Credits: The Daily Mail
This post is not about our narrow win against Southampton – not entirely, anyway. It didn’t feel like enough content to spunk a thousand words on.
The win against Southampton felt elementary enough to examine. Lucas Perez and Shkodran Mustafi were ordinary and solid debutantes respectively, and an important Laurent Koscielny goal is always very much appreciated, be it on his birthday or otherwise. Arsenal were Arsenal in leaving it late to mask a shoddy performance, which, quite frankly, has happened one too many times to warrant any pointed analysis. In the end, as we know now, it took a somewhat contentious penalty call to give us the chance to save face.
The pressure was on Santi Cazorla’s abnormally tiny shoulders, heightened by each minute it took for the penalty to be delayed (get well soon right away Kos!) Arsenal Twitter was hilariously going into meltdown before he even took it, but I for one wasn’t nearly as worried. I knew that if there was anyone in the team likely to deliver under that much pressure, it was him.
We needn’t have worried. Santi Cazorla has been designed to rescue us from the ugliest of spots since his arrival in 2012. Amidst the Mesut Özil drama that unfolded the year after, we may forget that Santi was largely perceived as “the Fabregas replacement”. The label, somewhat unfairly brandished in hindsight, did not seem to shrink the diminutive midfielder’s confidence. His goals and assists in that season were perhaps the biggest contribution in Arsenal securing fourth.
I know many will scoff in that it was “only fourth”, but let’s please add some context to what a dire Arsenal team this was back then. It was a team that held Theo Walcott, Lukas Podolski and Gervinho as their key cogs, two of whom were later cast away as rejects and one of whom would have been on the absolute peripheries of the team had Arsène Wenger signed a winger.
That’s not to say Cazorla was the best of a bad bunch. It’s quite the opposite, actually. It takes someone special to drag a mediocre team like that to fourth, and it almost draws parallels to the time when Robin van Persie single-handedly heaved Arsenal to a respectable third in 2012.
It’s a huge testament to Santi’s ability that despite the signings of Özil and Granit Xhaka (even Alexis Sanchez to compete him in the wide positions), not to mention the reemergences of Francis Coquelin and Aaron Ramsey, Cazorla still finds himself above most of them in the pecking order. And why wouldn’t he? People talk about players like Mikel Arteta and Per Mertesacker as akin to Wenger’s reliable lieutenants, and I think for the most part that’s true. But I don’t think many have considered that the manager may also hold the little Spaniard with that much trust.
He doesn’t possess a Patrick Vieira kind of personality, but has certainly shown to lead by example at times when we’ve needed him to. There is the obvious example of his free kick against Hull City in the 2014 FA Cup Final, but very few recall his decisive spot-kick in the game against Wigan Athletic in the game before that. He came out like a hero in the Manchester City game when everyone expected us to be on the end of a bit of a thumping, and wasn’t it him who quietly assisted Olivier Giroud’s goal against Bayern Munich at home, around this time last year?
His contribution has been massive, and it pains me to see it not given more credence than it should. Cazorla’s ability is not underrated among the Arsenal faithful, but to me, it seems underappreciated. With all the games he’s played and the positions he’s been asked to operate in, Santi has done more for us than we’d expect, yet I see more gratitude for the Koscielnys and the Bellerins than for him (not that they don’t deserve it).
It’s no secret that I’m known for my love of Cazorla. That may be the only thing I will be known for as an Arsenal fan. And I’m willing to consider the possibility that I’m being biased and my views are somewhat skewed in his favour. Even so, I find it mildly disappointing that Santi is so far down the pecking order of our most important players that he’s included in the famed ‘world-class bracket’ merely as an afterthought.
I love Cazorla. I love him for moments like the day before yesterday. I love him for not leaving this club for Atletico Madrid. I love him for his cheerful and characterful personality. Players like Mesut Özil and Alexis Sánchez are hugely important to put an icing on the cake, but its warriors like Cazorla who bake the cake in the first place.
And look, however much you may love Ozil and Sanchez, if this season is a failure, you can be certain one of them will be angling for the exit door. Players like them are essential to making a good team great, but aren’t an embodiment of loyalty. Cazorla, bless him, is. He’s the newspaper you always expect on your doorstep, the dog who’ll cheer you up when you’re sad. With all my heart, I pray gems like him retire and immortalize themselves at this club, gaining the status of legends.
God knows, he’s long overdue.
-Santi [Follow me on Twitter @ArsenalBlogz ]
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