Liverpool will be without Mr. Liverpool soon. Chelsea have lost the late arriving, great stalwart to America via a dodgy connection to Manchester. Manchester United in the last couple of season’s lost one to punditry/Salford United and the other up-skilled to Van Gaal’s overseer. Still, one remains at a top four club.
Undervalued and extremely unfortunate in regards to injuries, Tomas Rosicky is a dream midfielder. Loyalty in these days are seldom, in all walks of life, but Rosicky and Arsenal are as unfortunate and loyal as Thelma and Louis. I’ve heard stories on that Rosicky has never taken a pay increase at Arsenal given his lack of appearances in a season which if true, just shows you the imagery I’m trying to portray. We won’t go into the fact that it’s not minimum wage he’s on and that contract clauses have almost meant that he’s gone up from his original contract, but still the sentiment is there.
The ultimate football hipster crush, moving from Dortmund to Arsenal in 2006, the only way you could make him more appealing in North London, was if you were to have him the only player wearing a retro JVC number from the Arsenal catalogue and if he wore brogues instead of his Puma’s. “The Little Mozart” is not a nickname you gain by kicking the shit out of the opposite players, nor, I imagine, is it gained easily. His style of play is that of a playmaker, something that all the players pointed to in the intro all have in common. He’s not just an average playmaker though, his touch and passing ability bring both a calming feature and a sense of urgency to The Emirates. Key tendencies of his play are dictating the tempo of a match, which is evident in Arsene’s tactical nouse in bringing him on after 60/70 minutes to shut down the opponent.
Another key aspect of Rosicky, is the ability and range of passing/shooting. Gaining my admiration from the early 2000’s after watching him play for Dortmund, the man certainly knows how to hit one from long-range, it only takes a quick Google search of “Rosicky Goals” to know what I mean. His passing ability is excellent as well, he’s renowned for using the outside of his right peg for both precision and a tad for flamboyance. In 2014 Wenger, described him as the signing only an attacking midfielder, but under his guidance, now feels he has the perfect all-round midfielder.
His presence in midfield is always excellent from an outsider looking in, and the older he’s got, the more instrumental he’s become. Arsenal’s midfield is a combination of deep-lying playmakers (Cazorla, Wilshere, Arteta) and Box-to-box (Ramsey, Coquelin and to a lesser extent Ox), in which were Rosicky can slide into both these roles. Pace isn’t essential to be a box-to-box strangely as long as you can counteract him with an attacking/defensive minded partner. Normally you’re finding that Rosicky jogs majestically like a Londoner doing the “I didn’t want that bus anyway” stroll after a mad dash for it. He’s normally partnered or played in a three with any previously mentioned who do the running and it pays dividends.
The talk at the minute is that of another contract extension and given the crisis that the club had once players like Adams and Vieira had left, you’d think it silly if the club let a player who’s pretty much gelling the new to the old leave. Given that Adams left in a period of transition for the club and Vieira left and wasn’t replaced adequately from the get go, Arsenal slumped. Like an ex sitting on a couch in her onesie eating the Aldi equivalent to Haagen-Dazs, they remained a tad dejected until another mercurial talent picked up the crowd.
Whether he’s got a few more seasons in him at the highest level (he’s 34 now) or if he wants the evangelical send off in a blaze of glory this season and then off to the MLS remains to be seen. It’s hard to see where his career or to a higher extent Arsenal would have been if it hadn’t have been marred with repetitive injuries, at least they’ve got him now in all his all rounded glory.