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| Top Man...Top Gunner |
I’m talking here about none other than 25 year-old Moroccan Marouane Chamakh who has netted seven times since making his free transfer from Bordeaux to Arsenal in the summer. The slightly-built native of Rabat is a deceptively structured technician of the highest order and has repaid all the faith Wenger invested in him. So early in the season, that is quite a feat.
Myles Palmer describes him as a “cool, continuity player, a pro with a good temperament” and that summarises what he is all about in very simple terms. Additionally, he is a major reason why today we find ourselves in second position on the league log and bossing our group in the Champions League.
Everything Chamakh does on the pitch is carefully thought-out. After seeing him in play about 13 games for us now, I can’t remember him being picked for offside once. Something that Adebayor fell foul of, game in, game out.
Chamakh moves around stealthily and economically; making him hard to pick up and almost impossible to stop when he explodes. His long legs provide balance and the fact that he is two-footed makes him a danger to defenders because you never know when he’ll shoot.
All these attributes come also with a knack for drawing fouls from the opposition. In three months, he has got four players sent off in 13 games! Blackpool’s Ian Evatt, Bolton’s Gary Cahill, Partizan Belgrade's Marko Jovanovic and Manchester City’s Dedryck Boyata have been his victims so far and surely, more players will fall prey to Chamakh’s deceptive movement.
Added to this body count, he has also won us penalties against Blackpool, Tottenham, Partizan Belgrade and Braga. This is a phenomenal thing to do by any player. Except your name is Lionel Messi or Christiano Ronaldo would you attract so much attention from opposing defences.
In causing all these amount of mayhem, he has somehow managed to escape attention to score goals himself with regular consistency. Can you ask for more from a player, who isn’t even six months old yet in English football?
Chamakh also keeps a cool head on the pitch. Not for him are silly, little confrontations that detracts from the job at hand and takes your eye off the ball. Despite the amount of attention (often cynical) he gets from defenders, he manages to maintain his calm and do his stuff. That is something a fello-player, Van Persie can learn a lot from. The Morocaan has a good temperament that allows him to disregard all provocations and concentrate.
Allied to this, is the fact that he avoids flashpoints and hardly reacts to intimidatory tactics which are often salient parts of the game.
Which is why Arsenal’s style this season of playing a lone striker upfront has worked perfectly thus far. The right man for the job, this kind of job, was always Chamakh. He gives our multi-talented midfielders a ready outlet for balls and makes runs for them to supply passes. He keeps things simple and straight-forward and doesn’t break the rhythm of the game. Which is also something Van Persie can learn from. A selfish and individualistic player, the Dutchman has not hit his full potential because he doesn’t play in tune with the team – which is a passing team. Chamakh does it and does it well.
Which is why all the success he has recorded till date has not been a coincidence. Which is why he has integrated well into the team in so short a time. Which again, as we can all see now, was why Wenger waited and bidded his time for No 29.
Also, most importantly, he wanted to be here. In his words:
“For many players, it is either Real Madrid or Barcelona. For me, it has always been Arsenal. I have always wanted to wear their shirt and play for them. They have always been the team for me in all my years at Bordeaux and I could not be happier playing for any other team”.
So far, it has been a match making process of absolute perfection. And to think we got him and all his delightful attributes for free!
Long live the bloke in shirt No 29.
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