Andre Santos should be Arsenal’s 1st choice LB

I have a confession to make to all you Gooners. I fear I may be the reason that Andre Santos got injured on Tuesday. I may, by mentioning I was going to praise him by writing a piece about the Brazilian, have tempted the footie gods to cause him harm. So before I go on, let me apologize for the possibility that I caused Arsenal to lose for a time a very promising player.

Now with that out of the way can we agree on one thing – Andre Santos (when healthy) needs to be our every day, first choice left back. I know there is a large contingent who want to see Kieran Gibbs take that spot. But let’s face it, as good as the kid MAY be he is out far too long for far too many times for him to be considered as anything other than a back up at this point. Hell, I would go so far as to say that if Gibbs is out any longer, Ignassi Miquel will replace as a back up LB.

It would also be nice if we could all be honest and admit that when Andre Santos was signed we all collectively went – “WTF Arsene.” It’s akin to same feeling we had when last summer he signed a French Pole by the name of Laurent Koscielny. I had no idea who Andre Clarindo Dos Santos was. I knew he had played Fenerbache because that is what was in the press-release that signaled his signing. But admittedly as one who follows very little Turkish Football and only knows the big names on the Brazil national team, I had no idea who this guy was.

But when he was signed this is what Wenger said:

“He has experience in the Champions League and for Brazil and has proved he can deliver at the highest level. We welcome Santos to the Club and look forward to him having a big impact for us.” Arsene Wenger, August 2011.

Tim Vickery, the BBC South America reporter had this to say:

He’s quick, he’s strong, he’s very good going forward. He gets himself into good positions but doesn’t score, but he can set up. He can hit the byline, he can cross nicely. He’s a good attacking left back.”  Tim Vickery, August 2011. 

So at the end of August what we knew still wasn’t very much. We could fill in some extra blanks, he was up until 3 weeks prior to his signing, Brazil’s first choice left back but was punished by Dunga for a defensive lapse in a friendly that happened a few weeks before his transfer. We also know that for his club in Brazil, he worked more as a wing back than a conventional left back.

Now, I don’t know about you but when I read all of this I have to admit to being a little skeptical. Brazilian fullbacks are notoriously known for their inability to be defensive. Not too hard to understand given how the national team plays. But when he signed, I said to myself fair enough. If he pushes young Gibbs to improve so be it. We all knew that Gibbs was going to be given every opportunity to claim himself as Gael Clichy’s heir.

But therein lies the problem. While Clichy was good, he wasn’t exactly setting the world alight with his defensive prowess or his ability in bringing us forward. Frankly the big thing Clichy has going for him is his speed it allows him to recover some of his more blatant positional mistakes that we all know can cost games.

We’ve all now had a small amount of time to assess Santos and his role in the club and to be honest, I have to admit, I love the guy. Sure, he scares the living daylights out of me when I see him so far forward and in the MIDDLE of the pitch. But Arsenal look like they knew this was going to happen and seem to have worked on the defence so that either Song or Vermaelen is filling the void that happens when Santos does ramble forward. In all honesty I really feel with Santos’ offensive capabilities we play a system more akin to a 3-4-3 than a 4-3-3.  But you know what, so far so good.

I took a look at statistically where Santos, Gibbs and Clichy are today at this part of the season. The good thing is that they have all started pretty much around the same amount of games.

Statistically Speaking:

(editorial note: all statistics courtesy of the EPL Index. You can also find them on twitter @eplindex

Statistically when you look at all three there isn’t much of comparison. In  certain categories each player beats out the other but only marginally. But when you look at it from the perspective that Kieran Gibbs and Gael Clichy are considered by some (not necessarily me) to be good defenders, than Andre Santos has to be considered at the minimum just as good. What Santos gives you that the others don’t is better offence from the wing than you’ve had before from this position.

Sure the numbers are still small but given what we’ve seen of Santos and Gibbs, Santos has the possibility of going higher while Gibbs remains an unknown because of his lack of play. Clichy was never much of an offensive player. What was it – 1 or 2 goals over an 8 year career at the club?

The biggest areas of diversion besides the offensive numbers are that Clichy does look to be a better crosser, at least as of this date but a bigger margin than is seen here. But he also has more games than the others. Defensively, Santos comes out better than either Clichy or Gibbs (again marginally) but in the tackle category he is significantly better. He’s also much MUCH better in the air than either Clichy and Gibbs and given our past issues in the air on set pieces this has to be viewed as a big plus.

When compared against Gibbs I think the argument statistically for Santos being the first choice back is very strong – across the board. I used Clichy as a comparison that at the very least with Santos we haven’t lost anything (so far) and may have actually gained in areas we didn’t have with Clichy’s style of play.

The Intangibles.

The biggest thing I’ve seen with Santos is the “easy” way he seems to play the game. He doesn’t get flustered on the errors he has committed and doesn’t seem to panic when things aren’t going right. As a matter of fact in each of this situations, he seems to bear down and work harder.

He is much stronger than either Gibbs or Clichy and it is very hard to get him off the ball. Players have tried but Santos usually comes out the winner.  He also features some fancy footwork and I have to say I have been impressed a number of times when it looks like he is closed down he just uses those samba skills of his to get out of the jam. Both his strength and his foot work have to be the reasons why his loss of possession numbers are low.

Robin Van Persie sums up Santos the best:

“He’s firstly a left-back, but he’s so much more than that – he gets the ball to his feet, plays one-twos, looks after the ball with style and plays a bit like Roberto Carlos.

“He knows how to choose between holding his defensive position and going forward – and when he goes, he is committed. I love his play.

“I remember a couple of weeks ago playing not just a one-two but a one-two-three-four with him, and that’s the kind of thing you enjoy. It’s a joy to play with him because he loves football, loves finding solutions, and I don’t really see full-backs as confident as Andre in other teams.

“We all feel that when he has the ball he will do something useful with it. You know that, even if he is faced with a couple of guys, he’ll choose the right thing.”

Per Mertesacker is often defended skillwise by the following statement – he plays for the German National Team, he must know what he is doing (or some variation of that). Well, the Brazil National Team doesn’t just pick slouches either. If they did, Denilson would be in the national set up for Brazil. That experience of playing with such a good team as the Brazilians can’t be diminished.

Arsenal were desperate to bring in experienced talent and I know we all scratched our heads with this one but overall he has shown he has the experience to play and he plays well in England.

In the end Santos, fits the bill as modern full back, he is a solid defender AND he has skills going forward. While Gibbs may get there and Clichy could’ve been there, Santos in my opinion is a better option than both of them. Now about this injury business of his – that and we really need to talk to him about his samba routine – dude your Brazilian come on already.

Until next time – Stay Goonerish!