The Arsenal defense needs immense work in the summer by Konstantin Mitov
It’s not a real surprise that we made another bunch of sloppy mistakes against Southampton again. We let a player who hadn’t scored for I don’t know how long pick a goal that our defender should have easily gotten rid off.
It was amusing how Mustafi tried to blame Cech for it! It was nice to see Cech get back at him because this was shambolic and if I was manager Mustafi would be finished and first on the sales list for the summer.
We put players like Holding and Chambers next to him who need a solid defender to give them an example, and it’s the worse they can get really.
We also have Mertesacker who publicly said I don’t wanna play, and we rewarded him with a one year contract. If we cut the charity system, we would have more wages to offer to players who’ll be meaningful to the side.
But part of the defensive problems come from the midfield as well, where Xhaka isn’t really the DM we were hoping for, and then you get Ramsey and Wilshere.
And Jack yesterday was awful. The only meaningful thing he did yesterday was get Stevens a red card. He made so many mistakes and he was on the ground every 3 minutes.
I’m sick of this carelessness at Arsenal. We keep Jack because he is all Arsenal and he’s British, but in terms of efficiency, his level is not of the standard required.
The problem with shipping him on is going for free, and Ramsey will be likely sold. The Welshman has some of the best stats in our midfield, but he’s unlikely to stay unless we offer him major wages and that is also difficult to inagine considering the amount of work we have to do at the back.
Will we allow both to leave? I doubt it, but I don’t rule it out either. If we do not win the Europa League, we’ll definitely sell Bellerin and Ramsey to fund our moves as Kroenke won’t open up the pockets. Remember that we sold a few players before we got Aubameyang and we swapped Sanchez for Mikhi, so yeah.
Signings at Arsenal come at a high price and the most worrying thing is that Wenger will be doing the rebuilding. The win against Milan cemented his final season of his contract.
He doesn’t care about the empty seats, who’ve been like that for months. If you are an Arsenal player, you’re playing for nothing in 6th place and the stadium is half empty. You can understand why the team doesn’t put all the effort in the league.
Then they know Wenger will be doing the rebuilding and his work has led us here. Is he really going to fix the defense? Is he going to bring in a solid DM? Even if Mislintat does it, Wenger will do the tactics and his record of 1 win against the top 6 with a game at Old Trafford left speaks for itself.
We are the worst top 6 team and even if we catch Chelsea, we’re still 13 points off the top 4 and our style of football compared to the top 4 is just miles behind.
There’s still the off chance of winning the Europa League and I do hope we win it, but it’s going to be a miracle if we beat Atletico Madrid and that’s if we get to play them at all. But even if we do, there’s massive work on the squad to be done and Arsene has proved he is incapable of doing it.
Konstantin
Wenger said. We are an offensive team our defenders are not always in the best possible condition to defend. Does that sound like a man who is bothered to drill work or organise our defence
Koscielny is the one good CB the club has had for years Vermaelen was okay. Besides those two, you have to go back to when Arsenal were one of the best teams in Europe.
Vermaelen had some torrid times for us too if you remember.
I think we need to hold Bould culpable for the state of the defence. Surely he could do more.
he doesnt seem to have any use outside of being one of AW’s yes men. And yeah, Verm was never rock solid but definitely one of the better recent CB’s. Everyone we bought since has been rather disastrous.
When were we ever one of the best teams in Europe
04-06
i’d go as far as 2002-2006 and we were amongst the big boys (united, barca, milan, inter) in 2000-2002 but in terms of competing 2002-2006
I believe it will happen, and I don’t believe the choice of players will mainly be Wenger’s decision.
The attack is sorted, adding a true winger would be great.
Midfield if they sign Ramsey, Meyer on a free, and Wilshire wages go to a new DM.
Defense is a trainwreck.
2 GK where neither one inspires any confidence; new GK a must.
CB to replace Kos, and back up RB also needed. Unfortunately defense may take several windows to rebuild, unless dear stanley or Josh crack open that wallent and pay to compete.
The right back position is still awful. Bellerin had potential but not working hard enough. Musa of CSKA gave him a torrid time in the first leg encounter. Expect similar very tough time for him for the second leg. People say he is the fastest but never utilises his speed to beat defenders always stopping and passing sideways or at the back. His crosses are without aim. The right back I admire is the Dutch player JaanMaat. Has an unstoppable shot, good in taking freekicks and crosses are mostly on target, he can dribble and defend equally well. The problem is he is at Watford and the fat deeney is too slow to convert his accurate crosses.
Pubgooner
Good point about Bellerin; for all his pace Musa had his way with Hector. Perhaps if a new RB challenged Bellerin we would see his best or see him off elsewhere.
GK is a must, CB maybe 2, and DM. It’s no small task, and even Sven and Raul have their hands full sorting out our defense. Maybe thats the “challenge” Ivan sold to Raul that he’s excited about.
Actually, it’s much cheaper bringing in a new manager to organize our defenders and teach midfielders some discipline. I think Allegri would fit the bill perfectly, and provide tactics to put up a good fight against the top 5 teams.
Off topic a bit, but here in the States Kronke’s Rams are really bringing in talent. Top players, spending money and expecting success. Guess he has to start paying on his $5billion new complex. Shopping malls, resturants, housing community, wow he went all out.
He needs Arsenal to really make money now, so maybe it will be a good thing. 10 years of pessimism, figure I’ll try few months of optimism, lol.
I just don’t see the point of continuing the rebuild whilst Wenger’s here. We’ve brought in Auba, Miki, Laca, whilst also tying down Ozil long-term, and we’ve only got WORSE! It’s just yet another wasted year by keeping Wenger.
Either we sack Wenger in the summer, or we don’t buy any more players until he leaves, because it’s just a waste of money otherwise. We’ve spent over £100 million on two strikers this season…money down the drain so far!
ThirdManJW
I’m not convinced Wenger wanted Auba. Laca came in Summer, and Wenger gave impression he had every intention of continuing with Giroud.
Sven, Huss, and Ivan were in Germany doing the business, and made no effort to disguise the fact why they were there. Normally not Arsenal way, usually they are hush hush about transfer activity.
I just found it curious, and Wenger appeared to hardly be involved. Of course I could easily be mistaken, but Giroud seemed pushed out after being accomodated for 5 years; very un-Wengerlike.
Walcott sold after Wenger had spoken about Theo entering his “golden years.”
Not to mention Lucas who Wenger seemed to almost ignore for a year. That’s why I’m not convinced Wenger involved with Auba deal. He never appeared interested in replacing Giroud, but now we get 2 strikers in same season, spend well over £100 million. Very very un-Wengerlike if you ask me. Again, I could be wrong; I’m only standing at the window looking in
Your right Durand, Iv’e been hoping we would sign Auba for the past three years but Wenger’s never showed any interest. Sven definitely got Auba and I’m over the moon, someone on the board signed Perez, that’s why the spoilt Wenger refused to play him and never gave him a chance. Will we sign a keeper and defenders in the summer? If we don’t, it’s another sixth place next year.
You guys must be right. That is why he subbed Auba early last game. The perez way!!
giroud is under rated….
however he could offer us plan B if he stays…
auba on the left and giroud in the middle
That’s right … He’s transformed Chelsea!!!!!
As a third striker instead of Welbz, Welbz as our fourth striker, that’s what we should have been aiming to do the moment we signed him. Those two our main strikers, and we sometimes wonder why we miss out on things.
With Auba-Vroom-yang, Lacazette will try raise his game you’d expect. And now we can finally try and get our midfield up to scratch.
Fred, Gilberto is his agent, that should give us a leg up on any competitors. Richarlison too we are rumored to, some SA panache might be just what the doctor ordered.
You are NOT wrong. You make important points, all of which confirm the hierarchy are about to sack Wenger. There can be no serious doubt. All anyone has to do is read the clear signs. Sadly , though , this easy reading is beyond some folk. THEIR PROBLEM. NOT MINE.
i completely agree. Rebuilding while AW is still in charge is counterproductive. We’re not even rebuilding honestly. We’re just getting more players to set up for failure. Many managers would love to have the squad Arsenal does and would see the areas we need to improve in. Players like Bellerin can up their performance if they are coached correctly. It’s pretty obvious that once Hector his first team he stopped getting any real instruction. It’s been downhill since his first season and half.
With Wenger in Charge Next Season expect more of the same old same old. Why? Because you can’t teach an old dog new tricks in other words Wenger will never Change and the Arsenal Board love him. The Only way to get Change is to hit the Arsenal Board in the Pocket and the only way to do this is to stay away from games and don’t buy any of their SXXX.
WENGER HAS ALREADY SAID HE IS STAYING.
The common sense is that you attack someone if you are sure that you can defend yourselves.
Football is exactly the same, if you attack you should know or make sure that you can defend as well (if you lose the ball).
You cannot just attack, attack without any foundations like headless chicken.
Wenger (the creator of football) should definitively rebuild that defensive area.
true…..unless the team has heaps of firepower
utd last title was won by outscoring….their defence was weak but rvp manage to score enough goals and outscore the team
“Wenger , the creator of football.” What a quaint and absurd assumption. HE WOUD HAVE TO BE A HUNDRED YEARS OLDER THAN HE IS, TO MAKE THIS TRUE. The rest of your post was patently true , though.
@JON FOX
By saying “the creator of football”, I was trying to be sarcastic toward Wenger who thinks he knows better than anyone. lol
Ah, my old friend sarcasm! Well loved and well used by me too. Why ever didn’t you say so before!
Not with Wenger in charge
KONSTANTIN, YOU USUALLY WRITE SENSE AND YOU HAVE HERE TOO. BUT ONE GRIPE with your assumption that Wenger will see out his contract for next season. I will spell out why I am certain he is going this summer. First and most importantly, Josh Kroenke was tasked with doing a fact find this winter and it didn’t even take him the rumoured three months. Secondly, If anyone thinks Daddy Kroenke over there on his huge ranch , is unaware of the now regularly half empty stadium(which would remain so if Wenger stays, as Kroenke well knows) they are not of the strongest IQ , putting it very mildly indeed. These constant empty seats seriously damage our commercial worth and Kroenke has borrowed against the clubs value. CORPORATES HATE EMPTY STADIUMS AND THE PREM IS WORLDWIDE POPULAR AND A BEHEMOTH , because it’s stadiums are full and with much atmosphere too This is how huge finance works, as I well know from my own life experience. Third , fourth and Fifth are all the three changes to key backroom staff, definitely and deliberately undermining Wenger. Kroenke COULD have vetoed these but DID NOT DO SO. Anyone who doubts Wenger is mere weeks away from the sack cannot put two and two together and make four. I can, however, and have been confidently predicting his imminent demise for some time now on here and very regularly as all will attest. INDEED I HAVE PUT SUBSTANTIAL MONEY ON HIM GOING AND AS THE ODDS HAVE VASTLY SHORTENED , HAVE BEEN ABLE TO HEDGE MY BETS TO WIN IN EITHER CASE. If -which will NOT happen – he stays, I STILL WIN, BUT NOT AS MUCH. I do not state this to boast but to convince those who doubt , (as surprisingly YOU do) they are quite wrong. LASTLY , I HAVE NO INSIDE KNOWLEDGE INSIDE THE CLUB BUT HAVE BACKED MY JUDGEMENT AND AM TOTALLY CONVINCED I AM CORRECT.
calm down Jon..Mr kon has his views…
you are taking it too personal…..
if u have any personal issues with Mr Wenger, go have a sit down with him and solve the issues and doubts
John lad, I believe I began my post by praising Kons views and said I was in agreement with it. Apart from him thinking Wenger is staying, which I disagree with and so , being a thorough man, I outlined in some detail my thinking as to why he will be soon sacked. That is not in any rational persons book , a criticism of Konstantin. As for sitting down with Wenger, I could not trust myself not to do him harm, if I DID have this opportunity to sup with the devil.
Konstantin, I must disagree with your assertion that the Arsenal players have nothing to play for in the league. These men are highly paid professionals, who are paid to deliver on the football field. Why would Arsenal players not perform because they currently in 6th position in the league, compared to players from Burnley, Leicester, Newcastle as we have recently seen Southampton, all trams currently below Arsenal?
There is such things as professional and personal pride. All Arsenal players would be aware that Arsene Wenger will not be manager forever. When and if a change in manager occurs, these players will want to either impress the new manager so as to be retained, offered new contracts or play well enough to put themselves “in the shop window” if moved on.
With regard to Arsenal’s defense, apart from Koscielny with his chronic archilles and Mertesacher with his psychological issues, the players are all well credentialed. The issue is the failure of Wenger and Bould to coach the structure, discipline, techniques and as demonstrated again against Southampton, communication in defending.
Apart from the essential need for a DM, I believe it should be left to the new manager to assess the suitability of existing players to play within a coached defense and augment/replace where necessary.
Oops, “teams” not “trams”!
Even when Wenger spends big on defenders and midfielders he spends poorly ie £35 mil each on Mustafi and Xhaka. Also Chambers for £18 mil was a good bit of business for Southampton. Nothing like what they made on Van Dijk but still got some money on him.
So Wenger either spends too little and gets average players or spends too much on average players.
Wenger Out
Get a manager who knows how to build a quality team.
Chambers was the best CB in the England under 21s/23s, he still is. 18 mil for any big nations top prospect is a good deal, it doesn’t mean that the future first teamer will not arrive from somewhere else it just means it’s a good punt. Chambers has improved this season, with mistakes coming from all angles lately he is actually pretty much unscathed thus far. People think we made a mistake by selling Gabriel, they are dreaming if they believe a good portion of mistakes would not have happened with him also. The thing about Gabriel is, he’s reactive, like Mustafi and Kos, always reacting to things never proactive or instinctive enough. Gabriel would be good in a Mourinho or Simeone type set up, where they close out most gaps and there is less situations to react to. Chambers tries to read the game, you can see that with him, and he’s good with the ball at his feet, Chambers is the right way to go for a team who likes to play. Whether he becomes good enough I couldn’t say, but I do know that there is a CB there & possibly a talented one.
I agree totally.Since coming back this season after impressing on loan at Boro last season you feel he has more confidence in his game.He also played really well for England in the Youth tournament last year and stood out as the centre of a back 3/5.He seems to want to play the ball out from the back which is good provided he realises he will probably never be a Beckenbauer.Hes not the quickest but he reads the game and credit to him (and Holding to an extent) that they both are brought into the side with NO recognised Centre Back as a Leader to learn from and obviously NO specialised Coaching.Tony Adams will tell you he came in and played next to David O’Leary after being COACHED by Don Howe.What Do we have to bring our young players on?
I hope Chambers makes it at Arsenal.He was a top prospect when we brought him to the Club and it will be on Wenger if he fails to come through.
Spot on, Phil re Tony Adams and the coaching of Don Howe (and George Graham) and the mentorong of David O’Leary. Both Chambers and Holding are good young prospects, who should develop into fine Arsenal assets with the right coaching and mentoring.
we have a solid foundation in defence. Arsene Wenger (with koscielny being the anomaly) can’t sign defenders or teach a team how to defend. We’ve struggled to defend for over 10 years, so many premier league titles and trophies thrown away because of our awful defensive lapses. He was always renowned for his ability to spot a gem in midfield/attack and he did this remarkably well. Keeping us competitive with usually a negative wage budget, he was really arsenal’s sacrificial lamb but that being said he as definitely lost it, since 2013 its been poor decision, after poor decision. mistake after mistake. to the point where we spend enormous amounts of money on complete flops. (xhaka, chamberlain, mustafi, welbeck, cech, perez new contracts for wilshere, walcott, giroud exc.) and selling players who we are desperately needing (sanchez, gnarby, gabriel~ statistically one of the best cb in la liga this season, szscheny- hailed as bufffons heir, okayzup- more combatative than all our CM’s put together) and to make matters worse, not only do players that leave us (except sanchez) perform better for their new clubs, ones that come to us actually deteriorate now. Arsene Wenger must hang up with his boots before we start pointing the finger at any players cause i strongly believe a manager like klopp couldve compete with city given the resources that wenger has been given.
In simpler terms, you dont cure kidney failure (arsenals defensive woes) by fixing the kidney (defensive transfers). you discard of the kidney and make way for a new one (new manager). Chambers, Holding, Mustafi, bellerin, kolsinac, monreal, cech, ospina and MN deserve a fair trial with a better manager.
Regards Gooner Malch
malch95, I believe you are being very harsh in calling many of the players you have mentioned “complete flops”. Also it is not demonstrated that players who leave Arsenal always “perform better for their new clubs”.
I agree however that it will be interesting to see how the players you listed in your last paragraph perform under a new Arsenal manager.
35million xhaka is worse than arteta and 2nd tenure flamini. Thats saying alot! Wilshere is more of a diaby than a promised fabregas. walcott is the epitome of flop and it was absolutely criminal how much we were paying for being bang average now that he’s lost his pace its clear for everyone to see how average he is (he didnt even start the merseyside derby). Mustafi & Cech have been awful for us and if we’re comparing giroud to the pedigree of strikers that we are used to arsenal than again he is bang average. In recent times Okyazup, gnarby, gabriel, schzensy , joel campbell, chamberlain, chambers have all performed better away from arsenal than whilst with the club, whether that be whilst on loan or for new respective clubs (or in ramsey’s case for their nation). Those are just facts. players that play for arsene are lethargic and disorganised. i am terrified of us getting embarrassed by a well drilled athletico madrid side, being that we make it their.
malch95 my comment was to do with the actual/potential quality of the players. You and I would probably agree on the impact of the current management and environment at the Emirates on player performance.
I do get your drift but you kidney failure analogy is way off base. Those who have Kidney failure undergo dialysis while waiting for the new Kidney. However, even when they get implanted the new kidney, the old one is actually not discarded, it’s left in place. And anyone who’s had a transplant now has a functional kidney but would have to be on immunosuppressive drugs for life which basically means he is then prone to infections and cancers.
If we were to use the analogy correctly, it would mean that we don’t get rid of the bad defenders but bring in better ones to complement them. And as a result of the changes, the defence may improve but the club as a whole would become weaker (financially) and prone to upheaval.
Very impressive.
What he doesn’t say is the Tory cuts to the NHS will most likely mean you will Croak before you get the operation anyway.
Don’t have a medical background but pretty sure you dont have long to live on dialysis and whilst you will be on permanent meds post-operation your life span is significantly increased and so is your quality of life. so if we are to be super pretentious about my analogy. Arsenal IS currently dying (with Arsene) and may not be guaranteed success post arsene immediately/or ever (body can reject the kidney, life post operation is difficult). It is worth taking the opportunity of a new kidney (coach) than continuing our steady decline over recent years i.e. celebrating/begging for our champions league participation medal. Arsenal F.C. is the 4th biggest club in football lets start acting like it.
About 4 years is long compared to how short it would be without.
Arsenal isn’t dying, something has to be alive to die.
We have not yet finished in a worse position than UTD during their transition, we may be slipping but we haven’t slipped as bad as UTD did… YET 😛
Also, unlike a patient who will needs meds post issue, AFC will not need meds post issue. Yes we need to spend on players but if that can be called meds then Man City are abusing medication 😉
One last thing, Wenger is only 1 part of the issues, we have had issues with the business side since Dein left. Only now has Gazidis made and real change with Sven and Raul replacing roles of Wenger, he has been just as much of the issue as Wenger himself, if not more considering Gazidis has been so weak that he can not replace the manager and the manager could go above his head for a new contract.
As someone who had a cancerous kidney removed(a nephrectomy) in 2005 I know how mucH better the patient, me or Arsenal if you like, will always be with the cancer completelY cut out and gone from the body. I have called Wenger himself cancerous on many posts and think it fully justified , from my own personal experience of cancer. CANCER KILLS, IF NOT REMOVED AND SO DOES WENGER. A PERFECT ANALOGY THEREFORE.
Big ups mate, on cancer survival. Not an easy journey.
MUCH APPRECIATED, ABEL!
Jon I am also a member of this club; left nephrectomy (9cm tumour) in 2012), now cancer free for over 5 years. No wonder I don’t gamble; as I need all my luck for life!
Ramsey won’t be sold, esp, if we don’t make next season’s Cl. Do you know how much it would cost to by a Ramsey in this market, esp a maturing one. He has drive which usually translates as a will to win. I reckon maybe only one CB will come in, with Monreal seen as a CB and maybe Kos getting one more season it will be Per leaving so I see one coming in. I see Wilshere leaving, he has to be let go because we do need a good shake up in midfield and he’s not going to be easily pacified if sat on the bench behind some bigger players. He hasn’t done enough over the years to warrant being kept around, we must be honest we must go with our head and not our heart. I think it’s best for Wilshere too, let another team pay attention to keeping him fit. Bellerin, am not sure what to think. It sounded genuine when they said Bellerin has had enough after he spoke his mind about some fans behavior, it goes both ways and he wasn’t fairly treated. But I don’t know how much of it is true because the papers said stuff and Bellerin went quite so I don’t know. I would not be heartbroken if he left for newer pastures because we have a good record with fullbacks over the years.
Mustafi ,Wilshere and Ospina will go providing Wenger is not in charge next season.Ramsay will stay and Mislintadt will bring in new GK, DM and at least one Centre Back.Chambers is a wholehearted player but is not as good as Holding who can make the grade.
Disagree with you Grandad on Chambers hand Holding.To me it’s Chambers every time but we can only wait and see.With Wenger gone that would mean Bould is out too which will at least give the new Manager a chance with these two young prospects.They deserve better from The Club than what they have had in regards Coaching.
I would go for Holding here.
Chambers and Holding may build a fantastic partnership, they have qualities to compliment each other…
I wonder if a def astute manager could mould them two into a great partnership within a couple years, even though they are both young for CBs.
For me, Chambers plays better on the rCB which is always filled by Mustafi, Holding does better on the left side. At least that’s just my opinion 🙂
Coming to end of season.
Hope season tickets holders give their thumbs down to Kroenke and Wenger.
Neither men deserve to be in Arsenal FC.
I’m sure we have enough Fans Power to kick those two out. Losing a quarter season tickets will surely be ground shaking least, to say.
Jeremy, with all due respect it is too much of a sacrifice to ask season ticket holders not to renew given the long waiting list. Also there is “light at the end of the tunnel” with regard to the managerial situation, so season ticket holders who have carried the expensive burden for recent years, should be there to reap the benifits of regime change.
The pressure needs to continue. We had waited for years to see glimpse of lights some where. But fans are realizing it won’t happen unless those two leaves.
Stadium emptying movement only starts this season. People are tired of lies and falsehood.
Wenger will be doing the rebuild?
Really?
Like Wenger was the one who wanted Mavrop signed?
Wenger wanted Mkhi in a swap deal? I read he wanted to push for Martial but Sven wanted Mkhi.
Wenger wasn’t the one pushing Gazidis to sign Auba.
Wenger did say he wanted a CB but Gazidis was too busy in Dortmund trying to penny pinch on the Auba deal, remember the lowball initial bid?
How many people have blamed Wenger for treating AFC money like his own by not spending?
Where is their hat eating now that the penny pinching continued in the last window, the same window that Wenger appeared to have ZERO input?
People who hate Wenger will blame him for everything but praise others for good work, inconsistency.
Cheer for Sven when we signed Auba, moan at Wenger for controlling transfers…
WTF…
One or the other people!
If Wenger has complete control then how did Sven influence Gazidis to buy them, ignoring Wenger from the equation?
If Wenger doesn’t have complete control then why moan like a child about Wenger having complete control….
Changes are happening.
YUP! CHANGES ARE HAPPENING. OF THE MANAGER.