Four top managers have used him in that position.
They must know what they're doing.
He did play well in the Alonso-type role, but I doubt he could keep it up. Even when he played with Henry, he was often our second striker. The Hleb-Flamini-Fabregas-Rosicky axis worked because three of them would constantly swap positions.
Don't get me started on the 07/08 side...Fabregas was so clearly the worst performer in that midfield. He'd fuck up so many times after the others had created an opening. Hleb, Rosicky and Flamini were outstanding. Cesc's best year with us was 2009-2010 when he manned up and started fouling people, whining at the ref and lashing the ball in the net.
Cesc did score 17-18 goals in 07/08 tbf. Got as many assists as well probably.
That midfield was awesome though yes.
Until February at least.
We are looking a hell of a lot more balanced and unpredictable in our post Cesc incarnation.
Putting the laughter back into manslaughter
I think you might be counting the non-events against teams like Buldavia Kebab in CL qualifying and so on. I always think league goals give a non-inflated tally and if ESPN's right, he had 7...which is ok, I suppose. Nice 7 little tap-ins. Obviously he had a shedload of assists as he always has done. But everyone knows most of them were scuffed.Originally Posted by Marc Overmars
Reminds me of the old discussions on GW at its peak.I found Fabregas to be fucking annoying in that season. In all honesty, of course he did well but Hleb, Rosicky were nothing like what you'd find Gerv and Theo to be defensively - they were covering superbly, and Flamini was working for two on the defensive side. I agree with what MS said - leave Cesc to do the attacking (which he does superbly) but he can't put in a solid shift required for a proper CM...it's not through a lack of trying, more that he just can't cover enough ground.
Cesc didn't start banging in goals until Henry left and he was never the second striker during that period. He was hardly making runs into the box in those years. Nowhere near as much as what we've seen him do at Barca and the last few seasons with us.
His finishing was awful, yes, but he was often in advanced positions and making those killer passes to the strikers.
Much like you saw with Wilshere last year, he did everything well up to the box at which point he had a nose bleed and fluffed simple chances. He got more clinical as he matured.
So is Frank Lampard a second striker because he finds himself in and around the box? Rooney, RVP, Bergkamp...these guys are second strikers. They play alongside the striker but drop deep to create. Cesc doesn't drop deep, he advanced up the field and makes late runs into the box. Cesc's best asset will always be his passing and vision. He models his game on Pep. He's a traditional Spanish CM.
I was always impressed by how he could read a position and put the ball exactly where it needed to be for the striker. Unfortunately, the striker was often Bendtner who would then usually fuck it up.
How many games did Bendtner start in the middle? Even as a sub, how many games was he the striker and not the winger? Not many I suppose..
AW for wanting to make Dennis Bendtner a Ronaldo
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