Mathieu Flamini, Arsenal, Depth, and Strategy

So, Flamini is going to AC Milan, a move that is being widely accepted as based on monetary compensation and nothing else. But could it be something else? I think it might have to do with the fact that he wants to play in a deeper squad, which would provide him with a more unlimited role. There have been many times this season when the Fabregas-Flamini Alliance was too predictable; teams were onto Arsenal, they had figured out what we were doing best, and they started closing down our play. At that time-and I say this not in hindsight, but I was saying it then-at that time, Wenger would have done well to change the play a little bit. I accept that Flamini was playing better than Gilberto, though a big part of that was that Gilberto was not getting enough time on the pitch. But when teams figure out what you're doing and, more importantly, figure out how to deal with it, you need to change. We are not ManU, we cannot depend that on any bad day, a C. Ronaldo is going to save us with some nifty work. We have to win as a team, and we lose as a team. Wenger would have done well to experiment, putting Gilberto or Song-who played an outstanding Africa Cup of Nations in the position with Cameroon under a much less capable Otto Pfister-into that position, changing Flamini's role a bit, exchanging Rosicky and Hleb, putting in new faces like Walcott, Diaby, and Denilson. They are not new faces to football fans, but they are new faces to the teams whose whole strategy was based on knowing how we played-we would be introducing something to the mix on which they had not bargained, and that would throw them off. But when a genius like Wenger thinks he is right, he sticks to his guns for a while. In the end, he was making these changes, more out of necessity than anything, but he played Theo more, he put Diaby in, played Bendtner, put Song-though in Centre Back to replace Senderos. But one thing he was never willing to change until the end, and which he was forced to do because of injury, is disrupt the Flamini-Fabregas Alliance, and take one or both out. Yes, they play well together and yes, noone could argue otherwise, they are excellent players. But give them a rest and let the other teams spend a week trying to figure out how to deal with someone else-only to be surprised with another change, either back to the original or something completely different. Flamini is now going where Gattuso plays. Nobody can unseat Gattuso, not even Flamini, and so it will be interesting to see what happens with both of them on the team. It will also be interesting to see who replaces Flamini. I do not think we need to go outside of the squad, what Wenger should focus on bringing in is one excellent, experienced Centre Back. We do have the depth, we were just refusing to use it! One look at the caliber of players we have at Arsenal and you realize all we really need is one Centre Back. Alex Song is available to take Flamini's position, and Denilson and Djourou can do it as well. The centre midfield will be strong, the defence will be strong-we have two of the best Full Backs in the world in Clichy and Sagna-and the attacking third will be strong with a plethora of options if Hleb does not leave: Eboue-who has gotten some unfair criticism, though has not been playing at his 05-06 level, Diaby, Rosicky, Walcott, Hleb, Eduardo, Adebayor, van Persie, Bendtner. In logical terms: All Arsenal players are excellent ≡ All Arsenal players play