Before we start, I would like to point out that I love watching Frimpong play.
You can see he has the potential to be a fantastic defensive midfielder, but what is really exciting about him is his rawness. He always looks slightly on the edge, just on the verge of losing control of the ball, and himself. A battler, something that will benefit Arsenal no-end, and in a couple of years will be aiming to cement a first place in that team.
But is he the type of player that we need? I mean, REALLY need?
Sure, it’s great that we’re adding more defensive elements to our team, and Frimpong will be the type of player that will suit Wolves down to a tee. A physical battler who ‘puts in a shift’ is something that will warm up Mick’s McCarthys no end.
But how will this bolster what will essentially keep us up, scoring goals?
We have Fletcher at the moment, and we have Jarvis who is able to create chances. And that is pretty much it. It doesn’t bare thinking about if they both hit a bad run of form, or worse, were injured.
Our issue going forward is stemmed around the playing styles of Henry and O’Hara. I’m not doubting the quality of either, but both like to pick the ball up from deep.
There isn’t an issue with this, some of the world’s best central midfielders do it. But we’ve seen countless times before or times where Henry or O’Hara have collected the ball, turned and there not being anybody 20 yards in front of them. As a result they have to resort to either playing it back, or playing the longer ball, whether this is to our striker or over the head of their right back for Jarvis to run onto (which never bloody works)
This used to be effective sometimes when Doyle was on top of his game, but with him struggling, it’s meant that our main goal threat, Fletcher, having to come deep to try to knock on balls when he should be the one chasing them.
And if it’s not Fletcher coming deep, its Jarvis or the other wide player coming out of position to look for the shorter ball in the middle of the park, bringing them out of the area where they are most effective.
We need someone to play in that hole. Somebody who can link the play up, bring Fletcher and Jarvis into the game easier as well as being a goal threat themselves. We saw O’Hara do it briefly, but his natural style meant that he ended up dropping deeper and deeper anyway.
So who would be that ideal player?
Long-term, I’m not sure. David Edwards did it effectively against Man City last year, especially his runs into their area. But he doesn’t have the the creative quality or pace to carry this on.
Is there then an argument to go for another loan signing to look at this in the short-term? If we are looking at players like Frimpong who are largely unproven in the Premier League, players who are young but not yet given an opportunity in the first team, then what’s stopping us looking at somebody else?
For me, all this points towards somebody like Josh McEachran.
A creative midfielder who also has the ability to play out wide, he has huge amounts of potential. But when he’s competing against the likes of Mata, Sturridge, Lampard, Meireles, will he be given the opportunity of first-team football in the near future?
He is somebody that Chelsea do see as part of their future, he signed a 5 year deal this summer, and there has been talk of him going on loan to other teams.
And his style of play would easily suit us in both a 4-5-1 and a 4-4-2 formation. Granted, it would mean dropping Henry or O’Hara, but Mick has already dropped Johnson, Doyle and Jarvis this season, so this isn’t something he’s afraid to do.
As I said earlier, I am excited to see Frimpong in a Wolves shirt. But if we are to push on and reach our target of being comfortably safe before the end of the season, we need to start looking at pushing forward in a more positive manner.
