Most of the Arsenal team for the past few years?Originally Posted by Power_n_Glory
Experienced guys like Arteta, Mertesacker and even Santos can have a positive effect on younger players if they lead by example. Even regulars like Song, RVP and Walcott have taken their tracking back and defensive play more seriously this season and it also seems to have had a noticeable effect in lifting their overall game to another level.
Wilshere is a better player than Arteta (and pretty much every midfielder in England) but he still has silly moments of inexperience and would probably not slow the game down and take the sting out of opponents' flow as well. Arteta hasn't been spectacular; I thought he was far too inhibited in his early games for us. But he has grown game by game and has barely put a foot wrong defensively. If his presence continues to lead to good results, why should he not be in the team? Rather than focus on him not being Fabregas or Wilshere, why not focus on what he does well? People wanted a change in the team, and Arteta is a positive part of that. We might not be playing consistently beautiful football, but we're getting results. As the team improves, the football will too. And that could be with Wilshere alongside Arteta.
Wenger seems to agree too: http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-arc...-us-more-solid
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