Oxlade-Chamberlain the new Gazza, says Arsenal Legend

Those who have read me or talked to me over the past year or so will know I have championed Alex. In his first season perhaps I did this too much. I recall saying we had no need to sign Gotze because we had Oxlade-Chamberlain. I wrote a blog before the last game of 2011/12 versus WBA with the slogan within “The Ox must play!”

There have been times this season when I thought he was not progressing and other times when I have wondered why Wenger was not utilising him more often? I want him to play through the middle but that area is hugely congested for the Arsenal at present. So much so, that even Jack Wishere has not been guaranteed a start. Now, I love Cazorla in the advanced central role and equally I enjoy seeing Rosicky there. Both bring differing attributes to the job but Wenger seems to see Santi wider and Tomas is no spring chicken. For me Jack and Rambo are competing for the second pivot so Ox is the heir successor to the CAM role. I said at the start of the season that we have not replaced the Cesc like vision and eye for a pass to split defences in that role so having a runner/dribbler who can carry the ball and commit defenders is the best alternative. (This is of course assuming Fabregas is not returning to take the CAM role. The odds on that happening are tumbling at Bet365 Football Betting.)

Where am I going you may be wondering and I have just had to remind myself as it goes!

I will tell you where I am headed and it is all around age and expectancy in modern football and how it was so different in Gazza’s day. More pertinently though I think the question is whether it was better back then? Both Gascoigne and Ox made their first starts in the top flight aged 18. Gazza with Newcastle in 1985, and Oxlade-Chamberlain with Arsenal in 2011. In this respect therefore the early career paths are similar but there is a huge difference when you look at the International careers.

Looking back we think Of Gascoigne bursting onto the scene as a kid in the 1990 World Cup. The reality is very different. Gazza won the Young Player of the Year Award in 1987/88 but he had not played for England and was still playing U21 football. He had to wait until he was 21 and 6 months until he made his debut and it was not until he was in his 23rd year that he was playing regularly for England. Going to the World Cup in the summer of 1990 at the age of 23, Gascoigne had just hit double figures for his country. He was mature enough in a football sense to take a match by the scruff of the neck on a consistent basis, but only just.

Contrast this with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain who after only 8 U21 caps was give his full England debut still aged 18 in a competitive qualifier. He had played 2 further times, the 3rd cap starting the European Championships against France still 2 months short of his 19th birthday. Only Rooney has been capped by England at a younger age. Ox now has 12 full caps and is still 19 and is being compared to Gazza by Ray Parlour.

I can see the likeness and I too feel my pulse racing at the idea that Alex could reach the level, in a footballing sense that Gasciogne did. But and this is a huge but, we as fans, the media and the England coaching staff need to look to Arsene Wenger who I feel has mentored Ox sensibly. Wenger is being cautious, utilising Ox sparingly, often as a game changer and to his credit the lad seems to show huge maturity and be happy to progress at the pace his manager decides. Wenger can’t truly control what Roy Hodgson decides but he can determine Ox’s learning curve and impact at Arsenal.