Who should be our three starting center backs? by Francois
Arsenal’s season starts on Friday and it is far from clear who our three starting center backs should be. Here is who I believe should start, when everybody is fit and eligible to play.
Kos will not be available against Leicester because of his suspension, but we can all agree that when available, he is a guaranteed starter. For the last couple of seasons, he has been our defensive leader, and nothing suggests that that will change this year. I see him as our right center back.
On the left side of our defense, it seems to be a competition between Kolasinac and Monreal. I love both players, and the choice really is difficult. They both are very reliable and hard working, and frankly, I feel comfortable with both of them. However, because he is younger and stronger physically, I think Kolasinac should be the starter. At 24, the prime of his career is coming, whereas Nacho, at 31, is likely nearing some sort of decline physically.
Down the middle, I will surprise many of you by going with Mert. The big German, in a three men defense, is not as vulnerable to speedy forwards as we saw a couple years back when we were playing a back 4. He also brings size and great ability to defend corners, crosses and free kicks. No other defender in the team brings those attributes to the team. Also, with Kos and Kola, two very aggressive players, it is always beneficial to have a calmer defender, to bring balance to the defence. And let’s not forget he is our captain! For those reasons, I think he should be playing in front of Mustafi, Holding and Gabriel.
Do you agree? Who do you think should be our starters?
COYG!
François
Mert is not very good at using his height for crosses or corners… he always seems to get outjumped. In fact its a long standing issue with our defence
I disagree re Kos and think he used to be our best defender but I think injuries have slowed him down but he would still start.
Holding has not really done anything wrong but Mustafi as a world cup winner should also start
Monreal would be my final choice as he is steady there at left back.. plus Kolasinac is going to be great offensively and defesnively as a wing-back
On the other side I would start Bellerin at right wing back over Bellerin who seems to have gome backwards.. maybe its that stupid Alice Band he is wearing !
Bellerin or Bellerin, who would you choose Neil ? ?
My mistake.. I would choose the Ox over Bellerin… ! Bellerin seems to have gone backwards…. just my opinion… !
It will have to be holding monreal kolansinac if everyone else is out just like Sunday
I thought Mustafi, Gabriel and Mertesacker are injured? If they are, then it would be good to use Holding, Chambers (if available) and Kolasinac.
Kolasinac is more aggressive defensively than Monreal and Monreal is more skillful then Kolasinac, hence Monreal should start as LWB. Kolasinac is more physically imposing than Monreal as well.
I thought Kolasinac was signed to be a LWB.We need him to be played over there and I hope Monreal also goes out of the starting eleven so that he can rest and play when we need him to.Both are not CB’s and I feel they shouldn’t be relied heavily upon unless in the case of an emergency.I want actual CB’s to play that role.However, since i this case there’s an emergency we can afford to play one of them there though if you look at our options available neither should be starting there.It’s best to go for Holding-Mertesacker-Chambers(Monreal).
OT: My predictions:
1. Man Utd /Man C
2. Man C/Man Utd
3. Spurs
4. Chelsea
5. Arsenal/Liverpool
I saw MU vs Real Madrid last night. Modric-Isco-Casemiro completely bossed Matic-Pogba-Herrera with their technical abilities.
MU midfielders rely too much on their physical attributes. I wish Arsenal has midfielders with technical abilities at the same level as Real Madrid midfielders’.
If MU and Chelsea dominate in this season, I would be surprised, since they depend a lot on set pieces and their players’ physicalities. I predict Manchester City, Liverpool and Tottenham would be Arsenal’s strongest competitors.
mustafi, Mertesakker, kos (gotta play your captain); and whenever you cannot play the captain then its:-holding, mustafi, kos – we’d keep gabriel waiting for his his moment to step in.
* gabriel and holding have to excercise patience. im actually an admirer of bfg hes a great character and is experienced to marshall the youngsters in the art of defending, he’s a loyal type too which means alot
I see Arsenal drawing the game 1 – 1 with Leicester scoring first or Arsenal winning by a lone goal. I also see Man City winning their game by 5 nil. If this happens, Arsenal will win the EPL this season.
I predicted Arsenal may not make the top 4 last season based on my hunch. I am doing the same again ticking Arsenal to win the league if a particular scenario takes place.
No issues about hedging your bets then !
i wil prefer dis three defenders,kos mustafi,and kolasinac,midfield,xhaka,ozil,elneny,chamberlain,sanchez,lacazette,welbeck.
Mustafi, Kos, Holding. Mert can play in the Europa League, and whatever passes for the League cup these days.
Mustafi kos and kolasinac as the centre halves. Bellerin as rwb-ox as lwb.
Kosc is suspended. So if Mert is available, I’d go with him, and Holding/Monreal. If not, Mustafi. If he’s not available, then it gets a little tricky. Then I’d go with Monreal in the middle, and Chambers/Holding on the sides.
Gabriel-Koscielny-Mustafi should be our starting centre backs.Monreal and Kolasinac are not centre backs though they can play there.One of them needs to be rested and one has to play.That’show it should be.
When all are fit
Koscielny.. Mustafi.. Kolsanic
This will be an amazing back 3
Kolsanic = CB(L)
Monreal = LWB
Kolsanic is a better stronger defender than Monreal so he should be a CB.
For Leicester match
Holding.. Mustafi… Kolsanic
The three CBs have to been looked at while taken into account who should play WBs. If all are available and fit, I’d go with Bellerin, Mustafi, Koscielny, Monreal, Kolasinac. Options for WBs are Ox and Monreal. Options for CBs are Mertesacker and Holding.
to win the league : Mustafi-VanDijk-Koscielny / Koulibaly-Mustafi-Koscielny.
..
to win Europa or/and FAcup, make top4: Holding-Mustafi-Koscielny.
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My top 3 to defend Arsenal’s goal:
Muffdiver
Fatboy gooney
Robin Vanpayslip
You’ve got too much flair to be in defence. No. 10 for you.
this article typifies everything that is wrong with our club…if you had any balls you would have started with that Mertz nonsense, but instead, like Wenger, you started out pretending to be a rational individual only to reveal your true unintelligible in the final paragraph…I feel like you have never watched Mertz play except for in the FA Cup final last year…how does someone help defend corners, crosses and the like when you can’t man-mark, you have a negative vertical and you close your eyes whenever the ball comes in your direction…this was a panic buy that didn’t make sense then, considering how most teams were setup to counterattack us, and it makes even less sense now…he was well past his prime when he arrived, like Podolski, Arteta, Flamini 2.0 among numerous others, and was used by Wenger to trick the uninformed fans into believing he cared about turning this team into a true contender
enough about such trivial nonsense…does anyone truly believe that Sanchez isn’t fit enough to play? if you answered yes, I have some real interesting real estate opportunities that you might be interested in…what a tangled web Wenger weaves…just 48 hours earlier he said that Sanchez wanted to play in the FA…like I said many times before, this manager truly thinks we are idiots and why shouldn’t he, we have let this guy pull the wool over our eyes for years now…how many times can the dog eat his homework before someone calls him on his bullshit
furthermore, is it a coincidence that everyone, except Ox, who have only one year left on their contracts seem to be unavailable for the start of the season…I thought Wenger was the one that said this was a good situation because they will play their hearts out to ensure a big payday come May
on the other hand, if they aren’t available due to their summertime soccer commitments for their respective countries someone should let Bayern Munich know of our ingenious protocol because most of their team played in the summer and has likewise played in the preseason…for some strange reason I think they might know a little more than our supposed leader considering the thrashing they laid upon us last year in the Champions League
let’s be honest, this whole thing smells incredibly fishy, especially considering how difficult it normally is to keep Sanchez off the field, let alone sub him off…just think back to last year when the pictures of Sanchez’s ankle were posted online and even that didn’t stop him from playing…bottom line is that no other team in the world would allow a manager go unchecked for so long unless they were winning all the big trophies on a consistent basis, which is certainly not the case at Arsenal
RWB Bellerin/ox: depending on form
RCB mustafi: looked world class 1st half of the season, injury and lack of winter break killed him afteward
CB koscielny: the boss, the best defender, mertesaker when resting kos and for cup games
LCB monreal/holding: need a technical def capable of running with the ball and a cool head
LWB kolasinac: as much as i want him as lcb his stamina, penetration power and good crosses make him a better lwb. playing cb will limit him.
interesting question: in a 3-man defense we have the right centre-back and the left centre-back, how do we call the one in the centre; the central centre-back, the middle cb or simply cb.
any suggestion ???
The sweeper
Technically its correct but the sweeper plays just a little behind the other cb. E.g per would be a sweeper when played in the middle while kos plays on the same line or in front of them.
mustafi koscieny and Monreal
Holding Kos Kol
we need anew top CB, our best not good enough.
kos injury prone and can’t play 3 games a week
mustafi is decent but not top class
holding is for the future
mert is too slow
gabriel is plain mediocre
chambers is rubbish
kos mustafi new CB (van dijk, kulibali, manolas, rugani)
Exactly. You definitely want the best for our beloved team. Wenger is our problem of he thinks per mertesacker should still be starting for arsenal, ??????????????……….SIGN A WORLD CLASS CB & Lamar to complement Cartola’s absence
If i was incharge, i’ll sign Van Dijk considering Per retires at the end of the season. I dont think Per amonghts our back 3 for the whole season will win us anything, Per would be perfect for our Europa league & FACup games. Our defence still looks not solid enough to me.
My Back 3 for fridays game :
Holding.
Mertesacker (or mustafi if fit)
Monreal
Ox & HULKasinac should play as wing backs.
My back 3 for the season
Kos
Mustafi
Monreal ( underratted & getting better with age)………kolasinac is more effective as a wing back but can still cover in the back 3, very versatile.
Gabriel & Chambers should be sold & the money used to sign either Koulibaly , Manolas or Van Dijk if we really want to win the league. Our defence needs to be mean & scary. Chambers, Gabriel, Per are not wolrd class. Only kos & mustafi are the required arsenal standard. If we cant win the league it is because our defence is too weak.
CB:
Koscielny
Mustafi
Per
Holding
Gabriel (sell him)
Chambers (sell or loan him)
RB
Debuchy (sell)
Bellerin
Jenkinson
Lb:
Gibbs (sell him)
Kolasinac
monreal
As it stands Kos, Mert and Mustafi should play at the back. Kolasinac and Bellerin as wing backs.