Why Arsenal DO NOT need a new centre-back

There are many Arsenal fans who believe that the Gunners STILL need another top class centre-back, despite the arrival of Gabriel Paulista in January, although I think that most of them are hoping that Per Mertesacker will be leaving the club. Okay the BFG has not been fantastic this season, but I believe he is more than capable of being backup next year.

We all know that Laurent Koscielny is defintely our best centre-half, but his achilles problem seems to be incurable and he is likely to miss half of our games next season, so I think our main pairing will be Gabriel with Kos, with Gabriel and Merts as our second choice. I also believe that Calum Chambers will one day be challenging for that position but will be kept in reserve in the meantime.

Given our usual injury problems you would expect that more cover would be needed, but personally I think that the news that Nacho Monreal is set to be given a new four year contract nullifies the need for a new arrival. During our horrendous injury list in the first half of the season, Monreal was forced into the centre, and if anything he was a lot better than Mertesacker. At 29 years of age, he will gradually lose his pace for those runs down the left wing, so I believe Wenger is going to be using him more and more as a centre-back as time progresses, and defenders usually have a longer life span than any other players except keepers. By the time Monreal (and Mertesacker) get too old to perform we will have a matured Chambers waiting in the wings to take over…..

Tags Chambers Mertesacker Monreal

34 Comments

  1. If we are seriously going to make an assault on the big ones…. Premier League, dare I say Champion’s League, then we can’t be one injury away from relying on Per. He still has good days, but can leave us totally exposed with his lack of agility and speed.

    Happy with Kos and Gabriel, and Chambers as emergency backup, but we have to upgrade Per to have a squad capable of winning huge games and trophies!

    1. per is good.
      WHAT did he ever do soo wrong? monaco? beginning of the season? what the factual uck guys. it’s a team game and he has looked asured in the second half of the season. he looks shit when partnered with mon real or with a shakey defense. so would kos or anyone else. damnit, stop looking for a scapegoat.

      if he underperforms, gabriel is there. if kos gets injured, gabriel is there. gabs can play with bith and might leapfrog per in the pecking order.

      “we want hummes” – do you guys watch soccer? he is just like per. brilliant standing tackler, slow af, and great positionally. he also has to be partnered with an athletic cb.

      -> look how good per is with gabriel or koscielny, vs liverpool for instance. the pace argument would be vaid if he were the only cb. that is not the case. we are covered for cb ffs.

      1. Per is shit. He is not good enough to even be a 4th choice cb.
        Chambers is young and should be our 4th choice cb
        we still need a 3rd choice cb (maybe schar, his contract ends in summer i guess)

        For the 1st time (in 10 years) we are looking like a team that can actually win the league, its not greedy to demand a full squad strong and large enough to fight on all fronts

    2. Per Boss gabrille and Chambers. What more do you want. That is just pure greed. Tell me any team in Europe with morethan 4 Cb? Per is the most experience of our Cb. He could be very effective in some games that we need to defend deep and head loads of balls out.

      Gabrille and Bosss are very agile mobile and agressive which will be our 2 CB. Then you have Chambers who is 19. We spent 16 million on him and he is definitely going to Improve.

      Wanting another CB its a a crazy arguement. We don’t need any new CB. We are well covered in that position. We have nacho and Debuchy who could play the odd game or two. But with 4 CB It should never come to that.

      Some of you will complain even if we buy messi and Ronaldo

      1. its not about signing a 5th CB
        its about removing mertesacker and replacing him with a better defender (not a tuff task AT ALL)
        We will still have only 4 CBs

    3. I agree well said but I just believe chambers well find himself in a position where we in Jamaica say “Jack Of all trade and master of None” I am yet to see him play in a position where he Will cement his place. He cant make RB over Debuchy or Bellerin he wont play CDM over wilshere, Diaby, Coq or Ramsey he wont play as a CD over Per, Kos, or Gab. So whats his best position where Will he Play?

    4. I agree but, realistically, who are we going to sign who will be (i) better than Per and (ii) willing to be a backup?

      1. Well said GoonerG1 – but that is a subtle consideration that will be lost on some. Will still be idiots wondering why we can’t have Hummels, Marquinhos, Varane and Ramos as our 4 CBs with Kos as 5th choice back-up.

    1. Hundreds of 30-35 year old defenders plying their trade round top clubs in Europe – absolutely crazy to be ditching defenders probably in their prime at 30 for the next new kid on the block. You have to have experience in your squad and frankly this experience is more often than not in the back 5. Seen guys on here fretting about Debuchy soon to turn 30 – jeeezz! Mourinho is happy giving his 31 year old RB a 4 year deal and a new shorter deal for his 34 year CB – Wenger is doing the right thing IMO.

  2. Even Debuchy can play there! By the Way we need one more CB, Per is time with Arsenal for me is Over… Bring Fabian Schar and we are read for all trophies next season..

    1. meant to down vot. why is it “over”? hasn’t been playing well? yeah , right, i think y’all just want a shiney new toy

  3. I agree sort of. Monreal is great on the left and him signing a 4 year deal menas 2 things. We have secured his services for at least 2 more years. We also create resale value as the contract runs 4 years. I do not see him playing in the centre. We have Hayden from our academy who could be the 5th CB.

    If Mertesacker gets sold I would love to see Schar coming in.

    I love how we unearthed Gabriel using our statistical company. Lets see if we can find other gems.

  4. We have quite some options for the CB position: Mert, Kos, Gabriel, Chambers and then Hayden plus Debuchy and Monreal. The middle of the team has to be strong. Maybe a DM which is better than Coquelin and a striker with charisma and credentials bigger than Giroud or Welbeck is what we need. If our team is 100% fit I’d dare to say that we are one striker away from the EPL but knowing our luck I’d say just be covered for every position. There’s no tournament this year so the guys will have a lot of time to gel. I guess it will be tight.

    1. I agree completely

      I feel with another top striker and another DM. We can compete in all 4 tournaments.

      If Giroud and Coquelin get injured we need quality players to step up. Also Giroud and Coquelin need competition to keep them on their toes.

      With Ozil improving and all our other players, another DM and striker will make us legitimate contenders.

      That said lets beat Burnley and hope QPR beats Chelsea so we can put a little pressure on Chelsea and at least secure 2nd place.

      1. I agree Fred.
        If we are to compete seriously for both EPL and CL we need quality back up in GK, CB, DM and ST. Chambers, Hayden etc are at least a season away from being contenders.
        We WILL have injuries, and I remember the shit that AW got earlier this season for not having back-up.
        We are just 2 or 3 players from a title competing squad – with some great youngsters coming through.
        COYG

  5. I think Debuchy was better at CB (the few games he played than Monreal). I think Monreal is an outstanding LB (better than Gibbs), but he hasn’t really impressed me at CB. So I hope Wenger can let him focus on LB. I Think we need a young promising LB to be our 3rd LB and understudy. Maybe he is in our academy or maybe need to sign one.

    I would not exactly be upset if Wenger got a good CD. Nothing wrong with depth of quality

    However, with Koscielny, Mertsacker, Gabriel, Chambers, it doesn’t seem necessary, especially if we keep Jenkison.

    I would love to keep Jenkison for RB and let Chambers focus on CB and DM.

  6. Actually as long as Wenger gets another top DM and another top striker, I’m happy

    Anything after that is an extra treat lol
    So if he wants to get Subotic, Reus, Cech Gundogan or anyone else, I won’t complain lol.

    I’m just so impressed with our team this second half of the season. However, Chelsea, United, City will spend big in the summer so a DM and striker will be needed to keep up with them And anyone else will be helpful in competing for PL and CL.

  7. Having carefully considered every fact laid before me by the writer, I do hereby concur.

    Verdict: Rhino stays, Chambers stays, no new CBz.

  8. We may need another CB, although i do not see why, Mert still has about 3-4 years left and still play at a high level, he may get beat on a few occasions, but its not really that numerous, it just happens at some important games.

    Chambers has a lot of potential already drafted for England senior team, which i thought came too early, but it gives him something to get back to, he as the potential to become a ball playing center-half, seems to be growing in body and experience. i think his aim should be get as much experience in the CB positions, under 21, FA and also CC.

    Hayden I think is a hidden gem, Just as Coquelin in many ways, he can play the CB role, but for me he is the ideal DM and should be Coquelin understudy, he just needs to get over these injuries and i think he is a future star at Arsenal.

    Any chance of getting a CB, we will have to take in account they will not be getting much game time, Kos and Gab will be the new pairing interchanging with Mert, barring a major injury to any, we will have to go for a talented young player who is willing to bide his time or a older player who does not mind 3-4 per season

    1. thank you! i didn’t know there was a debate for another cb in the first place.

      article would have made more sense being about not needing another DM – that would have actually been surprising or worth writing about

    2. Fair post. Still amazed at people listing out what Per M can’t do but not acknowledging what he can do. I am no expert but I think there are many on here who have very,very primitive and naive ideas about CB play and how CBs operate and thrive as a unit/pair. Stick two foreign 6’3″ pacey 24 years olds with top FIFA 15 stats together and away we go. Same old cliches week after week about PM is gonna get a new one ripped by a pacey forward – the pundits are lazy bast%%rds when it comes to their pre-match analysis – heard it all this weekend didn’t we before the Pool match – “Sterling will be licking his lips facing PM blah, blah”. Is anyone on here gonna list out the one-on-one foot races PM has been exposed that resulted in a goal being conceded. And even if you can cite a few – every other top CB in world football is gonna have a rap sheet of errors this season. Laughed when the only time Sterling properly beat one of our players in a dangerous position it happened to be our fastest player on the pitch and not the slowest. I would simply love to hear Kos’s candid assessment of playing next to Per – may shut a few up if they hear it from the horse’s mouth so to speak.

      1. I,too would love to hear Kos share his candid opinion about his partnership with the big guy. I’m not sure that it would be as temperate as you suggest. I guess we won’t find out until he hangs up his boots and pens his memoirs. You draw comparison with Mourinho’s 34 year old. Are you serious? Mertesacker’s game is essentially flawed. Physically he lacks coordination, pace and he can’t jump. Otherwise I can’t agree that he is able to read the game and when he positions himself for set pieces he stands always on the penalty spot and appears to be in a trance. The only time he ever wins the ball is when it is kicked straight at him. We have seen him duck out of the way and put the keeper and others behind him in trouble Ask Schezny and his dad. In fact I am pretty certain that Kos had to cover for him much more than he should have to. How many times have we seen our players running back to catch a runaway forward and as the picture is widened we catch sight of Mert plodding back about 30 yards behind. Maybe we should find out what former players like Adams,Keown,and Campbell think. One T.V. pundit, not Owen, likened Mertesacker’s attempts to run after opposition forwards like someone trying to drag a rusty old fridge behind him. So, maybe in this case we could do better…

        1. Fair enough. Kos the short memory span fan-fave, doing 2 defender’s jobs for 3 seasons now – I mean seriously. And without an error, flaw or cock-up in his CV. Very strange how Klinnsman, Low and Wenger have not noticed how s**te PM really is.

        2. No, just Wenger.The Germans moved him on and out. I am surprised how he managed so many caps .I guess though , history tells us even the Huns can make mistakes!

  9. We need far more muscle in our defence. Koscielny and Gabriel are comparatively lightweight and more athletic. Mertesacker is big, but not strong. I want a centre back that can bully top strikers like Drogba and Costa, not get bullied by them. If you look at Kompany, you can’t see someone like him getting shoved off the ball, plus he’s a leader. That’s what we need. He’s in bad form at the moment but he is a top centre back.

  10. Iwe can get a CB with. Kompany, thiago siva potentia- we r gud to go; I think schar can

  11. If we were to replace Per it wouldnt be a bad idea to get a natural born leader, thats something this Arsenal side is maybe lacking. I have said i wouldnt mind a young accomplished CB but thinking further on it i would like a tough talking tough tackling natural leader.

    Owen was right when saying not even close, Sterling is not even close to Ozils magnificence in picturing next move, Sterling is a dribbler and a reaction player… totally different players who usually cannot be compared. If Owen thinks liv boy is world class well then he should be compared to similar players ie Sanchez, Robben, Bale, Hazard etc Sterling is not even close. On the other hand when comparing Ozil to similar players to himself ie Fabregas, Inniesta, Xavi, Pirlo etc Ozil is very much close and was even for a time considered best at what he does which is providing.

  12. The best games Chambers had for Arsenal was with him playing as centre back, eg. Arsenal 3 vs 0 Shity in Community Shield.

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