THE CENTRE-BACK QUESTION. by JA
Hey guys, it must be a great week after that destruction of Stoke City huh?
So I have been looking through the comments a while and guess what the main topic is….. no you don’t have to. It’s the centre-back question.
First off, I’m heavily amused by those saying Per has lost it. Personally,I don’t think Kos would have done much better with the available partnerships. If memory serves me right, when Kos had a non-complementary partner in Vermaelen and squidward (lol), he stunk the place out as well. I believe they will recover and make a strong partnership again.
Where I find the real problem is the season after next. You could say, in midfield, give Coquelin a chance, sign a back up to him next season and in two seasons, you have two top class defensive midfielders.Room for such bedding is narrow at the back though. After next season, Mert probably won’t have any more to offer in the premier league. Kos with his style could also be done as his style is very physically demanding. So who to replace them with and do it well in the shortest period of time while keeping age curbed.
Now I’ll admit there’s a lot of people here with knowledge of potential candidates that I wouldn’t have,but I did write an article stating that a defense is more than just the sum of its individuals. That means we’d have to go out and find like for like replacements to these two guys.
Fact is, you just can’t have two agile and fast hard tacklers at center back because every combination of an average striker with a slightly average playmaker is gonna cut you open like a can of beef.
We need a guy like Mert, then another like Kos. It’s amusing when one suggests Hummels to replace Mert or Howedes for that matter, and the reason they give is Mert is slow. Now Hummels and Howedes are as slow if not slower than Mert. I do believe they would be perfect replacements due to their age advantage.
Based on suggestions, I think we should go for Matts Hummels and Winston Reid to replace Mert and Kos in two seasons, but Calum Chambers also offers a decent depiction of Mert so, depending on if Wenger is serious about Chambers moving to defensive mid, he too could fill them boots.
Fact is regardless of how we do it, we’re gonna have to get a slow and fast combination that will stick for a while.
Alright enjoy the rest of the week….and yes I believe if Coquelin lays a firm claim to his spot, then he should be number one.
Joe
reid is crap…
coquelin is not good enough..
Yeah, we need to spend. Spend!!! Spend!!! Spend!!!
In fact, we need a brand new squad.
People are in La-La land if they think players like Hummels, Scheiderlein, Benzema etc will be sold in Jan window but we should be negotiating NOW to buy them in summer because we’ll need £100-150M.
What we need in Jan window is solid back-up against injuries and number of games. Reid is not world class but has EPL experience, plus a full back. Gundogan or Carvalho in MF (though both Champions League cup-tied) to support Le Coq who has done well.
This will help Cazorla, Rosicky and Ox to maintain creative performance + Ozil + Alexis + Walcott + Giroud + Welbeck
Next 3 weeks will define our season – City + Spuds + Brighton away – with Villa at home
COYG
@hafiz
ur slogan is spend spend spend but u blatantly have a piggy bank filled with small change that u only open once a year so you can ‘go crazy’ and buy hat with ‘im rich’ written on it.
and if y’all think CB and DM are the only things we need, HeLLo dearies……… RB slot just got scanty
Chambers, Bellerin and if we want, call back Jenkinson. Thats 3 options. Or we can find a player who will come here as a loan deal. Buying another RB seems wasteful since theres actually a lot of competition in that spot when everyone is fit.
I actually think Sanchez is in the (hazard, rues,) lil bracket. wait he might b a step above them or am I bein to biased. Seriously got a gem. My good old barca friend was soo angry as to why sanchez was sold…..#world class.
wonder what will happen to le coq, if arteta,wilsher,and ramsey are fit + a potential cm/dm signing whichhas 20% chance to materialse? ox,walcot,welbeck santi,ozil,rosisky, giroud, Campbell gnarby? what a selection headache, even tho its virtually impossible to have everyone fit.(sanchez is an automatic starter)
Defense, need I say more? imagine we had a twin brother in the mould of Kos?…Wenger if u love Arsenal soo much, atleast get the team a CB, that’s all.
goodluck to Afobe tho.
COYG!!!!!
I want to comment 🙁 , but though its true n right, even I find it hard to accept the comment 🙁 🙁 🙁
okay, lemmi just say it…
We need a cb, yes, but its not urgent. same to a dm. other positions we really don’t need. a cf, gk will just be luxury buys with no major gain.
what we really and truly need 🙁 is….
is…. is……… iiiiiiissssssssss………
…………………………..
🙁
…………………………..
sorry guys, its too heavy to say 🙁 🙁
very sorry. will say in next thread 🙁
okay, here it is….
🙁 a new coach!
take all that space up just to say wenger out?
haywill u slippin ….
Who is lemmi?
Just read that we are close to signing Marcelo Brozovic from Dynamo Zagreb for 6 million and I’ll admit I’ve never heard of him but the fact that he’s never been mentioned by anyone else and not linked to anyone else AND the price tag tells me this is going to be another Wenger bargain basement flop.
That’s if its remotely true of course as it was published in the mail lol
I am thinking the same, this is a wenger type, signs players no one knows about or the ones no one was even thinking about..
or the ones no one wants lol
or the ones no one was thinking about, but were extremely excited when we found out.
hopefully its false. He’s another attacking player, and AW said no attacking players this window. Wouldn’t be the first time he’s changed his mind and made a horrible decision though.
Good one mate 🙂 well to me a CB is a must this window.. I like the way how u said it is essential to get the balance of the team right than anything.. And on that basis it’s completely acceptable to sign Hummels to partner Kosc, bcoz I see him a lot similar to Mert..
Coquelin is fine, he and Arteta could very well carry us thru this season.. In summer just sign Khedira on free.. That shud be it.. We can easily challenge for PL.. Not so complicated after all eh..??
Khedira on a free would be fine IF he wanted to come to us, IF Madrid don’t keep him and IF (and this is the most important issue)………… Wenger wants to pay his wage demands which we all know he wont for the afore mentioned reasons of Wenger being as tight as a gnats arse.
What is this I am hearing about Dynamo Zagreb agreeing a £6 million offer from Arsenal for Attacking midfielder Marcelo Brozovic?
I am not normally conned by these rumors but this one seems like it has got a bone in it.. And the Krystian Bielik one too..
Howedes seems perfect to me. Around the same price range as Debuchy/Chambers. German international.
Howedes played every single minute of World Cup 2014. Only 3 players accomplished that.
ALSO Howedes can play CB, LB and RB. All 4 positions in defense.
You would think his versatility and expense would be right down Wenger’s alley
I meant every single minute of every German match.
He is a good player but it may be worth everyone knowing that he has little or no more pace than Mertesacker – seeing how much flak CC and PM receive for this failing it probably needs saying.
If Wenger is serious about converting Chambers to DM, then I think he should be playing him in the reserve team in that position to get valuable experience. The first team is not for experimentation!
The Marcelo Brozovic rumour will be as it is…. Rumour..
Belive it or not Wenger is soooo stubborn, he will not sign anybody until January 31, 11:55pm,,, then he’s gonna say,, the ones we wanted were not available, so we settled for a loanee in the form of KK,, although he’s injured until March….
I have watched Brozovic a couple of times, not a bad guy at all….. But won’t add much value to Arsenal,,, maybe if Wenger sees something xtra….
Admit it or not, reid and perrin is the most possible to be signed in transfer window. Otherwise, wenger would just loan experienced player like kim kalstrom.
So our 8.5m pound a year manager has let two first team squad players leave and not replaced them,that is now three out with none in.
Has he not learnt anything from this season so far and how thin and bare our squad has been at times ?
The bloke is a fraud and a joke of a manager and does not deserve to be in charge of our great club.#wengerout !
Whilst I am not one to read the papers and belive evrythibg I see and hear we all know that rather than buy an established player AW will buy a cheap alternative and then attempt to convert them into a world beater in the positions we need to strengthen most, that way he will be able to dine out and feed his “I made Thierry Henry” Ego trip for another ten years much like he is trying to do with Chambers
How many times has Wenger said we are short in defence ?
14 days into this transfer window and we have signed nobody.
With Debuchy out as well now we need action and now !
I do not believe what i have just read. “Now Hummels and Howedes are as slow if not slower than Mert.”
You need your eyes checked bro
Mate – pace and speed are not attributes that either possess. They might be faster than Merts over the first 10 yards but they are no speedsters.
Rubbish article! Hummels slower then mert ha behave mate! Mert is an awful defender. Jochim lowe dropped him in the world cup after the first game coz he was poor! Its only kos that makes him look good and even when those two are together against top opposition look what happens….last season: city conced 6, chelsea conced 6, liverpool conced 5! Why are you against buying top quality players now? Or in the summer instead of leaving it a few years like we already have and are no where closer to the title
J A. What a waste of space. Do you not watch your man. He must be one of the worst central defenders we’ve ever had and Wenger has bought the others. First of all why do you think there is a debate and who do you think has joined the growing band of dissenters.In fact it is virtually every TV pundit . Lawrenson,Hansen,Shearer, Carragher, Redknapp, both Nevilles, Ian Wright, Martin Keown, Nicholas, Merson,and too many more to name. In fact anyone who knows anything about football. Then there are the rest of us who cringe when we watch him under pressure not dealing with situations and dragging teamates into mistakes. I think Jamie Carragher commented that he was horrified when the man got his head out of the way rather than head it away He added that against Stoke Mertesacker had “jumped ship” leaving the kids to go down. He was our skipper that day I believe…
Well said! I watched carra do the mnf analyst of that and he was spot on! That was a perfect example from mert on how NOT to be a good captain or defender……wouldnt see terry or kompany defend like that
Soon middle of the month and I am starting to think that we will sign NOONE, ZILCH and SQUAT… Great transfer window
I predict we’ll sign two one this week, one in the last week.