Though it helps to be athletic, you don’t need to be incredible Hulk strong to function as dmf. Positional awareness is more important than that, and I think the team is improving on that.

There was a X Alonso interview on Guardian where he says he is puzzled by English football’s infatuation with tackling. His ethos totally echoes how Arteta has been so effective this season as deepest lying mid.

“I don’t think tackling is a quality,” he (Alonso) says. “It is a recurso, something you have to resort to, not a characteristic of your game. At Liverpool I used to read the matchday programme and you’d read an interview with a lad from the youth team. They’d ask: age, heroes, strong points, etc. He’d reply: ‘Shooting and tackling’. I can’t get into my head that football development would educate tackling as a quality, something to learn, to teach, a characteristic of your play. How can that be a way of seeing the game? I just don’t understand football in those terms. Tackling is a [last] resort, and you will need it, but it isn’t a quality to aspire to, a definition. It’s hard to change because it’s so rooted in the English football culture, but I don’t understand it.”

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I might be overstating him; “insider sources” say senior coaches of Arsenal grew tired of Song’s reckless abandon and attitude last season and at the start of this. If that is true,. I might have to eat my words somewhat.

But at the same time, I don’t think Arteta/Song coordinated the double pivot as well in some matches – nobody really took full responsibility deeper: which should be Song (but by that same token, while Arteta gives Arsenal continuity with his passing, could he not be charged with taking more onus in creating chances considering the time he spends in the final third?).

But I agree, we looked very good defensively against Sunderland, if owing to some degree of cautiousness when going forward (especially with our full-backs). I actually recommended, on twitter, that it might have been better for Song and Arteta to switch roles last season. But that’s gone now…

I think where we missed Song v Sunderland was his passes from deep or even his drive. Diaby played within himself as the midfielder “in-between” and as such, Carzola offered the only penetration. The three strikers didn’t offer any horizontal creativity (and nothing in the way of crosses) and that’s where Song’s diagonal and chipped passes could have come to play. Although last season, he had RvP’s movement to aim at…..

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Granted Song carries a bit more panache than a holding midfielder but in losing him, it might be fair to say Arsenal lose a physical presence (Diaby not quite a defensive midfielder although he may play a lot of matches in the pivot; while Frimpong too young. Coquelin more subtle in his play). I don’t think it’s an unfortunate stereotype; it’s a play on the cliché that has often been said Arsenal lack.

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Those were from whoscored.com. It’s got everything you need.

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@Eurazian: To claim that the post title is an ‘unfortunate stereotype’ is frankly just soft-skinned. You can always read anything into everything, and obviously you just have. As far as I’m concerned, it says more about you than it does about the author…

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But the whole “brains over brawn” premise? Can’t help but think there’s some unfortunate stereotyping going on there.

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