We are approaching the winter transfer deadline of the season. The date is 31 January 2013. We have an injury prone LB in Kieran Gibbs and an error prone LB in Andre Santos who seemed to be getting worse each game. News emerges of us reaching an agreement to sign then 26 years old Spanish international Nacho Monreal. He was becoming a mainstay in arguably the greatest National team era, albeit as a backup. Nonetheless a commendable position to even be in that squad. He was at that time playing for Spanish team Malaga who initially after being taken over by a billionaire had managed to make some great signings which included our little magician Cazorla. Monreal was even called as world class by some media. None the less it seemed like a great signing for Arsenal and proved that we were heading in the right direction. Now lets come out of the story. Its almost 2 years since his signing. Fans were adamant he be sold at the beginning of this season citing his poor performances during the campaign of 2013-14 season. But after a steady if not spectacular season so far (mind you he has had some spectacular performances like the one at City) he is still not being rated enough by most fans.
When he arrived as a deadline day signing he steadied the ship that season putting some great defensive displays. He also made sure that Gibbs had enough competition for places and more than anything else he ensured that given Gibbs recurrent injury problems we would still have enough of a player to ensure that we do not have a defensive collapse. He played 10 games in the season he arrived as we finished 4th in an uneventful season.
HIS FALL - 2013/14
He came to a side to challenge for a place with Kieran Gibbs, a player who had made just 16 league appearances in the 2011/12 season, the season he became 1st choice LB after Clichy left the club. Suddenly he managed 27 games in 2012/13 (23 starts) and then in the 2013/14 season Gibbs managed 24 starts. That a player who was perennially in the medical room. Gibbs was an attacking fullback who suited our style of play much more than the more defensive minded Monreal. So a player who is used to be playing week in week out suddenly has to do with a place on the bench for so long. Just consider this he has played 23 games last season out of which he played 1190 minutes, while this season he has played 16 games but 1237 minutes. Look at the season when Messi got injured for Barca (last season), it coincided with a loss in form due to lack of playing time. If a player of the quality of Messi lose form over a lack of game time why can't Monreal? I am not saying he had a splendid season in 2013-14. But the poor guy hardly got to play. Suddenly put a person in the deep end of a pool without practicing swimming he will take time to stay afloat. This season he has got much more game time and hence the automatic improvement. Besides he now is a player settled in our league. Much needed that is.
THE GENTLEMAN?
What most people will not realize is what a gentleman he is. Nowadays we hardly see a player give away his squad number to another player, no matter how big the player is. For instance how many remember I don't know Eduardo rejected Bendtner's approach for the number 9 jersey. You never reject the lord! Jokes apart it is very rare to see a player give away his number but Monreal did. He gave away his number 17 to Sanchez to take our 18 (previously worn by legends Cygan, Silvestre and Squillaci). He played out of position without complaining once. Shifting from LB to CB is a whole different ball game, yet one he adapted so well without complaining once. He was put on the bench for so long and yet never opened his mouth (take note Podolski). This is a real team player, one who may not show his aggression with some crunching tackles, but he plays with his heart out.
HAS ARSENE HELPED?
When he arrived as a deadline day signing he steadied the ship that season putting some great defensive displays. He also made sure that Gibbs had enough competition for places and more than anything else he ensured that given Gibbs recurrent injury problems we would still have enough of a player to ensure that we do not have a defensive collapse. He played 10 games in the season he arrived as we finished 4th in an uneventful season.
HIS FALL - 2013/14
He came to a side to challenge for a place with Kieran Gibbs, a player who had made just 16 league appearances in the 2011/12 season, the season he became 1st choice LB after Clichy left the club. Suddenly he managed 27 games in 2012/13 (23 starts) and then in the 2013/14 season Gibbs managed 24 starts. That a player who was perennially in the medical room. Gibbs was an attacking fullback who suited our style of play much more than the more defensive minded Monreal. So a player who is used to be playing week in week out suddenly has to do with a place on the bench for so long. Just consider this he has played 23 games last season out of which he played 1190 minutes, while this season he has played 16 games but 1237 minutes. Look at the season when Messi got injured for Barca (last season), it coincided with a loss in form due to lack of playing time. If a player of the quality of Messi lose form over a lack of game time why can't Monreal? I am not saying he had a splendid season in 2013-14. But the poor guy hardly got to play. Suddenly put a person in the deep end of a pool without practicing swimming he will take time to stay afloat. This season he has got much more game time and hence the automatic improvement. Besides he now is a player settled in our league. Much needed that is.
THE GENTLEMAN?
What most people will not realize is what a gentleman he is. Nowadays we hardly see a player give away his squad number to another player, no matter how big the player is. For instance how many remember I don't know Eduardo rejected Bendtner's approach for the number 9 jersey. You never reject the lord! Jokes apart it is very rare to see a player give away his number but Monreal did. He gave away his number 17 to Sanchez to take our 18 (previously worn by legends Cygan, Silvestre and Squillaci). He played out of position without complaining once. Shifting from LB to CB is a whole different ball game, yet one he adapted so well without complaining once. He was put on the bench for so long and yet never opened his mouth (take note Podolski). This is a real team player, one who may not show his aggression with some crunching tackles, but he plays with his heart out.
HAS ARSENE HELPED?
In his first season he had a defence score of 13.24 per 90 minutes. The drop is very obvious with his drop in form in 2013-14, he has a defence score of 5.79. But this season a rejuvenated Monreal has a defence score of 20.89. The highest in his time here. Pass completion has been more or less the same all through. Good consistency. The total duels % sees a drop from 50.77% in 2012-13 to 46.40% in 2013-14 and then again his best of 54.79% this season. He has won 1.82 tackles this season which again is a best, better than 1.71 in 2012-13 and lowest of 1.59 in 2013-14. Another remarkable rise is in the aerial duels won % stat. In his 1st season he won 40% and in the second 42.50%, but this season it is 59.15%. Interceptions 3.20 this season is again his best, previous 2 seasons of 1.89 and 2.85 respectively. There has been no defensive errors also.
Now one may argue that playing at CB has helped his stats more than we notice. For that I have an argument. Other than interceptions all stats are not dependent on the number of games he has played CB. Tackles are more for either DMs and for the full backs as CBs mostly intercept play. Total duels won % is regardless of where he plays as it is a stat which only checks the number of duels he has won. Also playing in the wing back position you face shorter players so you should be winning more headers than at CB. Anyways the stats are for a reason. We all know and loathe the fact that we had to see players so often play out of position by our manager, ala Arshavin, Ramsey, Bendtner etc. But playing out wide has clearly given Ramsey more freedom to play and he has become a better player. Wenger did the same with Ramsey. Similarly has playing Monreal at CB helped him become a better player? I say yes and this is where the stats back me. He certainly seems much better defensively and more confident in the tackle. The reason of comparison was to show he has become a better player defensively and I am sure most of you would have observed how confidently he kept Navas in his pocket last week.
MORE THAN ADEPT AT CB?
With our failed summer transfer window in terms of covering for CB, Monreal ended up playing as our 4th choice CB. Given Koscielny's injury problems this season, combined with Chambers inexperience, form and fatigue Monreal ended up playing CB 9 times this season, playing better than whoever was his partner on that occasion (Mertesacker). He ended up playing so well that fans started asking him to be partnered with Koscielny instead of Mertesacker. Even though he is not an ideal choice and does not cover up our failed pursuit of CBs in the summer he did more than enough in my opinion in terms of covering up for the team.
BEST BACKUP LB IN THE LEAGUE?
Now one may argue that playing at CB has helped his stats more than we notice. For that I have an argument. Other than interceptions all stats are not dependent on the number of games he has played CB. Tackles are more for either DMs and for the full backs as CBs mostly intercept play. Total duels won % is regardless of where he plays as it is a stat which only checks the number of duels he has won. Also playing in the wing back position you face shorter players so you should be winning more headers than at CB. Anyways the stats are for a reason. We all know and loathe the fact that we had to see players so often play out of position by our manager, ala Arshavin, Ramsey, Bendtner etc. But playing out wide has clearly given Ramsey more freedom to play and he has become a better player. Wenger did the same with Ramsey. Similarly has playing Monreal at CB helped him become a better player? I say yes and this is where the stats back me. He certainly seems much better defensively and more confident in the tackle. The reason of comparison was to show he has become a better player defensively and I am sure most of you would have observed how confidently he kept Navas in his pocket last week.
MORE THAN ADEPT AT CB?
With our failed summer transfer window in terms of covering for CB, Monreal ended up playing as our 4th choice CB. Given Koscielny's injury problems this season, combined with Chambers inexperience, form and fatigue Monreal ended up playing CB 9 times this season, playing better than whoever was his partner on that occasion (Mertesacker). He ended up playing so well that fans started asking him to be partnered with Koscielny instead of Mertesacker. Even though he is not an ideal choice and does not cover up our failed pursuit of CBs in the summer he did more than enough in my opinion in terms of covering up for the team.
BEST BACKUP LB IN THE LEAGUE?
It is easy to see that he has been as good as most 1st choice LBs at the top clubs so he can definitely do a job as a backup. But his form this season has been so good I hope he continues at LB in place of Gibbs. His overall discipline also has been excellent and he provides a better defensive stability than Gibbs. We need that as we are so prone to counters and it hardly helps that we end up watching Gibbs as our forward instead of doing his defensive duties.
REALLY BETTER THAN GIBBS?
REALLY BETTER THAN GIBBS?
This is the last stat matrix in this post I promise! But hey just look at that! Better in every way. And not just better, he literally outclasses Gibbs on the defensive front.
CONCLUSION
Every thing I have compared and done in this post is based only defensively. Certainly Monreal is not the attacking type of LB we usually have had over the years. But right now we have players like Alexis and Walcott and Ox and Santi we do not really need an attacking LB. We have enough attacking flair in those players and enough creativity in them. What we do need is a defensive minded LB who can stop those counter attacks that have often left us in those horrendous situations. Gibbs is a far better LB and can be used against teams that park the bus. But against big teams, against teams that come right at us, we need a proper defender, an unsung hero. A Nacho!
CONCLUSION
Every thing I have compared and done in this post is based only defensively. Certainly Monreal is not the attacking type of LB we usually have had over the years. But right now we have players like Alexis and Walcott and Ox and Santi we do not really need an attacking LB. We have enough attacking flair in those players and enough creativity in them. What we do need is a defensive minded LB who can stop those counter attacks that have often left us in those horrendous situations. Gibbs is a far better LB and can be used against teams that park the bus. But against big teams, against teams that come right at us, we need a proper defender, an unsung hero. A Nacho!