He opens up space for Walcott and his ball retention allows for use of this space. While Ramsey is arguably better at ball retention, he doesn’t have the winger mentality that Benayoun has of occupying the space between midfield and defense and this is why the Israeli has had more success since our slight change of system.
Benayoun started again against Liverpool and wasn’t just as effective, Liverpool’s midfield was packed with midfielders who prefer to sit deep and as such, he had very little space to exploit. He only received the ball 17 times in 74 minutes and was taken off for the more direct Gervinho who was more successful at stretching the defence. The next two away games saw the introduction of Ramsey to the left with great success in the first 20 minutes or so against Everton, and then practically no effect against Queens Park Rangers as they snuffed out the middle space for the young Welshman to exploit.
Benayoun’s season reached its highpoint against Manchester City last weekend. He was excellent at mantaining pressure and pressing Man City’s back four, making 3 successful tackle attempts out of 4 which, tied for the most of any Arsenal player with Vermaelen and Arteta. He also won 6/10 ground duels, not bad for such a slender player and 53% of his passes went to the right, often to the lively Rosicky as Benayoun looked to lay him off and create space. With 13/19 passes successful in the final third, he was key in the relentless pressure that resulted in Arsenal completing 153 of 211 final third passes compared to Man City’s 53/83. He continued in the starting line-up against Wolves and bucked his trend of being ineffective against the smaller teams this season, managing to bag an excellent goal as his wrong-footed Hennessey. Many people often talk of Benayoun’s industry as if he is a Dirk Kuyt, but his technical ability should not be overlooked and his goal against Wolves was a reminder of that. With 3 accurate long balls, 90% pass completion rate, 20/24 passes completed in the final third, 2 shots on target and 5/6 ground duels won, he was a star performer in the game and certainly deserves the praise he has received.
Benayoun’s journey this season has coincided with Wenger’s return to the creative winger after the experiment with two direct wingers and he has had great success with it so far. I would love to see Benayoun sign a permanent deal at Arsenal as his professionalism is a great example for the younger ones to follow and his focus in the big matches, that Wenger has praised, could see us finally begin to crack Man United’s tactical dominance over us in recent years. However, the continuing emergence of Chamberlain, Miyaichi and the possible signing of Podolski, who can all play on the left-wing, could mean that his chances would be even more limited at Arsenal. It has been a pleasure watching him this season and it is easy to see why he always leaves an impression at every club he played for, hopefully his form can continue and help the Gunners hold on to 3rd place.
