What an excitement it is to have Jack nearing a return to the first team squad. It seems like an absolute eternity since he was last in the fold, but it's great that he is back, and barring any unfortunate and of course massively un-wanted set backs, he should make his first team return within the next week or so. This is fantastic. I really believe his talent has no bounds, he really can be as good as he wants to be, we could have one of the best players in the world of the future on our books. But why is he so good, what about him have we missed?
Well firstly his technical, distribution ability is top class. You can really see when watching him, that he has been at Arsenal since he was a kid, because his game is based on supreme passing and technical ability. He seems to have a kind of "ariel view" of the pitch, because his vision to pick a pass is outstanding. During his breakthrough season 2010/11, some of the passes that he pulled out were mind boggling at times. One that sticks in my mind was his ball to Nicklas Bendtner against Ipswich in the Carling Cup Semi-Final, at the Home of Football, where he picked him out on the wing from 50, 60 yards away, a perfect pass. He also has the ability to make short, quick effective passes as well, ones which can aid the teams general play, and stop the team's movements from becoming bogged down, limp and ineffective (e.g. Vs Norwich on Saturday). I believe that on many occasions over the last year or so, we have really missed this ability in our game. That ability to just pick a pass, unlock the door that previously could not be opened in a game. I was watching the Under 21 game Vs Everton the other day, and this ability was once again evident in his play. He can just pick out a player, with a great "dinked" ball out wide, over the top of a defence, with his relative ease it seems, illustrating his supreme talent, and pure technical prowess. This is something which he did on many occasions in this game, and the first goal came from such a switched pass. I believe that having the ability back in our team, to effectively and quickly change the point of attack, with one of these "big diagonals" is going to be most useful. Because as I mentioned above, Saturday was a prime example of how we would have benefited. We simply could not get in behind their defence, we could not open the door at all. Our passing was slow, ineffective and predictable, and with Arteta (who is also undoubtably a fantastic distributor also) and Jack playing in union, I believe that we won't struggle in this department on many occasions again, as the range of passing that we are going to have will be great!
Secondly, driving runs. I am sure like me, one of the most memorable and exciting performances that Jack the lad put in during his breakthrough season with us, was that against Barcelona in the champions league knockout round at The Emirates in February 2011. What a game that was, and what a performance it was from this young man (same age as me!). And one thing that stuck out to me, like the proverbial sore thumb, as well as his passing skill, was the ability he demonstrated against absolute top top class players, to drive the defence backwards with fantastic, powerful, meaningful dribbles. During this match, especially as they (Barca) began to tire, he really forced them back at times with these burts forward. And I feel that again this is something that we have lacked at times. At times our attacks can be very slow, laboured, lacking in territorial benefit in terms of getting up the pitch quickly. I believe that this is something that he can bring to the team. It is something that in fairness Abou Diaby possesses in abundance as well, as he showed against Liverpool earlier this season, and is someone else we missed greatly at the weekend, but other than that we do lack this in our side, that ability to really force defenders backwards, frighten them and open up the space coud be a real asset to us going forward for the rest of the season.
Finally I believe we have missed, and now will gain from, his absolute dedication and tenacity. To me he is a player with English grit and determination coupled with Spanish flair and skill. It is this English grit which at times I suggest we have missed, and it was especially evident against Norwich on Saturday (and I hate to keep reminding us of that game, but I have to), we had no bite in the middle of the park, we were light-weight, out fought and out muscled. And even though Jack is not the biggest lad on the park, he sure is determined and he is not afraid to put his body into the fight, as we saw in the 2010/11 season, and at times maybe we saw it too much (I am thinking of his red card against Birmingham at the Emirates where maybe he was too aggressive and too eager to get the ball back from his opponent). But nonetheless this is something which we will certainly benefit from now that he nearing his return to the first-team sheet! I am very excited that soon we have two players of great strength and power in the midfield in Abou and Jack, although I doubt they will play together very often due to the form of Santi, and Mikel this season.
However as I have said numerous times on Twitter, squad rotation will never harm us, it will make us more effective. We have lot of strength in midfield at the moment, and with this addition from the treatment room, we will be a lot better indeed. Just think of the players we can call upon: Santi, Mikel, Abou, Jack, Rambo, Coquilen, and soon Rosicky (aka Little Mozart) as well. This is exciting for us going forward, and I hope you guys are you looking forward to seeing these guys available as well.
It is amazing to think that Jack has never played with the likes of Rambo, Gervinho, The OX, Podolski, Giroud, Arteta, Cazorla, Santos, Mertesacker, Jenkinson. It just shows you how long the lad has been out for. But it is fantastic to have him so near to a return. It's important however, despite how much I have praised him here, to not expect fireworks from his straight away. It will take him a while to get anywhere near his level once again. That match "sharpness" will take time to return, but whenever it does we have one hell of a player on our hands!!!!!
UP THE ARSENAL!!!!!!
Tweet me @Mr_arsenal_blog
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Welcome back Jack!!
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