Fabregas is Arsenal.com's Player of the Season
Cesc Fabregas is Arsenal.com’s Player of the Year. The young midfielder took over 60 per cent of the votes cast in our online poll. Arsenal.com editor Richard Clarke assesses his campaign in 2006-07.
There really was not too much doubt was there? Cesc Fabregas was the outstanding player for Arsenal last season and not surprisingly the Spaniard scooped nearly two-thirds of your votes. He heartily deserves this award.
Fabregas turned 20 a fortnight before the end of the season and yet he still has 153 games under his belt as an Arsenal player. If, as expected, he honours that eight-year contract he signed in October last year then, at the end of it, he could be starting to think about chasing David O’Leary’s appearance record of 722.
The excellence of Fabregas over the course of the past season is seen more clearly because, not despite, his lack of goals. More than ever, the modern media hang their coverage on scorers. How many times the striker hog the headlines merely because he had hit the winner?
In midfield positions, goals are even more important in determining the way your performance is perceived. For example, do you think David Beckham’s finest hour — the game against Greece in 2002 — would have been portrayed that heroically had he not curled in a last-gasp free-kick. Fabregas actually suffered a goal-drought between August and April last season. However he still caught the eye and that PFA Young Player nomination suggested word had got around that the teenager had become a man.
The best demonstration was at White Hart Lane in the Carling Cup Semi-Final. Arsenal’s inexperienced side had been bruised and battered in the first 20 minutes. They trailed 2-0 and a drubbing was on the horizon.
However, midway through the half, Fabregas took control. His ability to seize the tempo of a game is becoming more and more noticeable these days. But to do it on that occasion, in that atmosphere and within a half was simply stunning. We have seen many players change games after the interval when the manager’s influence can be brought to bear. But this was all the then 19-year-old’s own work. By half time, Tottenham still had their lead but Arsenal had a stranglehold. The comeback seemed inevitable.
Last season the likes of Johan Djourou, Justin Hoyte and Abou Diaby all staked a Premiership claim. All are precocious and precious talents — but all are older than Fabregas. Even Denilson, the darling of the Carling Cup run this term, is only nine months younger.
When Wenger brought in Theo Walcott he argued that “talent is seen early”. The manager’s trick is spotting that ability, nurturing it and allowing it to bloom. Fabregas and Nicolas Anelka are the best examples. The latter left Highbury too early to really assume responsibility in his position. The sea-change for the Spaniard last term was that he had managed to pull off this most difficult trick.
No longer can Cesc Fabregas be seen as a young player with superb ability. He is now the fulcrum of the side. He lubricates the Arsenal engine room, linking defence and attack, controlling the way the team plays. He is now vital to the side. |
發表於 2007-10-31 03:33 PM
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