for instance Gervinho, we'd have an extra 16-17mil to play with, and a better player, AND more goals and assists in the team.
