More injury news http://www.planetfootball.com/article.asp?id=142719&cpid=8&title=Wenger+confirms+Edu+blow They're running out of options for the middle. What horrible timing...
We still have Pires, Parlour, Ljungberg, Silva, Van Bronckhorst and Pennant as out and out midfielders. Add to that Wiltord and Toure, who have played there this season and Lauren who was a midfielder until he came to Arsenal and who plays midfield/wing back for Cameroon and I don't think we're that thin at all. It's a big blow to lose Vieira, but thin? Don't think so.
Re: Re: Getting awefully thin in the middle Maybe one of these days we'll see Pennant on the subs bench. Didn't Kanu slot into midfield once last season? The injuries are piling up, but I'm not worried. We're much deeper in the middle than anywhere else.
Re: Re: Getting awefully thin in the middle Actually, what I meant was the central midfielders specifically, not the wingers.
Re: Re: Re: Getting awefully thin in the middle Not to worry, all the fellows mentioned are well capable of playing in the middle. Gio and Lauren played in the center until they came to Arsenal at Rangers & Mallorca, Pires roamed all over for Marseille and I imagine Freddie could hold his own in the center as well.
I remember seeing DB10 in the role as a central midfielder against Ipswich Town a couple of years ago. He scored and was quite impressive. If it came down to it I believe he could cover the slack for a short spell at least.
I'm glad somebody mentioned this. On paper, Dennis' skills--holding the ball, shifting the direction of play, picking up kamikaze runs into the box--read like the hallmarks of an attacking mid. His goal tally no longer matches that of someone who lines up as a striker.
This suggestion was made with the scenario at hand. This being a mass of injuries depleting the Central midfielders.