Calum Chambers may have all but disappeared from the Arsenal squad in the second half of last season, but he is obviously enjoying his football. He is currently with the England U21s at the Toulon Tournament, and last night he captained the side that beat Japan 1-0 and are now through to the Final after winning all four games so far.
Proud moment walking out today with the captains armband on! On to the Final ? pic.twitter.com/Io70p0IY9M
— Calum Chambers (@CalumChambers95) May 27, 2016
It would great for his confidence if he can captain his country to win a trophy, and perhaps next season he will be ready for a more regular place in Wenger’s starting X! Chambers himself feels like this season has still been part of his apprenticeship. Just a couple of weeks ago, Calum told the official Arsenal website: “You have to grow up very quickly,” he told Arsenal Player. “I remember moving to the first-team dressing room with Southampton for the first time at the start of the season.
“The jump from academy football to first-team football was huge. You are around grown men all the time and you are not used to it. The training is a lot more physical and you have to learn how to deal with it and cope with it as quickly as possible. That is a very important stage of growing up in football.
“The mental challenges [you face] are obviously being confident within yourself and in your ability for your first few sessions with the first team or when you move to the dressing room. [You need to] show everyone what you can do.
“That is one of the important things. Also, when you first go from academy grounds to stadiums with a lot of people watching, that is hard to start with, but you have to learn to be comfortable with it and deal with it.
“When you get into that environment, you can be uncomfortable. When you have done it once or twice, you feel that excitement and buzz from the crowd and you just want to do it more and more.”
Could it be possible that Wenger will NOT be bringing in a new centre-back this summer, and promote Chambers instead?
Well done to calum chambers and the under 21 team on making it to the finals! Best of luck to calum and the squad!
well done but you,re going to lose against us i mean france!!
I actually would like to see Chambers be given a chance, and he’s had a raw deal from Wenger so far.
I remember Chambers’s Arsenal career starting in his natural position (centre back), and impressing without being spectacular, but was soon hung out to dry at right-back by Wenger. Just one look at the physical attributes of Chambers, tells us he is definitely NOT a fullback, especially after seeing him play in that position, and consistently get roasted by any winger with speed. It’s baffling that Wenger has persisted with Chambers in this position for so long, considering the poor performances. Then again, Wenger has done the same with Ramsey, and many other players for long periods.
Chambers has received a lot criticism for his performances, which is totally unfair, as he’s almost always out of position. To be fair, he has put in some poor performances at centre back, but that should be expected considering he rarely plays there, and never gets a run of games in that position.
He’s not had a chance to develop at Arsenal thus far, but I hope he gets more of a chance this season, and I think he could become a quality player for us.
I hate people who talk in hindsight as it would be logical to know that beforehand… and you my friend belong to that small-minded group
chambers IS a versatile player and thats a fact! when he came, he came as a rightback.. another fact, he played as a RB against us, but then wenger was the one who used him as CB and sometimes as a CDM first of all, chambers developping ist just perfect, what do you want? another wilshere, sterling or the tons of other english youngsters who get thrown in and hyped up? chambers gets his chances and starts for a top club if you want a chamber to be a first-team player then you are the one who has no plan of managing/developping a young player or you haven’t got the mentality of a top club, we cant just start a youngster in all positions, bellerin was smoothed in, then coq and then iwobi and chambers is getting his chances and he was good but couldnt make a big hold on a starting position and thats absolutely okay nobody is and should be expecting that from him
@Krish
I’m well aware Chambers started out as a versatile player, but as I’ve already said, his natural position IS clearly at CB!
Clearly you haven’t seen Chambers play at RB, and as a DM, because if you had done, you wouldn’t say he was a versatile player. You talk about facts, and it’s a FACT that Chambers has performed very poorly in those two position. Not because he’s young, and learning his trade or that he was just out of form, it’s because he’s not suited to those positions. Unlike the other youngsters you’ve mentioned, Chambers hasn’t been given a fair chance.
A question for Krish – how do expect Chambers to develop, if he’s consistently played out of position, and barely given a game?
Fair enough and my answer is: a young player should sometimes collect experience in different positions, i dont see it as just playing out of positions, wenger guardiola cruyff a lot of offensive minded world class coaches have said that they dont just want a specialists they want 10 men who can play football even defenders too, and i agree to some things there, chambers gets enough games for a young player in a top club and thats the thing with squad/young players they have to learn and often they cant start in their favourite positions cause we have starters there and if their is a slot free they cam jump into starting line up in that free role, bellerin and coq werent presented their chances contrary to your opinion i still remember that a lot of fans wanted the season before the last that bellerin and coq would be used more, but the problem is we arent southampton we are arsenal, if a young player gets his chance, he will only get a run if he performs, if he doesnt perform greatly that isnt a problem too, it isnt a wasted start they will learn from playing that position and can use that experience when they get a chance to start in their favorite role in the cup games, so chambers IS developping, and he has luck that wenger sees him as flexible and versatile cause if not he would start even less, the same thing goes to wilshere too, he isnt a starting player if he gets a chance to start at right wing then he should do his best to learn from there, and if he is good enough he can slot into the midfield but if not he gets onto the bench or has to learn his trade in a different position.
a lot of the fans cried when monreal had to start as a cb but do you remember that once gibbs was a starter and we all feared when monreal started at his fav position? and through learning in like you call it ‘out of position’ he improved and we all started to call him mr. consistent
Wenger does know one or two things about developping a player 🙂
@T.M.JW
I think you should get your facts right….Calum played as box to box midfielder at junior level. It was Southampton who first converted him to RB. He actually shared first team duties equally with Nathaniel Clyne (the england RB just in case you dont know)..while at Southampton…It was Wenger and not you who first spot his potential at CB…and I think almost everyone here now agrees that his long term future at Arsenal lies at CB…
I for one think he needs to be loan out because I believe he will improve faster if he have the chance to play regularly at CB at other lower level clubs but I dont think this will happen if he were to stay at Arsenal this season. He has massive potentials but he needs to iron out one or two weaknessess in his game to be a top CB at higher level….From what i can see he now tends to jump into rash tackles rather often and sometimes ending up missing them totally or fouling the opponents…So he needs to improve his composure OFF the ball….2nd he can also improve his strength particularly in the air…
I believe he is a top prospects at CB and if he is able to get one or a half solid season at CB under his belt with lower level club (premier league or in the championship) , he’ll come back stronger and able to seriously contest for the starting position at Arsenal….
Ideally, I’d bring back Schez he’ll learn a lot from Cech, professionalism, calmness and keeping his mouth shut (from talking and smoking at odd times lol) and give him 30 to 40% of games throughout the season, sell Ospina, relatively short keepers don’t last too long in the game [Barthez, Casillas?]. I’d get Jonathan Tah who plays both Right Back and Centre Back sell Debuchy and Gibbs and bring in Rodriguez from Wolfsburg, dunno about Jenks still, midfield is virtually sorted for now, get in Janssen and Milik. Players in will be Tah, Rodriguez (optional), Janssen and Milik. The idea is to create a fierce competition for places among hungry players who still have a lot to prove and freshen up a stale squad; for e.g Giroud can keep his spot if he can prove that he’s better than those two, Xhaka’s signing will be more than just his ability, he brings a practical kind of leadership to the team like he did at Gladbach, apparently he has no tolerance for mediocrity even from himself.
I begin to wonder, are those Janssen and milik twince?? Everyone and his dog are suggesting both the 2 at once. Or may be its promo buy 1 and take 1 free. Lolx
I will welcome them though, just unlikely for both at once.
I don’t believe another CB similar age to Chambers, coming in, would mean a loss of faith in Chambers. We are short at CB, and Arsene likes adding youth to the squad.
Anyone see that Higuain goal for Argentina, Bergkampesk if I ever seen one. Suarez Messi Aguero eat your heart out, brilliant individual skill topped off by sublime finishing ability.
Chambers should have been allowed more first team football this past season..he really needs it..
He can pair with Gabriel and Kos
I really hope he gets plenty chances next season to show he is better than John Stones..
Wish him well in his England duties…
In other news,Flamini in talks for a contract extension…doesn’t bother me much as I don’t think he will get much of a sniff..
*OT
Watchin da new dude Xhaka in action against Belgium…
Oy, classic Senderos…
Tbh he wasn’t that great against Japan. But hope they win obviously. He hasn’t exactly impressed so far at the club but still has a ton of time to make his mark. In other news a bunch of our players seem to be flirting with transfer rumours (not concerned about Ramsey’s nonsense cause nobody in La Liga wants wants him). Maybe we should start winning the league if we want to keep our best players. Just a thought. So this Zapata rumours better be nonsense made up by his agent I’m hoping.
OT: Switzerland 1:1 Belgium
Lukaku equallised Dzelimani goal for the switz.
Please give be Lukaku Arsene.
Xhaka doing well but not their captain as i earlier thought.