Written by @gooner_in_bcn on Tuesday, 21 August 2012 16:02

I’m not going to get into any stats, that’s not what this is about. Arsene had to bring order back to the team and had to dismantle the inept core that have brought the club absolutely nothing these last few years.

Many will miss his jovial demeanor. Most of us will miss his knack for the dramatic. His physical presence was always a plus; too bad it was often out of position. The talent that was brought out by Arsene is undeniable, especially when you compare this version of Song to the one that debuted versus Barnet. In the end, he became his own biggest fan, like so many within this group, and thinks he can do better elsewhere. That elsewhere is Barcelona, and as we all know, that will be a tough proposition for the often lackadaisical midfielder.

Hleb once thought he could do better, so did Petit, Overmars, Gio. Their quality was much more undeniable than Song, and alas they failed to impress at the Camp Nou. I wish him the best, but he is already set to be used from the bench, and to me that is a sign that for all that he has learned, and the attitude that has been reported to posses now, he certainly doesn’t value himself or his talents much, especially when he already knows he begins his career at FCB as a backup.

What does this mean for the club? I feel that Arsenal suffered at times from Song falling in love with his clear development into a CM rather than the DM position the club needed. He was excellent in attack, sometimes, but failed to track back often and Arsenal paid the price defensively more often than Song was able to deliver those wonderful chip passes. The frequency with which Song started to rely on those passes led to Arsenal having the ball less and being more susceptible to a counter, a double edge sword. A true DM is needed; plain and simple. Couple that with a potential stand in for Jack whilst he recovers, and AFC are stacked in midfield.

Lucky for us we have a manager that has been freed up a bit, so it seems, or one that is at his wits end with this group. Wenger is reportedly close to concluding a deal for Sahin, and reports are out that he also wants a true DM. For my money there is only one name that needs to be discussed, M’Vila. Whoever it ends up being, be sure to know they will make the team better.

Arsenal has lacked, for the longest time, a true anchor man. Our fullbacks love to push forward per our system, leaving our center backs isolated without that player in front of them to help out. Song, for all his great play, tended to drift forward and give the ball away often; making it doubly uncomfortable for our CB’s to cope at times. The Gunners may suffer from the lack of his assists, but will gain from a better defense. I for one am all for that.

Arsenal will survive and thrive from now on. Why? Wenger has decided to blend talent with experience in choosing new incorporations, but more and more these are now players that WANT to be at Arsenal. When you have that as one of your prerequisites, you can never go wrong.

I see life without Song being a little less stressful, but at the same time a little more boring. When that translates into more W’s, I am sure we won’t mind so much.

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Comments (15)

• 21-Aug-2012 16:24 | | RodGoonerInTtown  - Nice piece
  

  I dont think Song will be missed either, in fact his departure just frees up room for improvement, I got a concern though, can someone tell me how we are doing with the homegrown players to non homegrown players ratio and are we complying? Its like that was forgotten all of sudden

• 21-Aug-2012 16:29 | | Brian Angel  - Gio
  

  As much as I agree with your analysis, I have to say that Gio was an exception to the failures that Barca bought from us as he won everything under Rijkaard. As a Gooner, I'm hoping Arsene was making the right call when he sold Song.

• 21-Aug-2012 16:44 | | crispen  - Why
  

  Why do you fail to see why Song really left? This was a boardroom deal nothing to do with football.
  Why would Arsenal not even bother to keep the second most valuable player they have??
  Why would they value Song lower at 55K than Arshavin, Walcott, Gervinho,etc..?? If they did why would they not pay him a more realistic salary??
  
  THE SIMPLE REASON IS DARREN DEIN.
  
  And you honestly believe that you "DISMANTLE THE CORE THAT HAS FAILED" by getting rid of VP and Song but leave the junk (Ramsey,Arshavin,Sharmack et al) that we still harbour within our team.
  
  Song would never have improved as much as he has if he was not hard working and committed. Lets not be sour. The young man has always done a good job. If he wasn't tracking back where were his midfield partners when he went forward?? The replacement will meet the same rubbish when he comes in because that rubbish is still here and too well paid to move on.
  
  Time will show that we have lost an excellent player who will do very well at Barca...They do NOT have a better player in his position.
  
  To Alex: WELL DONE , GO WELL, AND PROSPER!!!!

• 21-Aug-2012 16:59 | | andy P  - I dont agree with your analysis of Song
  

  Song was an incredible holding midfielder. The best in the premier league last season after Yaya Toure. He was simply sublime. Yes has has been caught out of position a few times, but so is every other defensive midfielder from time to time. Yes I am pissed off that he was sold, he pledged his loyalty to the club, they refused to increase his pay and got rid of him for ONLY £15m
  
  I really hope he is a success at Barcelona because I like the lad. A true monster. It took Arsenal years to turn him into the genuine article. At first he would make really clumsy challenges and was always bordering getting sent off, he developed into quite the exceptional player after that and it will be a big loss unless he was really disruptive in the dressing room which is possible.
  
  Lets be clear he didnt pull a RvP on us, he was committed and rightfully wanted a payrise.
  
  Yann MVilla has a terrible reputation for being disruptive, that is why he is still at Rennes.
  
  Sahin is thought to be a done deal but his salary is too high.
  
  I am quite happy that our midfield comprises Carzola, Arteta and xxxxxx (being either Sahin or MVilla) but would be happier if it was Song filling in that holding role.

• 21-Aug-2012 17:48 | | happisoul  - ur views are WRONG
  

  Alex Song was committed to Arsenal, he was versatile, physically strong, never relenting, also with excellent vision. So ridiculous, he was earning just 55k while the likes of Arshavin, Walcott, Charmak et al were receiving more for less. This shows Arsenal did not value him and made him feel less worthy. Barca recognized his exceptional performances and his unleashed potentials and they offered him more. I'm very positive that Alexandre Song will do even better at Camp Nou. Only time will tell...WATCH !!!

• 21-Aug-2012 17:50 | | happisoul  - AGAIN ??
  

  ONLY TIME WILL TELL THAT ARSENAL HAVE LOST A VERY GOOD AND HARD-TO-REPLACE PLAYER. GO WELL AND PROSPER ... Alex Song

• 21-Aug-2012 18:07 | | pat247  - Song go well and prosper...
  

  I do agree with Crispen ...let's not be bittter about Song's move. we still have a good squad which needs time to settle in a different way maybe...but Song contribution was immense and vital for us last year...just let s move and good luck to him

• 21-Aug-2012 18:36 | | craig
  

  Ha ha. Funny that as soon as another player leaves, he too is branded a money grabbing git. Just like RVP. Strange that Song didn't have this tag before last week. The AKB's can't accept Wenger got it wrong.

• 21-Aug-2012 20:01 | | usuf  - u will 4eve miss him
  

  da humble strong hearted and fighting African will alwayz be missed by all da gunners. i 4 one have already started missing him. Go well song and sing yo song at camp nu

• 21-Aug-2012 21:00 | | The Law  - Song Will Be Missed
  

  Song will be missed by us, no doubt. His improving vision, strength in the tackle, and his passing will certainly be missed by the team. Sure he got caught out of position a lot and gave away loads of silly fouls as a result, but in our system, we cannot have a "sit back" anchor player. The midfield trio have to interchange and provide varying threats to the opposition defence. It's no coincidence that Song had his best season assists-wise when he had Arteta playing beside him who knew to check his own runs if Song moved up.
  
  That all being said, I refuse to cry into my beer over a player who feels that £55,000 a week was such a disrespectful wage that he could not wait until September 1 to negotiate a new deal when his current contract still had 3 years to run. He and RvP were absolutely not in the same situation. Kozzer had 2 years to go on his deal before being offered a 5 year extension which he signed with zero fuss. His agent didn't go touting him around Europe because he told his agent he only wanted to sign an extension with Arsenal. That is commitment.
  
  Song had the option of playing a blinder this season, and then getting a big pay rise next season when he would have been 25 with 2 years to go on his contract. He chose to go for a bigger pay packet elsewhere. And he is going to a team where his primary function will be to sit on the bench until the last 20 minutes of the game when they've decided that whichever poor bastards they're bashing have had enough. He isn't going to develop further under that system.
  
  In conclusion, yes, we will miss him, but let's not pretend that this move wasn't all about money.

• 21-Aug-2012 22:00 | | Anonymous
  

  we'l nt miss song if wenger gets a good DM

• 21-Aug-2012 23:16 | | Ole M, Norway
  

  Song beeing missed? Is this the same Song that on the opening day of last season, and with Arsenal in 'crises' after loosing Fabregas, Nasri, Wilshere and Diaby in midfield, goes on to stamp on Joey Barton resulting in a 3 match ban!! As if that was not enough he even smiled and hugged him once the game was over... What a d...head! We all know the team we had to line up with in the next games! When we needed him most he showed how indisiplined he was... Easy to replace! End of.

• 22-Aug-2012 04:20 | | bake  - crispen
  

  crispen you plonker. bosquets is a much better DM/CM/CB than song. song is there to back him and puyol up.
  
  silly boy

• 22-Aug-2012 09:14 | | Kinghenry2007  - Song
  

  well, we all can say crap about Song leaving but the truth is we will miss him.Before we start calling him names and wat not,nobody really knows the real story behind his contract talks,it is said he had expressed desire to stay..if Song had become more attacking than defensive then y not let him play there and we get someone else?all th eplayers we have now ,none of them are anchors,we talking in the mould of Gilberto,Flamini or Viera,Sahin is an attacking mf,so is Jack...speaking of which who knows when he is coming back,M'villa is the closest to wat we need.....Diaby doesnt do much of defending either,a seen from last season,a team is as good as its defence,period,to Sing i say au revoir,i got nothing but love for u!

• 22-Aug-2012 09:15 | | Kinghenry2007  - Song
  

  y cant we get Joey Barton lol

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