Profile: Arsenal's Unsung Song

In this instalment of the player profile series on Stone Cold Arsenal , the spotlight falls on one of Arsenal’s unsung heroes—the young defensive midfielder.

Born:

Alexandre Dimitri Song Billong (Alex Song)

9 September, 1987

Douala, Cameroon

It’s no exaggeration to state that Alex Song has had a baptism of fire through his induction to the Arsenal first team. Even to this day, he still has many doubters, most of whom unfairly formed a lasting judgement on him based on his initial indifferent performances at the beginning of his Arsenal career.

Plucked from the obscurity of the French second division by Wenger’s scouting system, Song underwent his trial at Arsenal during the preseason training of 2005-2006. His potential had already been noticed by big clubs like Lyon, Inter Milan, and Manchester United. 

However, it was Wenger who took the plunge by inviting the untested Song to stay for the season on loan from his club SC Bastia. He only made five appearances for Arsenal while on loan but this convinced Wenger to part with a £1 million transfer fee to sign him permanently.

I suppose I took particular interest in Alex Song because he was the nephew of Rigobert Song, whose career I had followed from his stints at Liverpool and with the Cameroonian national team.

Like most youngsters developing in the game, Song had a patchy and indifferent start to his Arsenal career, but we are now seeing the fruits of Wenger’s confidence and faith in the young man. It would have been understandable if the manager had lost faith in him and had not persisted, but Wenger at the best of times likes doing things the hard way.

The lowest point of Song’s stint with Arsenal so far was his performance for Arsenal against Fulham a couple of seasons ago. It was one of those performances in which any player would wish for the ground to open up and swallow them, if only to avoid the wrath of the seething fans.

A significant proportion of fans were very vocal about his poor performance at that Fulham game. Subsequently, many voices were adamant that Alex Song was not fit to wear the red and white of the Arsenal.
 
Wenger sought to manage the situation by shipping Song off to Charlton Athletic where he played 12 solid games for them before they were relegated. The loan spell, however, seemed to work in lifting up the young man’s confidence.

Despite these initial indifferent performances, there was something very noticeable about Song’s talent and potential, and it was only a matter of time before they were unleashed.  He was certainly with the best manager in the world, a man capable of cajoling and encouraging that skill and talent out of any young player.

There was one particular match for me against Manchester United, when Song was filling in at centre back, that convinced me that Wenger was on to a winner with his decision to persist with this young man.
 
I remember it being a very high-pressure situation, one in which the best defenders in the world would opt for safety first and agriculturally dispatch the ball into row Z of the stands. Song, however, decided to dribble the ball out of our box.

My first reaction was to jump at the TV while screaming, “Jesus Christ! What do you think you’re doing?”

But after calming down and reflecting on what just happened without a loss of pace and passing precision, I concluded that Song was either absolutely brilliant, or absolutely stupid—and had gotten away with murder.

There was, however something very unnerving about his calmness and composure as he dribbled out of the box; even so, I confess that it was a neat piece of skill (if you take the argument that it was born out of brilliance and not stupidity).

Two other similar memories linger.

Firstly, in a recent game he was facing our own goal just outside our 18-yard box with opposition players breathing down his neck to close him down. He calmly executed an ecstatic 360 degree turn with the ball stuck to his feet, leaving at least two opponents pissing in the wind before completing a simple pass to a teammate to launch another Arsenal attack.

The other joyful moment was during the game with Standard Liege at the Emirates on match day five of the Champions League.  Song skilfully rolled away on the ground from an impending tackle with the ball firmly stuck between his feet, and he confidently recovered to nonchalantly pass the ball on to another Arsenal player to launch an attack.

Saying that it was a high-pressure situation is an understatement, but it was ecstasy to watch.

His game isn’t just about those exquisite moments. There is no doubt that over the last two seasons Alex Song is probably the most improved player at Arsenal. It wasn’t so long ago—in fact, just a few months ago—when many voices in and out of Arsenal openly expressed that Song was not good enough, and Wenger needed to buy a world-class defensive midfielder.

I’m one of those people who think the "world class" label is bandied around too much, and at the best of times, the so called world class players leave a lot to be desired. What does world class mean anyway? The concept is as nebulous as the suggestion that "normal" is a recognizable state of affairs.

Before the Africa Cup of Nations started over a week ago, the same folks who called for Song to be benched because he wasn’t good enough were debating what solutions Wenger will employ to cover for Alex Song when he is on duty for Cameroon.

If ever there was a compliment to the young man—the recognition (explicit or not) of his status as the invaluable lynchpin of Arsenal’s defence in midfield—then it’s the fact that there is a clamor to figure out who will understudy him during his absence and not who will replace him.

His massive improvement and performance this season is no surprise to anyone who has observed him through last season. He clocked a respectable number of games, giving him more confidence to express himself, particularly during Arsenal’s 21-game unbeaten run in the second half of last season.

It isn’t just his improved footballing intelligence, or his improved defensiveness and presence just in front of our back four. Song’s overall game is much better and more well-rounded if you will. 

His tackling and interception rates have significantly improved—and he is not averse to taking one for the team and getting a yellow card for his troubles—for the art of spoiling is indeed a dark art of the defensive midfielder.

Song’s tactical fouling has gotten better though (he gets fewer yellow cards for stopping play), as he has shown that he can intelligently slow the game down to break opposition counter attacks.

So far, Song has played over 100 games for Arsenal with his improvement complimented by his career four goals and seven assists, with his best individual goal coming in the 4-1 mauling of Wigan Athletic last season when he waltzed through the Latics midfield and defence before unleashing a screamer that buried the ball in the back of the net.

There’s no question that he has room for improvement—quality players always seek to improve—and he has already shown significant improvement in the last year alone to set aside any doubts about his intentions to make his mark on this Arsenal team.

However, his improvement will only be cemented by additional game time, which he is accumulating, and this will undoubtedly have a positive impact on his confidence.

What is interesting for me is that Alex Song doesn’t get the recognition due to him for his contribution to Arsenal’s shape and solidity. Every so often, lazy journalism and punditry prefers the easier route of equating class and stature with a price tag that bears little if any resemblance to a player’s true worth.

Until Song either wins a title with Arsenal or Cameroon, he is likely to be seen as "just another Arsene Wenger project." Yet thus far this season, Song has already shown that he is right up there mixing it with the best defensive midfield usual suspects.

Consider this, at 22 years of age, Song is matching the defensive midfield darlings of the media. Javier Mascherano, Michael Essien, and Yaya Toure, who are all in their mid 20s, are often touted as the SI unit of the world class defensive midfielder.

Yet, it’s possible to argue that this season, Song has matched, and in most cases surpassed, this SI unit of measurement. His overall game and contribution to the team has been much better than the three protagonists I’m comparing him to—whether it’s pass completion, interceptions and tackles, contribution to attacking play—or even comparisons of the number of mistakes he has made leading to goals against us.

I’ll even be bold enough to suggest that when Song is at the age where Essien, Mascherano, and Yaya Toure are now, he is going to be a much better player than any of them are—if only for the simple reason that at 22, he’s a much better player than any of the three were at 22.

And despite the learning that Song still needs to do, and his continuing experience as the lynchpin of Arsenal and Cameroon’s defence in midfield, I would suggest that in a year or two, Alexandre Song Billong will become one of the world’s best defensive midfielders.