Summer Transfer Misery and Recriminations.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

As far as I'm concerned, Cazorla can play in the midfield till he's 35 he's that good a technical player.

Arsenal fans have been strangely predicting his Usurping for years now.

I don't agree, i think if you play in an advance role as he does you have to have the legs for it and his legs are slowly going. It's not like Beckham where he is a dead ball specialist.

[Power n Glory]

I don't agree, i think if you play in an advance role as he does you have to have the legs for it and his legs are slowly going. It's not like Beckham where he is a dead ball specialist.

What role? CM? Players can last a long time as CM in that role.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

depends what you're asking them to do in central midfield, Cazorla can play in the Ozil role or he can play a bit deeper and run from box to box....and i think in both those instances he is too slow now, especially if we are looking to be using pacey attacks rather than passing the ball to death

[Power n Glory]

depends what you're asking them to do in central midfield, Cazorla can play in the Ozil role or he can play a bit deeper and run from box to box....and i think in both those instances he is too slow now, especially if we are looking to be using pacey attacks rather than passing the ball to death

Box to box? That's not his role or how he plays. CM's like Xavi, Pirlo, Alonso and Scholes lasted a long time in the game and I think Cazorla has similar qualities to those players.

[I am invisible]

I can see Cazorla carrying on at the highest level for while yet, but all the same he's going to be 32 in December, and he's coming off the back of a season where he's just done his cruciate - it might not be the worst idea in the world to start managing his work load and planning for his successor?

Which brings me back to Jack. When you look at Cazorla's age, and the timing of his loan, then it should all be lining up for nicely for him - he just has to stay fit and show that he can still be the same player who first broke into the side in 2010/11. I don't think this is the end of his Arsenal career by any stretch, but it is on a knife-edge - I'm certain Wenger would have him back in a cold minute if he shows that he's still a valuable asset, but I also think that this loan lets him know that he's a long way from indispensible right now, and that we've run out of time to give him. If he proves himself, then great! If not, well we've got other options...

[Kano]

It depends on Cazorla too. He's said before he wants to return home to play for Oviedo and retire playing for them if he can, as it's his home region and he spent his youth development years there. So we need to be thinking of a younger replacement at the end of this season without question. As far as I know, Santi's contract runs out at the end of the season and with no noise about another extension, it feels like he'll be off next summer.

[Marc Overmars]

I don't see why Cazorla can't continue playing this deeper role for a few more years yet. He might be getting on a bit but you never lose that technique, he'll always be cute in tight areas because his footwork is second to none. His days of being a goal threat (apart from penalties) are gone but as long as we keep players around him who are able to cover more ground I think he'll be just fine.

For once I have no issue with Wenger tinkering with the role of a player, I think he has found a way for Cazorla to extend his career at the top level if he wants to stay with us.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

I don't see why Cazorla can't continue playing this deeper role for a few more years yet. He might be getting on a bit but you never lose that technique, he'll always be cute in tight areas because his footwork is second to none. His days of being a goal threat (apart from penalties) are gone but as long as we keep players around him who are able to cover more ground I think he'll be just fine.

For once I have no issue with Wenger tinkering with the role of a player, I think he has found a way for Cazorla to extend his career at the top level if he wants to stay with us.

But we don't need him, we have Elneny who is younger with fresher legs and it's more of a natural role for him

I think one of the main criticisms of Wenger that i have, is that he isn't ruthless enough with purging players. I like Santi Cazorla, i think more often than not when deployed in the centre of the pitch he puts in a lot of effort and creates a lot of good chances for us, but there is no ignoring that at 31 the role he is best at is more physically demanding that is sustainable for him to perform long term.
And more than that, he's not scoring goals for us any more.....the last goal he scored for us in a competitive fixture that wasn't a penalty kick was December 2014. In addition to not having the top striker we all feel was needed, we aren't getting enough goal contributions from other areas of the pitch and i think Cazorla is just as culpable for that as someone like Ozil (who i feel in the last year or so has scored quite a few times, though could always score more).
Honestly i think unless he stays injury free and contributes more in goal scoring terms, it wouldn't be unfair to let him move on at the end of the season.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

Box to box? That's not his role or how he plays. CM's like Xavi, Pirlo, Alonso and Scholes lasted a long time in the game and I think Cazorla has similar qualities to those players.

So he didn't two seasons ago when playing alongside coquelin win the ball deep and run with it, i remember something different

[Gooner23]

Cazorla is still better than Elneny though