From what we have seen under Arteta, can you predict his preferable defenders?
Hello once again everybody. We are not going to be watching Arsenal for a while, so we may as well discuss other aspects of football to take our minds off the spreading Coronavirus pandemic. So, while working at the office yesterday, I came across an article on a blog site. The writer, from his choice of words and argument, is obviously an Arsenal fan.
In the said article, the writer believes that Mikel Arteta may have found the players he needs to play for him in the defence next season. According to the writer, the players Arteta intends using next season are already at Arsenal. He predicts that Arsenal may not really need to buy defenders next season, as the defenders they have right now are showing signs of improvement under Arteta. This entertaining writer believes Arteta would sign Pablo Mari on a permanent deal, while he will offer Mustafi and Sokratis a new contract. According to him, he expects Mari and Mustafi to be the central defenders next season, while David Luiz and Sokratis remain to act as emergency backups.
Well, he is entitled to his opinion and his opinion is valid. However, if I am to choose Arteta’s first choice central defensive pairing, I will stick with David Luiz and Sokratis. These are my reasons.
David Luiz and Mustafi are starting to form an understanding: When defenders play side by side in almost all the games, they start to build the chemistry and understanding found in great defenders of old. They can trust each other’s judgment; cover up for each other’s mistakes and even venture forward in some cases to help in the attack. They can do all these because they believe one will cover for the other in times of attacks from the opponents. In recent games, Mustafi has been playing well because of the leadership and experience of David Luiz, while Luiz has been able to venture forward to support the attack because he is confident of Mustafi being a good cover.
Both have a lot of Premiership experience: To compete in the league, we need people who have been playing in the league for a while now. It will be easier for them to cope with the rigours of the league and to be able to predict the moves of the attackers who play in the Premiership, because they must have played them several times in the past.
Both are winners and leaders: Despite Mustafi’s mistakes in the past, I have always respected him due to the singular fact that he played actively in a world cup competition and won it. Luiz, in his career has won several trophies in the clubs he played for before coming to Arsenal. These players have the experience and it will come handy in due time.
So guys, here we have it. Who do you think would make Arteta’s defence among the current defenders we have? We are Arsenal and we are proud.
Sylvester Kwentua