I have recently written an article about how badly Arsenal need some quality, young(er) defenders now that Monreal and Koscielny will both be 32 next season, and obviously Mertesacker won’t even be in the squad, but maybe Sven Minislat has brought in a young diamond to save our back line in Konstantinos Mavropanos from PAS Giannina in Greece.
He is young and certainly he is big enough not to need body-building drugs like dostinex cabergoline. Konstantinos was bought cheaply, just like Rob Holding, and hopefully the Arsenal training regime can knock them into shape to become the replacements for the ageing Koscielny and Monreal, but for now I’m just going to be happy that he is a long-time follower of Arsenal. Konstantinos told the fans: “I’m very happy to be part of this team, I promise to give everything to please the fans,”
“It’s a big honour and I’m very happy, very emotional.
“I remember the first time I started watching Arsenal, it was the 2006 Champions League final. Everybody was talking about Ronaldinho then, but what I was most impressed with was the passion that the Arsenal players were playing with.
“They may have been down to 10 players early on after Lehmann’s sending off, but they played much better than Barcelona overall. They might have lost in the end but I was really impressed with their performance. Since then I started to watch Arsenal more closely.
“There have been a lot of good players over the years, but one that stood out to me is Thierry Henry, obviously. He was dynamic, quick and could score any goal possible.”
With the defensive crisis we are going through at the moment I am pinning a lot of hope on this young Greek, but I can’t help remembering that another cheap defender, Carl Jenkinson, was a Gooner through and through when he arrived from Charlton. Supporting a team is no guarantee that they will become a legend, but I am surely wishing with all my heart…
Darren N
well let’s wait and see
Obviously Arsene isn’t good at developing defenders. Bould impact on defence was felt immediately he started working with the team but after a while we are back on same spot. Our defense has always been mistake prone and not much personel can do anything about it except the set up and style is changed. Arsenal team don’t know how to defend
The style of attacking football that Wenger wants leaves the defense wide open. The issue is not the back line but the Gunners lack a strong defensive midfielder who could be solid in front of the defenders. Xhaka is not a solid DM
This is very true, Coq made a name for himself when he emerged and bossed that position, but the next season he was back to average and we were back to our usual ways, without the DM the defenders look very vulnerable.. and only one stubborn old fart refuses to clear this fault once and for all.. Xhaka is one slow lazy hairdo who offers nothing defensively, whenever he goes for a tackle you can see a yellow or red written all over it
Francis was back to average only because Wenger wanted him to play a different role in the team as opposed to the previous season when he was one of our best players. Had Wenger left him to do his job he would still have been a proper DM for us, but than again it was hard for him to do DM work only as Santi got injured and we failed to replace him. I have a feeling he will come good a Valencia though. Our problem is not DF its DM our system requires a top player in that position, we need a guy who can do the Arteta work and the Francis work. Elneny can be that guy but he is just there, offers nothing special in both departments really, but with a bit of proper training, better instructions surely he can be that guy.
Lol…ScoutNation lists Mavrapanos’ weaknesses as pace-discipline- decisions…i.e if Mertesacker and Gabriel had a child it would be Mavrapanos! Jokes aside I think we have too many inexperienced guys at the back..Bellerin, Holding, Chambers, Mavrapanos…not encouraging at all.
chambers and bellerin each have over 100 pl experience
chambers was pretty solid for boro
We seriously need some competition for Hector. Im a fan but we need some form of competition in there, he’s is the only position that there is almost literally no competition. That cant be good, even some youngster from the youth team will do.
I agree with above. Arsene is not defense minded innit. He isn’t great at building defense and doesn’t value top defensive midfielders. PL champions have Quality defensive/holding midfielders or box2box players who are very strong defensively ie Kante, Matic, Carrick, Toure, Makélélé, Roy Keane, Viera.
Although, Koscielny and Mertsacker were an excellent duo for a few years. In fact, for 2 years straight they were the best CB pair in the PL.
But Wenger is mainly attack minded. Now even that is getting worse. It took him years to replace RVP with Lacazette. He kept too much faith in Giroud without upgrading until last summer
Wenger needs to go. He hardly ever changes his mind. Very stubborn and set in his ways
If you are willing to spend your billions
you can decide whos in and out…
you can replace Wenger or any managers/players at your wish
Saving money most likely.
Arsenal. Centre backs.
Mavropanos 3m Holding 2m
Mertz 10m Koz 10 m Mustafi 30m = 55m
City CB’s
Stones 45 m Mangala 28 m
Otamendi 34m Kompany 20m = 127m.
GK
Arsenal have Cech 10m – City have Ederson 34m
Arsenal-Wingbacks
Bellerin free Chambers 16m Debuchy 16 m
Monreal 10 Kolasinac Free. Niles Free. = 42m
City
Mende 52m Walker 46 m Danilo 26m = 124m
Arsenal total =107m City total = 285m
Difference 178m.
Is it about the prices or the ability of the players? Koscielny cost 10 million but which defender has been better than him?
Malcolm is looking set to join Spurs
if we sign PEA…we will probably have no more money left in the budget for Malcolm
Perhaps some nice fans in here are willing to spend their billions to help us sign Malcolm?
Now who the fcck is malcolm?
John the Arsenal’s chief financial officer!
Spend the money and you can decide whos in and out
No
Instead of buying established center backs, the arsenal scouts are still gambling. Why not go for someone like kalidou coulibaly from Napoli. Look at Chambers, Jenkinson and holding all are gamble
Why don’t we see the guy play before judging him. Seen him play ones and he looks a beast. Remember we was brought in by Sven mislintat.. He’s a specialist in bringing in quality at no cost
Our defense can not ne saved by any players in the world. Problem lies in the lack of organization of the rest of the team allowing our opponents too much space to put pressure on our defense.
Ever wondered why as good as all of our defenders and goalkeepers over the last 10 years end up looking mediocre??
The problem is WENGER!
Just wanted to say, every player is ageing and 32 for a centre back Is not old. I could be wrong, but I am sure Adams, bould, keown all played well beyond 32?
From the very little I have read about this boy it is quite obvious he is a Sven M buy and a very raw but promising youngster.He will need developing but the early reports age very encouraging.If this is so GET THE BOY OUT ON LOAN IMMEDIATELY UNTIL BOTH WENGER AND BOULD HAVE GONE.This way the boy may well come back as a very decent prospect and not have a start to his career that has gone BACKWARDS just like 2 other promising youngsters we bought in Chambersand Holding.