Picking Man Of The Match At Arsenal Is Easy. Right?

There is a podcast called The Tuesday Club to which a lot of arsenal fans subscribe to. Its host, Alan Davis, is known to most as the wirey haired man from Jonathan Creek or more known as the stupid one from QI. Each week Alan and chums discuss all things Arsenal with its usual comic banter an unedited opinion. Like most things run over the coarse of a season or year it always finishes it final podcast with an awards ceremony to which no actual awards are given.

For the past couple of years the podcast has found itself giving out awards to the most unusual categories all too familiar to fans who have been subject watching their team. It has had categories such as worst player, biggest mistake by a goalkeeper, worst game of the season and so on. All of which have had more than one candidate to which a lot of time was spent deliberating a winner. Too much time in fact.

When it came time to award the player of the year, the shortlist usually contained a list of one player in that year, Robin Van Persie, Cesc Fabregas or Arteta were the choices which all members of the podcast all agreed without debate. However this year it might not be such a simple task to pick a stand out player or the other categories which have become far to familiar for Arsenal fans liking.

This season I have had many arguments with myself about who should be awarded man of the match in certain games. A debate which still rages in my head. A couple of weeks ago Arsenal played host to Napoli which was without doubt Arsenal’s finest performance for years. It was flawless. Watching the game I noticed how superb Giroud was in leading the line. His first touch was sublime and held the ball with ease at times never once losing it to an opposition defender and laying off the ball to the on rushing Arsenal midfield and never wasting a single ball by shooting from distance.

All too often front men who play on their own find themselves isolated and frustrated and when they do get the ball they have a tendency to take all their frustration out on the ball and lash it over the bar by miles. However Giroud never once did that and was solid all game long. So well done Giroud, your man of the match. Have some champagne. But wait.

Aaron Ramsey has been superb all season and is no doubt the most in form player in Europe at the moment. Everything he does turns to gold and his goal scoring record has be unbelievable, although a certain Portuguese may disagree. He deserves his plaudits after coming back from a broken leg and heavy criticism from fans and pundits. Surely he deserves the champagne. Ok well done Ramsey. Giroud give him the bottle. Hang on, hang on.

Jack Wilshere. What about him? I as myself. Since he has had a run of a few games he has been played out of position on the wings like the game against Marseille and he has been brilliant. Now even he is adding goals to his game even though he has been asked to play in the wings such is the overload of players in Arsenals central midfield. Most players when asked to do that aren’t comfortable being played out of position and are less effective in the game and yet this small fellow is playing a storm. Good point. Sorry Aaron but your still brilliant. Well done Jack.

Wait wait wait. Oh what now. What about Ozil? I mean how many players make an impact just six minutes into his first game after being pushed out of one of the biggest clubs in the world much to the dismay of the players there. No matter where he puts the ball he finds his man. Time and time again. I mean recently he does seem a bit annoyed and out of form as it were but he was still able to read that if he pinged the ball on to Ramsey’s head in the Cardiff game, all he would have to do is redirect the ball towards goal. And the second assist none of the Cardiff players were able to get near the through ball even by sliding on the ground. It was perfectly weighted for Flamini to hit it. Not too soft to force him to take control and waste the chance and not too hard for him to mis-control it. What an impact he has had not just on the pitch but his arrival alone has lifted the team.

At this stage I’m thinking we need more champagne bottles for each match. Every game these players have given great performance. Oh my god, I can’t believe you have forgotten about Cazorla and Rosicky. They put in good shifts as well. And the arrival of Flamini. The unmentioned workhorse who makes a lot of what the attacking players do possible. Without that dog work we would be conceding goals a bit more. And when he inevitably gets suspended Arteta can fil the roll. Oh is this ever going to end.

All I can say is that The Tuesday Club podcast will have a lot of deliberating to do to agree on a player of the year, a game of the year and so in. At his stage I think will leave it to them to find the player they think most deserves the awards. All I know is it will be somewhere in the midfield area. But wait one more thing. What about the back four and goalkeeper? Of for f… I’m going home.