Over the last ten years you have heard so many Arsenal fans and pundits saying that “Arsenal are two players away from winning the title”, that it has become a sort of cliche or mantra that gets repeated every single transfer window. But do we ever get those two players? Well, we haven’t won the League so I guess that answers that question!
But now the Arsenal Invincible legend Sol Campbell has become the latest ex-player to voice our thoughts. “They’ve done pretty well overall. If they can build on that performance against Manchester United — but cut out the first 10 minutes — they’ll be OK,” he said.
“But Arsenal are two defenders short of being a top team. They really need to push the boat out and buy a couple more players.”
We all know that the defence is our current problem. Per Mertesacker is retiring next summer and Laurent Koscielny and Nacho Monreal are not very far behind him in age, so surely can’t have too many more years at the top. Wenger could probably help the problem by switching formation to four at the back again, which is what Campbell thinks is safest. “For me, I’ve played in a back three for England and a couple of times for Tottenham, but I can’t remember ever playing that for Arsenal,” he said.
“If you want more going forward, you might do 3-5-2, but I prefer a 4-4-2. And if you’re fluid enough, you can be flexible enough and have enough players interchanging and going forward.”
Obviously in the summer we are going to need more than two defenders when Ozil and Sanchez leave, but if we could buy the two defenders that we needed in January, who would you go for?
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We need someone who is a leader in the back line and can organise the whole back 4 or 5 whatever it is.. Just being a good defender yourselves is not enough if the others around you are all over the place. I don’t know exactly the defender to buy in this category,but which commanding CB who is a leader will fall in this category ???? Tell me and wenger too my fellow gooners….
Signing ANY players will not make a difference under Wenger’s management in tough competitions (league and CL). We bought in Cech, Sanchez, and Ozil, and we’ve regressed in Europe, and in the league. We signed a prolific striker this summer, and secured the services of the best LB/LWB in the Bundesliga, whilst keeping ALL our best players again, yet we’re currently a whopping 15pts off top spot, five defeats already, and we’re not even half way through the season!
I’d prefer Wenger to not waste any more money, and keep whatever’s in the kitty for the next manager.
You said Wenger wasting money yet the players you mentioned are the ones Wenger wanted and Wenger pushed to get while others in the squad are players who Wenger appears to never wanted.
Perez may not be the best in the world but he wasn’t given much of a chance, we read about how AFC failed in a bid to get Laca and AFC panic bought Perez who Wenger has never shown faith in.
Who wasted AFC money that time?
Every manager picks bad buys from time to time but it doesn’t help when you have a CEO who gets below par players for the squad and boast about how we overachieve.
Koulibaly is the best available
I want to see Chambers given a run in the 1st team, I think he would surprise a lot of people and he could be one of the 2 defenders we need.
The other one for me would be VVD, top class and still young enough so his prime years are ahead of him.
After that, forget the def and go for 2 monster CM players, get Carvalho and Kondogbia.
Those 2 big players would offer enough protection that our wingbacks would be acting more like wingers more often than not, players like Chambers and Monreal are ideal to be on either side of a defencive linchpin to hold them all in place (organize etc).
AFC like to press high and for me, we need CBs with some pace, not Usain Bolts but at least mobile enough so they can get goal side and intercept.
I do not care if we have 3 CBs all sitting back and twiddling their thumbs because our CM is dominating the game, it offers security so we can press harder for more goals. I do not care if we have 5 def minded players and 5 attack minded players (outfield), it allows for the pressing higher up the field.
What frustrated me is seeing Ramsey constantly behind the opposition when getting back to defend because he was too Att minded, I would much prefer to see Xhaka and Wilshere in CM as Wilshere can sit deep better and not so gungho.
Vieira was a top B2B player but he played with the ball ahead of him which meant he could soak up any attack instantly and win the ball back in dangerous areas, with Gilberto sitting deep and we had a solid CM that played with the ball ahead of them.
I defend Wenger a lot when it comes to transfers and the players in the current squad but his tactics are something I could never defend with integrity, he does well at educating players to think for themselves more on the pitch rather than drilled in tactics BUT c’mon Wenger! Sort the damned middle out! We have a weak middle and when it gets exposed then we tend to let in multiple goals.
That and get a world class GK coach in, we have seen Cech’s form drop since joining us and we read about how his personal GK coach didn’t come with him. Szcz is a top GK but Wenger fell out with him and Szcz has said that he learnt more in Italy than he ever did with AFC and I don’t think he was being bitter when saying it. We have Martinez who looks a talent but become a bit stagnant in the 1st team, Matt Macey has a new contract and who wants to bet against his development becoming stagnant without change to the GK Coaching?
UTD could have lost 6-3 to us if it wasn’t for DDG, we didn’t moan about our def as much when we had Seaman or Man Jens in goal, those GKs knew their job and commanded the defence.
Chambers is too slow ever to be a top CB and also not powerful and tall enough to compensate for his distinct lack of pace. Surely all right thinking fans should know how vital pace is, throughout the whole team. At least they ought to know. Otherwise most of your points have merit. But please, recognise Chambers obvious limitations at our level.
Joe Gomez and Harry Maguire are two young centre backs who were available for precious little and who will go on to become England regulars.The fact that they escaped the Arsenal scouting net or did not meet the demands of Mr Wenger speaks volumes particularly when he then spent around £70m on the likes of Mustafi and Xhaka who are both bang average.Manolas of Roma would be an excellent acquisition but in the longer term both Holding and Beilik could make the grade
I don’t think that’s fair to Mustafi to put him in the same box as Xhaka. Recently he has had a very impressive run since returning to the team and played an instrumental part in out spurs and Burnley wins. A truly horrible and spineless display last weekend though! And when we first bought him he struck up a promising partnership with the boss before getting injured. I think if he is dedicated to our team – and based on reports this summer it appears he isn’t – I think he can fill in for the boss. But we’ll still need someone to partner him.
Manolas is ok nothing special would much rather koulibaly
We are not 2 defenders away from being able to win the league.
We are 1 manager away from it.
Just two defenders? I’d say 1 goalkeeper (Cech is past his prime, and Ospina simply doesn’t cut it), 2-3 defenders (Mert is gone; Kosc is done; and Mustafi is just way too inconsistent. Holding/Chambers are not an answer), another RB to challenge Bellerin, a solid DM (or two) to replace Xhaka/Elneny/Coquelin, deep lying midfielder in the mold of Santi Cazorla, a winger (or two if Walcott leaves) to replace Sanchez, and a number 10 to replace Ozil. That’s minimum 8 players. Hate to break it to you, but the squad needs a complete overhaul.
Can’t argue with that list, Vlad. (I do like Ospina though and think it will cost a lot of money to get a better goalkeeper)
here we go again
two years seasons ago it was CM & CDM that we needed to win league. last season it was strikers we needed now we need defenders to win the league. Christ does these people ever learn at all. it’s not becoming worrisome the way our fans think. never Wenger’s fault that we have not won the league over a decade now but strikers midfielders and defenders fault. God we are really the most shallow fans out there.
If you think it is Wenger’s fault:
– you are not a real Arsenal fan
– you are a wind-up artist
– you know nothing about football
– you should blame Kroenke
– you forgot about the many injuries we have had
– you are disrespectful and forgot what he has done for us more than a decade ago
– you are ungrateful because he build us a nice stadium
– judge him at the end of the season
seasons ago
and the manager vlad
I know it might look like FM 2018 but Vlad is right.
Zouma as CB and a new RB,
Kolasinac Monreal
Koscielny Zouma Mustafi Holding/Chambers
Bellerin ?/Maitland-Niles
Wenger will NEVER buy two defenders in January. Not even one. Not even in the summer. When we needed a CB he sold Gabriel and he was about to loan Mustafi. Mertesacker will be like a new signing. Fortunately he will retire.
I would go for malang sarr n koulibaly whist per retires and chambers sold(holding is better than him)
Gimenez, De Vrij, Manolas, Koulibaly and Tah should be considered as potential targets, in particular De Vrij and Gimenez as they are both available for free.
However, regardless of the defenders we have, Arsenal are so disorganised without the ball and leave the defenders so exposed that we will carry on conceding an excessive amount of goals.
I feel like our next manager needs to be able to instill the mentality that defensive work is just as important as offensive work, with each player clearly understanding their role in the team. Wouldn’t mind Allegri or Benitez.