"I chose a half measure, when I should have gone all the way... I'll never make that mistake again. No more half measures, Walter."- ―Mike Ehrmantraut
Jaded, emotionally volatile, not someone you'd want to cross in a bad mood and yet someone who sometimes displays an unexpectedly caring and nurturing side. It's as if Flamini and Breaking Bad's Mike Ehrmantraut are one and the same.
This can only be explained by Breaking Bad's creator Vince Gilligan being a self-confessed fan of the fiery Frenchman, citing the Arsenal CDM as inspiration for a number of different characters*
This season our side has benefitted enormously from having a seasoned professional marshalling the ranks at the heart of midfield. Flamini has been indespendable not only because he offers astute positional understanding, but also because he rallies those around him and also scores a decent number of goals, including a superb equaliser against City.
I don't think its too great a leap to compare Mike's tactical masterclass when taking out a building full of guards single-handed, armed with nothing more than a silenced pistol to Flamini's defence of the midfeld when it threatens to buckle under pressure.
He is unshakeably loyal, a consigliere to those he serves under. He also never forgets, a man to hold a grudge against a player who has wronged him and against a team who represented the enemy in the past. Who can forget his frankly diabolical challenge on Tottenham's Corluka in the Champion's League, followed by his sanctimonous rousing of the Milan masses, gladitorial, ruthless. THAT tackle
Like Mike his one weakness has been money, and although we'll never know the reason for Flamini's transfer to AC Milan we like to assume it's because he had a number of 'legacy' payments to make.** As we all know the wages at Arsenal are notoriously thin for those trying to build a private army of assassins and mercenaries.
The ultimate mercenary himself, Mike works for a number of the show's key characters, a right-hand man to Gus Fring, occasional fixer for Saul and consultant to Walter's Vamanos Pest / meth enterprise. Flamini also excels in any role he is afforded, transfering the same hard graft, intimidating physical presence and reading of the game from midfield to right-back. His efforts in our run to the 2006 Champions League final were second to none, particularly considering he was playing out of position for most of the campaign.
Flamini began his Arsenal career as part of the golden era in Arsenal's history, a time when the likes of Bergkamp, Viera and Henry were running riot. Just as Mike returns to the meth game in the turbulent and uncertain times following the collapse of Fring's drug ring, Flamini is recruited to bring stability and insider knowledge to help the new crop of talent get up to speed. a younger, less murderous Flamini
In this way Flamini's relationship with youngsters like Wilshere and Ramsey has been like that of Mike and Jesse. There was a notable difference in their defensive profficiency having spent some time with Matthieu. In typical Wenger fashion, bringing back an old face was done with a view to helping add the finishing touches to a talented bunch, except in this case the veteran is holding down a place in the starting line-up. Leave the youngsters to it by all means but if shit appears to be heading towards the proverbial fan send in the fixer to batton down the hatches.
So long as Flamini proves himself to be useful he can escape the grizzly fate bestowed upon Mike. The only piece left in this self-fulfilling prohpecy would be for Wenger to ruthlessly betray his old associate. Let's hope that the
*probably
** Milan offered him a contract worth around £3m a year
For more Arsenal and football content follow @thelovelyreds on twitter and tune into the blog everyday for original content. Thanks for reading
No comments:
Post a Comment