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Stop moaning! Arsenal have a better defence than Chelsea

A comparison of Arsenal FC’s transfer business with Chelsea FC’s by Anshuman Sahoo

In a few years time, we will read Arsene Wenger’s autobiography. A large chunk of it I am sure will be dedicated the mob mentality prevalent in football fans. Doing things the different way, the pioneering way is a road scattered with thorns and that odd fan interview blasting what you do. Ah Wenger, why don’t you just become Sam Allardyce and we would be happy!

I don’t know man, we had this trophy drought recently. I got this feeling that many fans started thinking of supporting the club as a chore rather than what it is – a privilege. And Wenger, given a few sparsely million got us through that period without having to ever going down the Nottingham Forest way, the Blackburn Rovers way, the Manchester United way? Just weigh that consistency that he has given you, that bottom line of achievement he has you believe in, the sly old Frenchman.

Anyway, I will present my arguments like the Beatles playing Hey Jude in New York City traffic. So that a few travelers might change their mind and get some perspective on their team. Mind you, I love how much Arsenal fans care about the club and how personally they take everything from tactics to the logo – it’s just a matter of perception sometimes.

I have seen a lot of argument regarding Arsenal’s defense this time around. We didn’t buy a defender! We have only 6!

Well, here is the defense of Chelsea FC: Luis, Azpilicueta, Terry, Cahill, Ivanovic, Zouma
Let me line up our defense beneath theirs: Gibbs, Debuchy, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal, Chambers

Do you see what I mean? We have a better defense than Chelsea! (or atleast, just as). So let’s not give Wenger pre-made excuses for losing out on the league. We have a versatile, pacy looking squad. Give them time to gel, and give your opponents hell! (As opposed to your own team)

Tactically, I think Wenger could move to a more fluid system in the last third. I often see our attackers caught in two minds between joining in attack and maintaining their defensive shape. I think we could try being a bit more unpredictable in the last part of the pitch.

Anyway, here’s to cheering on the Arsenal, game by game!

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Tags Cahill Chambers Terry

60 Comments

  1. sometimes i feel like 🙁 🙁 🙁
    i wanna convert and follow the red satan 🙁 🙁 🙁
    but ive bought a very expensive ori new arsenal puma jacket from arsenal dot com 🙁 🙁 🙁

    3. Oh Yeah! We having better defence lost 5-1 to Liverpool,6-3 to City and 6-0 to Chelsea.Even in current season we have scored 5 and shipped in 4.Great!

      1. But 3 of those 7 defenders have left, stop living in the past. Last season is one thing this season is another.

        1. 3 of what defenders? We are talking about the Arsenal defense. Try to stay with us now. The ARSENAL defense is waaaaaay short of players. Period.

          I have never seen so much denial in my life. Closing your eyes to reality is NOT the same as supporting your club. Unbelievable. Robots. Just blind robots have taken over this site. What happened to actual thinking?

    4. Haywill you devil worshiping DUmBAss! United a gonna flop like a whale on a beach…Falcao or not! Remember Chelsea under Claudio Ranieri? They bought up everything and still they sucked ass.

    1. No he isn’t that was the first name mentioned, and if you are including ake we should include bellerin and hayden,

    3. Luis > Gibbs
      Azpilicueta = Debuchy
      Terry < Mertesacker
      Cahill Monreal
      Zouma = Chambers

      Arsenal 2:2 Chelsea

      1. Here’s how reality looks.
        – Luis > Gibbs (Not by a whole lot, but still, Luis was the best LB in La Liga last year)

        – Azpilicueta Monreal (Ivanovic is almost perfect defensively and scores quite a few goals as well, Monreal on the other hand makes at least one big mistake per game)

        – Zouma < Chambers (Chambers is the best young defender in the league, Zouma may catch up, but right now he's nowhere near Chambers).

        Overall Chelsea are better defensively, seeing as they can also field a midfield exclusively made up from DMs and their 'keepers are also both at least(!) on par with Szchz.

  4. In yer dreams. Its amazing just how demented thinking some people can be.
    No matter how much money Arsenal spend No matter how many players Arsenal buy its going to be a cold day in north London before you ever beat Chelsea again. Youve beat us the total sum of 4 times this millennium and the way it looks right now I cant see it happening in the near future.
    With a couple of tweaks I can see us being the United of the Fergie years.
    And you all know as well as we do Arsenal wont be anythink like ready to compete in the EPL or Europe till you do something about Wenger. Hes just not got the skills to compete at the top level. But dont listen to me hes the best thing you could ever give the rest of te EPL and its a shame because you do have some potential.
    We shall see just how bad you are when you come to the Bridge soon. If you arent all armchair watchers.

    2. For that you need to thank your Abram-whore-bitch.
      Go blow him. Bi+ch.

      Or did you forget the Club Lengend you have Zola, won unionjacksh!t at Chelsea.

      Its this type of sorry ar*e fans that makes United snd Chelsea the most hated club.

  5. Our starter CBs better than Chelsea’s starter CBs. Chelsea RB/LB are better than ours, slightly. Reserve CB is at par, and they DO have a 4th choice CB where as we do not. And mind it, their LBs/RBs contribute to goals a lot more than ours. But when you consider defense, you can not forget CDM position. They have Matic and Fab in front, we have Rambo and WHO? Remember last year Chelsea vs City game where Matic was new to EPL and played around with Yaya Toure like he was a seasoned star!

  6. With everybody fit, we have an exciting squad to choose from-

    I suspect like many others, Ive done my theoretical team sheet- and for me their is one strong conclusion – we should revert to a 4-4-2, hear me out-

    I don’t believe in playing players out of position, yes I know its good to have players with flexibility but wherever possible having players in their preferred position for the good of the team shape, as well as individual performance and motivation-

    Therefore ideally we want a shape that places our star players in their primary positions, one area we can struggle is in defensive midfield – I like both Flamini and Arteta, but other players outshine them – the 4-4-2 removes this challenge-

    Here’s my suggested team, before I explain…

    Welbeck – Giroud
    (provides pace, and target man)
    Sanchez – Ozil/Corzola – Ramsey – Walcot
    (pace and width on flanks, passing, creativity, and tackling (in Ramsey) in midfield)
    Gibbs – Kolchelny – Chambers(Faster than Mert) – Debuchy
    Schnezy

    Sanchez is perhaps the only one out of position, I suspect he can still thrive on the left. And if Gibbs goes past he has the work ethic to cover, and make challenges where needed. Sanchez prefers to come inside, and Gibbs prefers to run to the touchline to put in killer cross-

    Pace on the flanks and up-top in Welbeck always provides counter-attack opportunities.

    Wide players pulls our the defence and creates space in the middle.
    With Giroud in the middle – we also have genuine crossing opportunities too-

    It’s an attacking formation – but if like me you believe Chambers can become a starter ahead of Mert – then our pace at the back means can push up without risk of the ball over the top that we were so vulnerable too last year-

    PS: Before you give me a thumbs down – I called the Welbeck deal long before it was done and got thumbs down everywhere – so please consider it before you dismiss it…

    So what do ya think – 4-4-2 gives our team best opportunity to shine right?

    1. I’ll not thumb down.
      But, can you elaborate defense more. How we’ll break counter, as a offensive team, we play up, and our opposition stays deep and wait for counter. So, solve this, or …
      Ramsey is not a DM, you know. In this system, forget about his goal tally also.
      You can forget about Walcot and Sanchez goals too, coz they are playing deep.
      I think, 442 will work, if we have a goal scoring no 10, and assist making wide players.
      A system can’t be made overnight, you have to find right players, work with them, also need time to gel. So, you know, I’ll stick with our system. We need to play according to our strength, and players we have.
      Waiting for your thoughts.

      1. @Simon_MrMac.
        Yes 442 is better.
        But Wenger has
        Arsenal playing boring football
        based on endlessly sideways and backwards passing.
        Arsenal Fans pay obscene prices to watch
        the most boring team in England.
        442 is harder because it requires
        more intelligence a higher fitness level
        and midfielders must defend as well as attack.
        Paying lazy arses 70-150k a week to play
        dead boring football is criminal.
        So many of the Arsenal players are naturally
        attack minded but are playing the most defensive
        football of any team in the league.
        I wish Arsene would stop suffocating the players
        and instead release the talent.
        Arsenal palyers are capable of much more
        and fans deserve better.

    2. On a second thought, you can use Sanchez in ozil’s place, santi in LW. But, Ramsey as a DM will kill the match. Or you can play a DM and Ramsey in the middle. This can work with DM.

  7. Why would anyone say such a thing? we sold TV5 without having secured a CB in his place. This is the most negligent thing I’ve ever seen a manager do, mourinho sold torres and had remy secured within 24 hrs.

    Wenger’s failures are beyond tactical now, this latest failure is amateurish to say the least and completely negligent. To ask a young guy like Hayden to interchange with chambers to cover whatever injury comes up is disgusting. This is the 5th richest club on the planet and shouldn’t be highhandedly managed by one person (especially a 64 year old)

  8. You’d want a left footed winger to attack wide and cross the ball in. Sanchez is right footed and doesn’t cross well. This formation would totally expose the fact that we have no true LM on our roster.

    Ozil would have defensive responsibility in a flat 4 midfield. That won’t work. He’d also have to work hard all of the time. Not going to happen.

    Ramsey is not a great tackler, but is probably fine.

    Gibbs would be hurt, as always. Please stop considering him. Too frail.

    Walcott is hurt. ACL takes a year minimum to recover within reasonable form.

  10. Chelsea will beat Arsenal by at least 12 points in the league and allow fewer goals against. If you call that better for Arsenal then I appreciate your optimism! BTW, I’ve been an Arsenal fan since 1970, but I am not blind to reality!!!

  11. but chelksi have a better cdm in matic while we have arteta/diaby & acc to some idiots here coquelin should be also considered

    hilarious comment I read was on that article stating about our transfer window being bad acc to a fan had we sent le coq on loan he would have become a beast rofl/lol/pmsl & he doesn’t rate William carvalho
    he was sent on loan last season & the media called a horrible player the height of delusion is amazing

    1. Cheslki play with counter attack, you can’t conceive 4/5 by counter attack when you spend billions in a team.

      1. everything dumba$$ pal u said if we had sent him out on loan last season he would be a beast in the article “This was Arsenal’s BEST transfer window EVER! ” u made those comments

        fact is he was on loan at SC Freiburg & he flopped there big time u don’t even know & yet u say things a if u r a big expert r u really an arsenal le coq is almost 24 & is not good enough for us

        2. Bets window ever – fact
          Coquelin loaned – fact. Maybe you can enlighten us how he flopped at Freiburg. He even scored there. And yes he would have been a beast if he stayed because of the game time he could get.

          So what stupid point do you try to make you moron?

  12. Ba: “Everybody knew that I wanted to come to Arsenal (last ssn) It was the club, back in the day, that I supported. I saw Henry play here.”

    for 4th choice cb we should give chance to issac hayden he can also play as cdm & in jan we need to strengthen our squad

    1. Fu ck Ba and fu ck you too. We have Welbeck.
      Hayden? What ? Again you piece of $hit , now he’s OK is he? Before he was crap but now you remembered he’s in the squad. What a pathetic moron you are.

  13. Chelsea have defensive midfielders who can protect the back 4. We don’t. Compare Chelsea’s results last year at City, Liverpool and Arsenal to our results at City, Liverpool and Chelsea and the difference is obvious. This year, Chelsea will score a lot more goals than Arsenal so our defense needs to be better than theirs. Sadly, it isn’t.

  16. Arsenal have defensive quality but no defensive depth – they are not the same. When 3 defenders are injured their quality if meaningless. Then only depth counts. Get a clue.

  17. This is the most ridiculous, self-serving, living-in-denial, nonsensical article ever written.

    The problem with the Arsenal defense is DEPTH – not quality. But even comparing quality with Chelsea I cannot stretch my imagination enough to buy into the ridiculous conclusions of this article.

    I don’t know what happened to this site over the last 48 hours but it seems to have been over-run by delusional robots. Let us all chant together “Arsenal defense is the greatest. Arsenal defense is the greatest.”

    The problem is none of that nonsense will help when Debuchy and Kos are injured and Chambers is suspend. What then? There even reports now that Kos is nursing an ongoing achilles problem and will not be able to play every game.

    Again, denying reality is NOT supporting your club.

    1. totally..

      what if Walcott, Ox, Arteta, Sanchez, Ozil, Welbeck, Ramsay, Wilshere, Carzola, Rosicky and Campbell all got injured and suspended at the same time???

  18. I admit that the formation and team I suggested above is very attacking, and we sacrifice some defensive minded midfield, for additional pace, width and attack. But this is the strength of the team, so we must utilise it- (We can complain all we want about who we should have bought – but it will make no difference. We must use what we have to excel!)

    Man City did not win the league and score a 100+ goals by being overly defensive.

    What I would say is, this team/system relies on Chambers at the back instead of Mert – with Mert in place the counter-attack or simple ball over the top makes us very vulnerable-

    I think with Chambers and Kos playing we have two of the fastest CB’s, that can cope well with such a threat.

    Similarly I’d pick Carzola over Ozil, because he works for the team without the ball, unlike Ozil who is gifted, but also adds vulnerability to our team. I’d be cautious of playing Ozil in the middle without a CDM behind him.

    Obviously no system can guarantee success. And I don’t pretend to have a magic wand – but I think this is a well balanced team/system, that will cause most if not all opponents lots of challenges.

    Do I get a prize if we see this formation later in the year?

  20. Whoa Whoa Whoa, our defense is better than Chelsea’s? I usually notice that whenever we are delivered with setback the fans here respond with a great dose of positivity but this is getting a little carried away. First of all individual pound for pound analysis is never solely a good idea to judge a category of a team and even then some of the things said in this article are pushing my imagination to its limit.

    First of all, if we are going by the pound for pound way of thinking we do not have better full backs than Chelsea by any stretch of the imagination. Don’t get it twisted, Azpilicueta was one of the best full backs of the prem last year. Was easily one of the best LBs of last year, would put him in top 3 for the league and lets not forget, he is playing out of position, he is a RB by trade and was only shifted over there to account for the failing Ashley Cole. Ivanovic has always been a rock in Chelsea’s defense and that doesn’t look likely to change anytime soon, not sure if you’ve seen Chelsea’s matches this year but he has gotten off to a blistering start and was probably Chelsea’s best player vs Leicester (this is the time where we usually bash Leicester and say “Oh they are a newly promoted club” but truth be told we escaped with a point from playing them if we are being unbiased)

    Filipe Luis is a brilliant full back unquestionably for anyone who watched La Liga last season could testify and was one of the reasons Atletico was as solid as the back AND as capable of playing counter attacking football. Our full backs by comparison are not close.

    When it comes to CBs we have more of a shout and even then it is very close and hard to argue. I think any and everyone would agree that John Terry is a person with questionable morals but he is still one of the best CBs in the world and looks to be usurped in that regard by Cahill very soon. Honestly if you had a choice between Cahill and Mertersacker who would you rather have in your team?.

    The pound for pound analysis will do no justice to our players.

    If you want to look at it like a team, Chelsea had the best defense in the prem by a mile last season and they have kept their back 4 in tact. We on the other hand sold 2 of our defenders and brought in replacements, this isn’t to say that they will be worse than our defense last year our Chelsea’s defense this year but to go out on a limb and say our defense is better than Chelsea’s isn’t a sensible claim to make. Unless you want to base it off the premature premier league statistics.

    To add to that Chelsea have an actual CDM to protect their back four, pretty sure we’ve all gotten use to the name matic now and remember the game where Chelsea played City that he put Yaya in his pocket a decent DM in Obi Mikel and Ramires who is capable of tracking back.

    Comparably we have Flamini who defends decently enough, Mikel Arteta who gets bullied by any solid DM pairing in the prem and Ramsey who credit to him will put in a shift.

    Last but not least this is a Mourinho team we are talking about who has been hailed not for his brilliant attacking but for his stingy defenses over the years. If you watched the game vs Everton closely you’d have seen that when Chelsea defended, everyone defended as a unit. Not sure how many times you saw but Costa made more than one clearance from his penalty area and he has drilled defensive tracking back into the likes of Hazard and Willian.

    Comparatively think we have all heard about the defensive woes of Ozil not wanting to defend at all and we defend. Cazorla does not track back, Podolski is often criticized just how ineffective he is as a winger because he does not track back and the list goes on. Sanchez however appears to have that bite in him and will track back as seen thus far, if anyone watched him back when he was at Udinese would see even when he was played on the wing which was quite often he used to track back.

    Our defensive strengths last season were bolstered by the fact that we play possession football so well and in the prem bar a few teams none really have the attacking power to test it, however for those that did you could see the results. Every top team last year gave us a hammering, every single one and our defense could do nothing about it and it wasn’t defeats by a reasonable margin either, they were demolitions by sizeable margins. Contrast that to Chelsea’s and you’ll see that they lost 1 single match vs a top 6 team last year and that was at Goodison Park which was by a margin of 1, we all saw how that turned out a week ago this year.

    The season is young, some of us are a bit disappointed with the transfer window despite or efforts to mask it with optimism, it was in fact one of our best windows to date despite it not feeling like it to some, but please let us not get carried away here. At the present time we do not beat Chelsea in any area of the pitch in terms of quality and we come closest to doing so in our defense first of all and the midfield second. I am trying to be as unbiased as I can but to call our defense better than Chelsea’s based off very little if anything at all isn’t supporting the club, its building false hope and it only amplifies results when we are brought back to reality.

    Sorry but I agree with Mohawk 100%

    1. We had the same amount of EPL clean sheets as Chelsea last year, equal top. They conceded a lot less goals but that’s because of the bashings we received.

  21. Chelsea has magic a world class cdm protecting them and they also have Mikel helping out when needed.
    We have a better defence but without a cdm they just go unprotected.

  22. Someone should tell Per that he is never a midfielder….The slow man should stay on his lane….He gonna ruin us this season if care is not taken…

  23. Arsene Wenger has coached Arsenal to score only 6 goals against Mourinho &has never won a game and he kept 1 clean sheet…
    While Mourinho has coached Chelsea to score 13 goals against Wenger,
    won 5 of those games &kept 4 clean sheets.
    So who the hell are you to ever>
    1. Compare Wenger with Mourinho
    2. Compare Arsenal’s defence with Chelsea’s
    I know wenger has dissapointed us in this transfer window, but that dosen’t mean we should start having “Mentally & Psycologically unstable fans” ADMIN PLS DO SOMETHING!

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