Quote Originally Posted by She Wore A Yellow Ribbon View Post
spot on.

he's a controller, not a tackler. which is why when he's played in the DM role he's average. when he's playing next to a DM he's excellent i.e. the season before last. when he's the DM and expected to throw his body about, make tackles etc, he's useless. you might not need a destroyer but you need a level of aggression to ensure the midfield isn't overpowered. with arteta you dont get that feeling.

buy a DM, stick arteta next to him and watch him flourish again. but as the kingpin of our midfield? do me a favour.
I disagree about him controlling the midfield. We've looked disjointed for the past two seasons and we're struggling to hold on to possession. It's not like before when we had long bouts of pointless possession, now it seems like we generally struggle to keep the ball moving.