I think whoever said “Cesc’s the conductor, not the violinist” said it best. He’s at his best when he’s not playing forward, but in the true middle of the field where can pick teams apart with short and long passes that kick-start the attack. When he plays behind the striker(s), he never looks comfortable and doesn’t get enough time and room to do what he does best.

About Senderos: (a) whatever his faults, I always felt like Senderos was trying hard–Silvestre just gave up on Drogba on Saturday’s second goal; and (b) even if he’s not much better than Silvestre in terms of overall effectiveness, Senderos brings different elements, in terms of his physicality and aerial ability, which would complement Toure, unlike Silvestre, who is basically just a vastly inferior version of Toure. But we could really use a tall physical defender with an aerial presence in the lineup, so hopefully Djourou will be back by next week.

He set up the first goal with a brilliant flick, and spent a lot of time tracking back, and did some midfield defending (something I didn’t see denilson do). He hasn’t been as explosive, but he hasn’t played in as many games.

Frankly I think it’s getting pretty clear. When Cesc is playing in a forward position, he does poorly, Sylvestre has no cover, and can’t be solid, and we lose. He has more defensive gifts that we give him credit for.

And Sagna looked completely out of juice after 60 minutes.

And as far as Senderos, I think he would have been beaten by a lot of that stuff too. Probably not as much, Sylvestre has been pretty terrible. But we were all complaining about senderos in the same way same time last year.

Asking “what if?s” is pointless and unhelpful, but sometimes you just can’t help yourself. Would Senderos have just capitulated on Drogba’s second goal like Silvestre did? Phillipe’s pretty strong, and if he could have impeded him just a bit more than Silvestre did, Fabianski beats Drogba to the ball and clears it. And Senderos is physical and decent in the air–so many times yesterday Liverpool were just heading the ball around in our own box and we were powerless to do anything about it. I can’t help but think it would have been helpful to have someone tall and physical to knock it out. Sigh.

Silvestre > Senderos = Poor Defending

What was Wenger thinking letting Senderos go? He may have been turned by Torres, but for cripes sake, who hasn’t?